Jo Swinsonss records show that she submitted receipts for items ranging in price from 29p to £544.90
Miss Swinson, a Liberal Democrat who was 25 when she was elected MP for Dunbartonshire East in 2005, denied claiming for cosmetics but defended the use of taxpayer-funded expenses to pay for dozens of other everyday items.
At one point, she submitted a Tesco receipt for £22.67 that appeared to show that the MP or an aide went to the trouble of putting an asterisk next to three items, totalling £5.75, for which she intended to claim — a £1.75 chopping board, a “food saver” for £1.50 and a £2.50 sieve.
An Asda receipt included a bottle of Mr Sheen cleaner costing 78p and a £1.19 window cleaner. She also claimed for a hair dryer and £16 lavatory roll holder, along with a £14.10 invoice to have a spare key cut for her cleaner.
Public concern over MPs’ expenses has focused on the petty nature of some of the claims submitted on second home allowances, as well as the more extravagant spending of taxpayers’ money.
Miss Swinson’s records show that she submitted receipts for items ranging in price from a packet of dusters for 29p to a television costing £544.90.
Known in Westminster for the attention she pays to her appearance, Miss Swinson’s receipts contain a number of items relating to her personal care. They included a “tooth flosser” costing £19.10, which the Commons fees office rejected, along with a set of “toothbrush refills”.
A few months previously, however, and in an apparent breach of the rules that prevented claims for personal items, she was reimbursed for an electric toothbrush and hairdryer.
Also among her receipts was a £27.94 bill from Boots, which included a £5 eyeliner, a lip liner for the same price, and a £12.00 “R&M Eye Kit”.
Contacted by the Telegraph, Miss Swinson said she had not claimed for the eyeliner, suggesting that it featured on a receipt that included other items for which she did seek repayment. No items other than cosmetics appeared on the receipt in question — it seemed to be the second of two pages, the first of which is missing.
Asked why she had regularly used the additional costs allowance, which MPs may used to fund a second home, to claim for low-cost, everyday items, Miss Swinson said: “None of these items would have been necessary for me to buy were I not living away from home for half of the week.
“Most of these were approved and the costs reimbursed, a couple were not and I accepted this.
“As a new MP, my understanding was that the ACA reimbursed the costs of setting up a place to stay in London, including duplicates of the various kitchen and bathroom items that I use in my main home.
“The receipt for the Mr Sheen and dusters was with the invoices from my cleaner submitted on Oct 13 2005. However, I directly reimbursed my cleaner for these items and did not claim for them.
“I am at work when she cleans my flat, so it was necessary to provide her with a key in order to get in. A television is necessary in order to follow programming relevant to my job.”
Miss Swinson said she claimed less than the maximum food allowance of £400 a month — usually about £10 for each day she attended Parliament.
Jo Swinson
Job: backbench Lib Dem MP
Salary: £64,766
Total second home claims
2004-05: £0
2005-06: £18,383
2006-07: £18,590
2007-08: £23,083
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