MPs' expenses: what they claimed (part 2)
Updated on 16 May 2009
The full list of what MPs claimed for on their expenses, as revealed to date by the Daily Telegraph.
- Labour claims
- Labour claims (cont.)
- Conservative claims
- Conservative claims (cont.)
- Liberal Democrat claims
- Sinn Fein claims
- Democratic Unionist Party claims
- Scottish National Party (SNP) claims
- Other MP claims
Click here for the full Daily Telegraph reports on each MP investigated.
Labour claims (continued):
Chris Bryant:
The deputy Commons Leader Chris Bryant (Lab, Rhondda) "flipped" his second home twice in two years, it was reported.
Tam Dalyell:
The former father of the House attempted to claim £18,000 for bookcases two months before he retired as an MP in 2005.
He said he did not claim the full cost of the cases and only part of the sum was returned to him. He could not remember the exact amount.
Mr Dalyell said he bought the three bookcases before the end of his political career to transport more than 1,000 volumes from London to Scotland.
David Clelland:
The Labour MP for Tyne Bridge is said to have "bought out" his partner's share of a joint mortgage at a cost of thousands of pounds to the taxpayer in higher claims for interest payments as well as legal fees.
Mr Clelland said that there was "nothing illegal or improper" in the claims he has made.
Fraser Kemp:
The Labour MP, who is a senior election co-ordinator, made repeated purchases of household items over the space of several weeks. He claimed for two DVD players one month and 16 sheets in the space of seven weeks. He also claimed for two flat-screen TVs a year apart.
Mr Kemp told the Telegraph he would be paying back some money.
Mike Hall:
The Labour backbencher charged nearly £15,000 in three years for his house in Kennington to be cleaned and for his clothes to be laundered and ironed.
Liz Blackman:
The former Labour whip, who is MP for Erewash in Derbyshire, spent hundreds of pounds just before the end of the financial year to take her second home claim as close to the maximum as possible. Last-minute items she bought included a £199 DVD player, a £99 rug and a £150 fax.
Maria Eagle:
The junior justice minister spent thousands of pounds of expenses on refurbishing a bathroom at one of her flats before switching the designation to another property. Ms Eagle, who is MP for Liverpool Garston, was paid £3,500 towards the cost of refurbishing the bathroom at the property in the Mossley Hill area of the city.
Joan Ryan:
The Enfield North MP claimed more than £4,500 of repairs at her constituency home before "flipping" her second home to another south London property.
Ben Chapman:
Mr Chapman became the first Labour MP to quit Westminster over the expenses scandal. Documents showed he sought and was given permission to reclaim the interest payments on the full value of his original mortgage despite paying off £295,000 of the loan in 2002.
He benefited by £15,000 over 10 months from the arrangement, which documents suggested was not unique to him, the newspaper said. Asked by the paper is he would be repaying any money, he said: "The answer is no. It's all something that was agreed a long time ago."
George Mudie:
The Labour MP for Leeds East has claimed £62,000 for his London flat in four years despite having a mortgage of just £26,000, the Telegraph said.
He claimed almost £17,000 from the taxpayer for furniture and refurbishments, including a dining room set he had delivered to his constituency home before claiming it on expenses for his second home in London.
Mr Mudie, who sits on the influential Treasury Select Committee, said the dining room set was bought in Leeds where he prefers to shop with his wife, before being transported to London.
Ruth Kelly:
The former Cabinet minister has claimed more than £31,000 to redecorate and furnish her designated second home. She also tried to claim £3,600 for a sofa, £2,355 for a dining table and chairs and £2,000 for a plasma TV set, but the claims were reduced for being excessive.
She was also said to have claimed thousands of pounds for flood damage at her second home despite the building being insured. Ms Kelly has said she is standing down at the next election.
Madeleine Moon:
The Labour MP for Bridgend in Wales spent more than £4,000 on furniture in shops near her constituency home before claiming it back on her London designated second home. She told the Telegraph that: "The Welsh shop in Wales even when it is for installation in London."
Derek Wyatt:
The Labour MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey in Kent filed Tesco receipts showing that he spent 75 p on two scotch eggs, £1.79 on five mini pork pies and £1.90 on an individual pork pie.
Claire Ward:
The Labour MP for Watford claimed up to £1,150 in petty cash over eight months on her second home allowance, of which £850 was paid out by the Fees Office.
