GORDON BROWN’S plans to clean up MPs’ expenses were in disarray last night when he was forced to dump the much-ridiculed idea of a “clocking-in” allowance of up to £174 a day.

The Prime Minister backed down after protests from the opposition parties and his own backbenchers left him facing almost certain defeat in a Commons vote he had called for Thursday.

MPs will still vote on less controversial changes – including greater transparency on MPs' outside earnings and tighter rules for staff employment – but the now-notorious £24,000 second-home allowance will survive for now.

Mr Brown’s plan to replace it with a flat-rate daily payment for attending Westminster quickly ran into trouble when it emerged MPs could still claim roughly the same amount.

Also, many MPs were deeply unhappy about adopting the much-criticised system of the European Parliament – dubbed “sign on and b****r off” by Tory leader David Cameron.

To add to Mr Brown’s embarrassment, he personally launched his surprise clean-up campaign in a YouTube video, telling the public he had plans to win back their confidence.

Last night, the Prime Minister wrote to Sir Christopher Kelly, the head of the anti-sleaze watchdog, to urge him to put forward his own reform proposals “as soon as possible and preferably before the summer recess”.

Mr Brown is desperate to have a new system in place by July, when receipts for every MPs’ expenses claim, going back three years, will be published.

He has been warned his government will be engulfed by a wave of public anger when the full details of lavish second-home purchases are laid bare.

In his letter, Mr Brown urged Sir Christopher to focus on linking claims to “attendance at Westminster”.

But Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, accused the Prime Minister of behaving like a “sulking schoolboy” by refusing to listen to his, and Tory, plans to clean up second-home claims.