Saturday, 23 May 2009

Tory MP Jonathan Djanogly claimed almost £5,000 for automatic gates

Mr Djanogly's monthly gardening bill was about £400, although extra amounts were also submitted

The Conservative MP also claimed £13,962 for cleaning and £12,951 for gardening at his second home, which did not have a mortgage, in just four years.

The scale of the claims, which are likely to be regarded as excessive by ordinary taxpayers, is certain to infuriate David Cameron.

The Conservative leader has spent much of the past 10 days attempting to crack down on wealthy Tory MPs who have lavished money on their country homes.

Mr Djanogly is repaying £25,000 to the fees office following discussions earlier this week. In most of his claims, Mr Djanogly charged £65 a week for a cleaner, submitting receipts showing that his monthly staffing bill was up to £1,600 for three staff.

The large wooden gates – which cost £4,936 for installation and maintenance — can be opened automatically by an electronic touchpad from a car.

The MP installed the gates following security fears after he helped constituents threatened by animal rights activists over their links to the animal-testing company Huntingdon Life Sciences.


His monthly gardening bill was about £400, although extra amounts were also submitted. Removing an elm tree affected by fungus from the large gardens cost £575 in April 2006.

Mr Djanogly bought the house for £440,000. He has spent £77,104 on maintaining the property in the past four years and the house is now believed to be worth £750,000.

The MP also submitted a £846 bill for two television digital boxes, but the claim was reduced to £517, because the fees office decided that only one was necessary. In addition, he claimed for a chimney sweep to clean three open fires in the house.

Mr Djanogly, 43, is the son of the textile manufacturer, Sir Harry Djanogly. Sir Harry – the founder of Coats Viyella, now known as Coats Plc — has a fortune estimated at £300 million. His art collection includes the largest number of Lowrys in the world, as well as Picassos and Monets.

He was a solicitor before he was elected to the safe seat of Huntingdon, which was represented by the former prime minister Sir John Major until 2001.

He also set up a mail order retail business with his wife, Rebecca Silk. The couple have two children.

Mr Djanogly is a partner in the corporate department of the law firm SJ Berwin.

SJ Berwin has “seconded” a trainee solicitor to work in Mr Djanogly’s parliamentary office. The arrangement has been criticised because SJ Berwin also lobbies Parliament on behalf of the private equity industry. As the shadow business minister, Mr Djanogly has led the Tory response to legislation on the private equity industry.

Mr Cameron is known to have concerns about the outside business interests of his team. Several senior Tories top up their £65,000 salary as MPs with outside business roles.

William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, earned £230,000 over the past year from speaking fees and directorships. Oliver Letwin, his policy chief, works part time for the bankers NM Rothschild, and Andrew Mitchell, the international development spokesman, holds six directorships with the merchant bank Lazards.

According to the register of MPs’ interests, Mr Djanogly has shareholdings worth more than £60,000 in 18 companies, including Imperial Tobacco and BP. He also owns woodlands in Scotland.

Mr Djanogly said that he would not be claiming expenses until the whole system had been reviewed.

He said: “I want to stress that I completely understand the public’s concerns about MPs’ expenses and my party’s determination to respond to that concern.”

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