Ms Ward, a senior government whip who, in her role as Chamberlain of Her Majesty's Household, keeps the Queen informed about Parliament, switched her second home to a flat a few minutes walk from her old property and more than doubled her mortgage interest payments. The extra cost was passed on to the taxpayer.
Ian Austin:
The Labour whip tried to spread a claim for stamp duty on his second home in London across two financial years, it was reported. The Dudley North MP split the stamp duty on the purchase of a flat in Waterloo in March 2006 into two claims - £6,770 on 28 March and £1,344 on 3 April.This enabled him to claim almost all his second home allowance for the financial year 2005-6.
And while the £1,344 claim was rejected by the fees office, Mr Austin was reimbursed for the legal costs of the move in 2006-7. He was also said to have "flipped" his second home weeks before buying the new flat.
Diana Johnson:
Ms Johnson, a Labour whip, spent £1,000 of taxpayers' money on hiring an architect for a decorating project at her second home. The MP for Hull North paid back the money in March - two years after making the claim, and months before MPs' expenses were due to be made public.
Stephen McCabe:
Mr McCabe over-claimed on his mortgage by £4,059, the newspaper said. For 10 months in 2005-06, the Labour whip claimed for capital repayments instead of interest on his mortgage, which is forbidden under expenses rules.
The claims amounting to £1,736 sparked a investigation by the fees office, which unearthed more over-claims of £2,323 in 2004-05.
The money was deducted from the Birmingham Hall Green MP's subsequent second home expense claims.
Dawn Butler:
The government whip claimed thousands of pounds on renovating her second home in north London even though her main home is just 15 miles away in east London, it was reported. The Telegraph said that Ms Butler's claims included the fitting of a whirlpool bath. Ms Butler denied that particular claim and said she was taking legal advice.
It also reported that Ms Butler, the MP for Brent South, claimed £2,600 too much in rent, but was allowed by staff in the Fees Office to "dig out" other receipts to cover the over-claim.
Back to index
John Austin:
The Labour MP claimed more than £10,000 for the redecoration of his London flat - which was just 11 miles from his main home - before selling for a profit, it was reported. Mr Austin, MP for Erith and Thamesmead, made £30,000 when he sold the flat in Southwark, south London, in 2006, according to the newspaper.
It said that he then bought a new flat just 1.5 miles away, claiming £10,000 in stamp duty and other expenses incurred in the move and a further £15,000 on a new bathroom, kitchen, carpets, and appliances.
Both flats were said to be about 11 miles along the south of the River Thames from his constituency home in Belvedere, Kent, which he designates as his main home.
In total, the paper reported that Mr Austin had claimed more than £133,000 in second home expenses since 2001. Mr Austin called the newspaper's report "inaccurate and misleading" and said he was seeking legal advice.
Nick Brown:
The Government Chief Whip submitted £18,800 in unreceipted claims for food over a period of four years, the paper reported.
Mr Brown - who last week suspended two Labour MPs for reportedly claiming thousands of pounds for mortgages that had been paid off - acknowledged he had claimed the full amount allowable in subsistence costs, but insisted that it was justified in the context of his working life.
The MP for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend also claimed £200 a month for "repairs", £200 a month for "service and maintenance" and £250 a month for a cleaner, for which he did not submit receipts.
Tommy McAvoy:
The Deputy Chief Whip and Labour MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West spent £86,565 in second home expenses on his Westminster flat between 2004 and 2008. Most of these claims were mortgage interest payments of £1,000 a month, council tax and ground rent payments.
Ian Lucas:
The assistant Labour whip claimed around £1,000 a month in mortgage interest payments on a London flat - and sold it for a £45,000 profit, billing taxpayers for £6,000 in sale fees.
The Wrexham MP then claimed almost £4,000 for staying in hotels before buying a new flat and claiming for stamp duty, purchasing fees, mortgage interest payments and new furniture.
Helen Jones
Ms Jones, assistant Labour whip and Warrington North MP, claimed a total of £87,647 on her London flat between 2004 and 2008, most of which was taken up by mortgage interest repayments.
Helen Goodman:
Ms Goodman claimed for a week's stay in a holiday cottage in her constituency over a bank holiday, the paper said. The Bishop Auckland MP submitted a claim of £519.31 to the fees office for the cottage in the village of Romaldkirk in Teesdale between 27 August and 3 September 2005.
