Ian Austin completed the purchase of the Waterloo flat on March 31 2006 but submitted claims for the stamp duty in two separate amounts: £6,770 on March 28 and £1,344 on April 3.
This allowed him to claim the majority of the money under his second home allowance for the financial year 2005-06. In total, he received £21,559 — £75 below the limit — that year.
His claim for the remaining £1,344 was turned down by the parliamentary fees office.
However, the Dudley North MP was allowed to claim the legal costs associated with the move in his 2006-07 expenses. In that financial year, he went on to claim £22,076 — £34 short of the maximum.
Mr Austin also “flipped” his second home designation weeks before buying the £270,000 flat across the Thames from Westminster.
The assistant whip is one of Gordon Brown’s closest allies and worked for him as an adviser in the Treasury before he was made an MP in 2005.
When Mr Brown became Prime Minister in 2007, Mr Austin was appointed as his parliamentary aide before being moved to the role of Minister for the West Midlands last year. He was closely connected to Damian McBride, the adviser who left Downing Street last month after he sent emails suggesting possible smears for top Conservatives.
Among Mr Austin’s other claims was £467 for a stereo in his constituency shortly before he changed his second home designation to London. He then spent more than £2,800 furnishing the new flat, claiming £1,199 for a DVD player and television, although this was reduced to £1,000.
In the 2006-07 financial year, he claimed a further £1,298 for a sofa and armchair from Marks and Spencer, although the receipt was dated March 21 2006 – during the financial year that had already finished. The next year, he claimed £154 for electrical goods and £171 for bedding, plus a further £700 for a bed and bedside table and £199 for a vacuum cleaner.
Mr Austin said that an error in adding up the costs of his move had led to his claim for stamp duty being turned down. “The fees office advised us to split the costs associated with the purchase of my London accommodation over the two financial years,” he said.
“There was a straightforward error when adding up the costs. The fees office pointed this out, I apologised for adding it up wrongly and the correct amount was claimed. No payment was made or received as a result of this simple error.”
He added that he had claimed for the sofa and armchair “in line with advice from the fees office”.
Ian Austin
Job: assistant whip
Salary: £89,522
Total second home claims
2004-05: N/A
2005-06: £21,559
2006-07: £22,076
2007-08: £21,925
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