Ed Vaizey had £2,000 furniture delivered to 'wrong address'

Mr Vaizey also charged more than £10,000 in stamp duty and legal fees to the taxpayer when he moved from rented accommodation to a house he bought in his constituency. Claims submitted by Mr Vaizey, a Conservative culture spokesman, show that his wife Alexandra ordered furniture worth £1,968.45 from the upmarket online retailer Oka in 2007.

Oka was co-founded up 1999 by Lady Annabel Astor, Mr Cameron’s mother-in-law. The shop says on its website that its “extensive furniture range includes painted, rattan, bamboo, sofas, beds, tables, chairs and armoires”.

Receipts submitted by Mr Vaizey show that he ordered a £467 two seat “Hurlingham” sofa and Carmargue chair, worth £544, an “ebony/brown” low table, worth £280.50 and a £671 Dordogne table in February 2007.

The Commons fees office knocked back the claim because the receipt said that the furniture was due to be delivered to the Vaizeys’ home address in west London. An official told Mr Vaizey that his claim was turned down because it “included an invoice from Oka in relation to an address which is different from that nominated as your home”.

The bill was later paid when Mr Vaizey, who entered the House of Commons in 2005, told the fees office that the furniture was intended for his designated second home in his Wantage constituency. He wrote: “I re-attach my claim for furniture as this furniture has been bought for my second home in Wantage.

“We had it delivered to London because we would be in to collect it and we were driving down with it. Note also the bill is in my wife’s name but I paid for it.”

Last week Mr Vaizey’s colleague Michael Gove MP, another ally of Mr Cameron was forced to repay a £7,000 bill for furniture he bought from the same retailer. In 2006-07 Mr Vaizey claimed for the £300 cost of an “upholstered library chair” that he bought from an antiques shop in Chiswick, west London, a few miles from his designated main home in London. The Green Book states that MPs cannot use their Additional Costs Allowance to buy “furnishings or fittings which are antique, luxury or premium grade”.

MPs have to be clear that expenses under the allowance must be “wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred when staying overnight away from their main UK residence ... for the purpose of performing their parliamentary duties”.

Mr Vaizey’s claims also show that when he moved house in 2007 he billed the taxpayer for £10,776 in legal fees and stamp duty.

Last night Mr Vaizey said he had repaid the cost of the Oka furniture and the antique chair which he had bought with taxpayers’ money. He said: “I accept that the £300 armchair was an antique item and therefore that claim should not have been made. I also accept that the Oka items could be deemed as being of higher quality than necessary. I have paid back both these claims. I have not claimed for any other furniture bought for my constituency home at any time before or since.”

He defended his claim for moving costs. He said: “The Green Book is clear that an MP can reclaim stamp duty and legal fees when purchasing a second home.

“I do not see why this claim is not justified under the rules or spirit of the rules. My constituency home has always been my second home. I completed on the purchase of my constituency home in July 2007. I had rented up until then since becoming the candidate in December 2002.

“I bought partly because of the need for an extra bedroom for my growing family but also because I felt that buying demonstrated my commitment to my constituency.”