Chris Mullin:
While some of his colleagues used taxpayers' money to buy plasma screens and home cinema systems, the Labour backbencher gets by with a black and white television he has owned for three decades.
The MP for Sunderland South - one of the 0.5 per cent of the population who still own a black and white TV set - claims the £45 cost of the licence fee on his second home expenses.
Ian Davidson:
Mr Davidson, a member of the Commons public accounts committee, which monitors government spending, paid a family friend £5,500 to renovate his London flat and took him on two shooting trips, the paper said.
The MP for Glasgow South West also had reclining furniture worth £1,459 delivered to his constituency home. Under the Additional Cost Allowance MPs must only submit claims incurred on their second homes. Mr Davidson told The Telegraph the furniture was later driven to his London flat.
Commons officials questioned Mr Davidson's payments to a property search company to help him find a new flat. A note revealed he "had already claimed £1,000 of taxpayers' money with nothing to show for it. Concerned about how long this would go on for".
The final bill for finding a new flat came to £6,000, with the fees office agreeing to pay a proportion of this sum. Mr Davidson also charged the £11,000 cost of the move to the taxpayer.
Sarah McCarthy-Fry:
The junior minister submitted a receipt for a £100 pair of hair straighteners. Ms McCarthy-Fry, who is Under-Secretary for Schools and Learners, was told she would not be reimbursed because the fees office was "unable to allow costs relating to personal items, in this case hair stylers".
Frank Field:
The claims of the independent-minded Labour backbencher suggest he is a relatively modest spender, compared to many of his parliamentary colleagues. Mr Field, tipped as an early front-runner for Speaker, claimed just £9,573 on his Birkenhead constituency home.
Back to index
Linda Gilroy:
The Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton is to repay almost £2,000 after the discovery of 'errors' in her expense claims.
Mrs Gilroy said last night she would be writing out a cheque to the parliamentary fees office made up of an undisclosed double claim for one month in 2005/6 totalling £1570.90, and also for council tax for 2005, that was also overclaimed by £320.10 - a total of £1,891.
David Kidney:
The Labour MP for Stafford, has paid back £2,450 after discovering the fees office had mistakenly paid his council tax three times and his water bill twice.
Ian Gibson:
The Norwich North MP claimed £80,000 in taxpayers' money for a flat where his daughter lived with her partner, it was revealed.
He then sold the west London property to his daughter and her partner William Turner in April this year for £162,000 - less than he bought it for in 1999 and well below the current market rate.
The Telegraph reported that Dr Gibson published his expenses on his Internet website earlier this week, but blacked out key details. Dr Gibson said he was ready to stand down if his constituents demanded it.
Paul Goggins:
The Northern Ireland Minister allowed a friend to live rent-free at his second home while claiming almost £45,000 from the taxpayer for it.
Mr Goggins, MP for Wythenshawe and Sale East, designated the house he shares in south-east London with Chris Bain as a second home three years ago. He did not inform the fees office that he shared it and claimed the entire £600 a month mortgage interest, plus council tax and utility bills.
The pair told the Telegraph they would repay a sum of money based on how many nights Mr Bain, a director of Roman Catholic aid agency Cafod, stayed there. Mr Goggins also paid Mr Bain £3,829 for the installation of a new kitchen. It emerged the money was given to Mr Bain's brother who carried out the work.
Khalid Mahmood:
Mr Mahmood checked into a five-star London hotel with his then girlfriend at taxpayers' expense. After separating from his wife, the Birmingham Perry Barr MP reportedly used the hotel as a second home.
Mr Mahmood stayed with his former girlfriend at The Bentley in Kensington for nine nights over a four-week period in 2004 at a cost of £1,350. He spent a further five nights at the luxurious hotel last year and claimed £1,225.
Mark Todd:
The backbench MP for South Derbyshire put £24,877 on expenses to refurbish his second home in London. Taxpayers footed the bill for kitchen units, bathroom items, lighting, carpets, tiles and furniture, including leather chairs and a marble table. He said he would refund the Fees Office for an amount reflecting the items' depreciation when he retires at the next general election.
In total, he has claimed more than £90,000 in second homes allowance over the past five years. Mr Todd announced his intention to stand down from Parliament two years ago.
