Heather Brooke, a 38-year-old Pennsylvania-born reporter, has become the scourge of Parliament, forcing the publication of legislators' expenses claims following a five-year legal battle that has exposed Britain's deep-rooted culture of official secrecy.

The expense bills reveal how lawmakers frittered away public money with claims for porn movies, chandeliers and housekeepers or repaired their tennis court, swimming pool or helicopter pad.

One legislator charged the public for sacks of horse manure, while an ex-minister submitted a claim for cleaning the moat that circles his lavish country home - a request he now says was made in error.

The revelations have ravaged the reputation of Britain's political class even as ordinary citizens worry about ballooning government spending, soaring unemployment and a painful recession.

Even bankers are breathing a sigh of relief, having been pushed off the front pages of newspapers - at least temporarily - by the lawmakers' outrageous charges.

But the scandal might never have been exposed if Ms Brooke hadn't targeted Parliament after moving from the United States in 1997 to study literature.

She says she was shocked by British apathy toward abuses of power, and suspicious of a society that seemed to block the public's right to know at every turn.

'I think there's a culture of deference here, where the public believe that people who are in power - the great and the good - still know what's best for everyone,' Brooke told reporters in an interview.

'I come from an American tradition, that you should always be skeptical of government and have a right to know what's been done with your money.' -- AP