Back to index
Michael Clapham:,br>
The backbencher bought a £210 pair of glasses for his wife, Yvonne, who is employed as his office assistant. The fees office reduced the claim to £50, informing him: "this is the maximum sum which is allowable for spectacles under this allowance". He also spent £64 on dinner services and £19.97 for an iron on his office allowance.
Sir Peter Soulsby:
Sir Peter, who employs his wife as a secretary, claimed for bailiffs' fees after the rent on his constituency office fell into arrears. The fees office said the Leicester South MP was not liable for the £472.59 bill and refunded him.
Bob Laxton:
The MP for Derby North claimed £1,049 for a flat screen TV and spent £1,456 on a double bed for his second home in London. Mr Laxton, who employs his wife as his office manager, told the Telegraph: "I didn't really particularly have the time to run around and get deals on a TV or beds."
Quentin Davies:
The former Tory frontbencher who defected to Labour was said to have spent more than £10,000 on repairing window frames at his historic home in Lincolnshire. Mr Davies, a defence minister and MP for Grantham and Stamford, claimed close to the maximum allowable on his second home expenses between 2004 and 2008.
His expenses included buildings and contents insurance for the 18th-century mansion.
He employs his wife as his parliamentary assistant.
Andrew Smith:
The MP for Oxford East charged the taxpayer more than £30,000 for renovations and repairs to his south London home. The make-over included a new kitchen and bathroom, new windows, flooring doors and hallway.
Some of the invoices were address to his constituency home, but Mr Smith, whose wife works part-time for him, insisted the work was carried out at his London property.
Angela Smith:
The MP for Sheffield Hillsborough bought four beds for her one-bedroom London flat, it was reported. Miss Smith, who employs her husband as a researcher, claimed £7,800 in 2005 to kit out her flat, including for a king-size bed and two futons.
In 2006, she bought a £950 sofa bed and a chair worth £550 because she said the two futons were broken, and has also claimed hundreds of pounds for tax advice.
Tom Levitt:
The MP for High Peak submitted a £16.50 receipt for the cost of a poppy wreath he laid during Remembrance Sunday commemorations. The Fees Office rejected the claim, and Mr Levitt, who employs his wife as his parliamentary assistant, said it had been made in error.
After receiving a £5,281 bill for renovations, officials asked Mr Levitt to justify the claim.
They later reimbursed him for it, but refused to refund the full £8,013.77 cost of installing a new bathroom.
Jim Knight:
The Dorset South MP has claimed hundreds of pounds for tax advice.
John Healey:
Mr Healey, who is MP for Wentworth in South Yorkshire, has claimed hundreds of pounds for tax advice.
Gillian Merron:
Lincoln MP Mrs Merron has claimed hundreds of pounds for tax advice.
Back to index
Rosie Cooper:
The ministerial aide defended claiming more than £11,000 in expenses to cover legal fees and stamp duty on her second home. Miss Cooper insisted she had made "appropriate use" of the allowance regime to pay for items including a £99.99 steam cleaner and £5,000 towards repairing decrepit plumbing at her 1930s Westminster flat.
The West Lancashire MP, who is an aide to Health Minister Ben Bradshaw, has also pledged that any profit from the sale of her flat will be returned to the taxpayer.
Colin Challen:
MP for Morley and Rothwell sold his London flat to his senior researcher but carried on renting it for a nightly fee, it was reported.
Mark Hendrick:
The Preston MP admitted estimating the amount of mortgage interest he paid on his second home. He claimed up to £1,015 a month on his London flat before "flipping" his second home designation to a house in his constituency, where his claims rose to £1,469.
Peter Hain:
Former Cabinet minister Mr Hain reportedly asked if he could claim on two mortgages for homes in his constituency. The request was turned down. He also charged the cost of a new tin roof for a log store to the taxpayer.
Lynne Jones:
The left-wing MP for Birmingham Selly Oak billed the taxpayer for more than £1,100 of upmarket wallpaper at her second London home. She gave the Lambeth flat a £22,000 upgrade, the Telegraph said, including a £6,000 bathroom, £600 worth of Persian rugs and £518 for an LCD television.
Celia Barlow:
The MP for Hove used her second home allowance to spend more than £28,000 on stamp duty, legal costs and renovations despite telling the fees office that the property would become her second home.
Back to index
Nigel Griffiths:
Edinburgh South MP Mr Griffiths tried to defend a £3,600 claim for a television, DVD player and digital radio in his London home by saying he had to listen to "Scottish radio" and watch "Scottish TV", according to the Telegraph.
The former minister was said to have told the Commons fees office that a flat-screen television was the "sensible option" in a cramped flat. The fees office wrote back days later to tell him that while the explanation was understandable, the "level of purchases" remained under question. He did not pursue the claim.
According to the newspaper, Mr Griffiths successfully claimed £9,250 to redecorate his London flat and £450 for a carpet, pots and kitchen utensils in November 2004.
Charlotte Atkins:
The MP for Staffordshire Moorlands claimed £35,000 in renovations for her second home, including £20,000 for windows, £4,000 for the chimney, £9,000 for the bathroom and nearly £2,000 for the garden. The fees office argued the windows claim was "beyond the definition for allowable work set out in the Green Book".
Brian Donohoe:
Mr Donohoe put through a £2,575 receipt for a three-seat sofa and two double seaters, and was challenged by the Fees office as the address printed on the invoice was for his main home in Scotland, rather than his London second home. The Central Ayrshire MP eventually provided a receipt made out to his London home.
Tom Harris:
The MP for Glasgow South became embroiled in a row with the Commons fees office when his claims for a baby cot and steriliser at his second home in London were rejected.
The Fees office said they were not "wholly, exclusively and necessarily" incurred for parliamentary duties. Mr Harris argued the claim was valid because he only lived in London through his work as an MP.
Back to index
Frank Cook:
Mr Cook has apologised for apparently trying to claim back from the taxpayer a £5 donation he made during a church service to commemorate the Battle of Britain. The Sunday Telegraph said the claim followed a memorial service in his Stockton-on-Tees constituency but was rejected by the House of Commons Fees Office.
Mr Cook said he had "no recollection" of asking to be reimbursed, but accepted that the newspaper would not have invented the claim and said it was "wrong" that it happened.
Roger Godsiff:
The MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath was reported to have claimed a bath mat, gardening equipment and more than £7,000 of repairs on office expenses. It said he was claiming the maximum in second-home expenses in mortgage interest.
Glenda Jackson:
The MP for Hampstead and Highgate has repaid more than £8,000 in expenses claimed towards the publication of an annual report. First Magazine carried a reference to the Labour party in breach of the rules, according to the Sunday Telegraph. The former actress said: "I failed to proof-read a line at the very end of the document which mentioned the party and I have paid back the money."
Natascha Engel:
The MP for North East Derbyshire's claims included £117.50 for 10 copies of a DVD of her maiden speech, as well as a novel by a German writer. She told the Telegraph they were "inappropriate" and she would pay them back.
Gwyn Prosser:
The MP for Dover and Deal paid his brother to lay flooring at his London flat although he reportedly lived almost 200 miles away. Mr Prosser said his brother was "good value for money".
Tony McNulty:
The Work and Pensions Minister claimed more than £2,000 in accountancy bills, the newspaper said. Mr McNulty earlier admitted "mistakenly" claiming thousands of pounds on a house where his parents lived and repaid the money.
Margaret Hodge:
The MP for Barking claimed more than £2,200 for "PR support" from a company run by Janet Coull, who had previously worked for Mrs Hodge. The former culture minister told the newspaper she had paid Ms Coull for "articles, reports and speech writing", not PR.
Alan Meale:
The former environment minister and Mansfield MP claimed more than £13,000 over four years for his garden. The claims included a new storage building, bark chippings, repairs to fences and gates, a £700 garden bench and a £2,000 bill to clear trees and shrubbery at his Nottinghamshire constituency home.
Howard Stoate:
The MP for Dartford, whose designated second home is just 15 miles from his constituency property, claimed a total of £55,836 despite having no mortgage or rent to pay.
More than £1,000 was spent in DIY chain B&Q while £4,520 on Everest replacement windows.
Small spenders:
Government low claimers mentioned in the Telegraph were Malcolm Wicks, David Drew, and Laura Moffatt. Ms Moffatt, MP for Crawley, was said to have given up the comfort of a London flat she used to put on parliamentary expenses for a camp bed in her Westminster office.
Expenses "saints" also included Jim Cunningham, MP for Coventry South; Julie Morgan, MP for Cardiff North; and Patrick Hall, MP for Bedford.
Back to index
