Tory MP Nadine Dorries admits she only spends weekends and holidays in her 'main home'

Tory MP Nadine Dorries admitted she only spends weekends and holidays in her 'main home' when questioned

Nadine Dorries tells the Commons authorities that her second home is a rented house in her constituency where she has claimed more than £18,000 in rent.

But when questioned by The Daily Telegraph about her living arrangements, she posted a message on the internet in which she admits her daughter goes to school in the area, she keeps her pet dogs there and she spends many of her weekends working there.

She says she only goes "somewhere else" – either her holiday home in South Africa or the place she claims is her main residence – during free weekends and the parliamentary recess.

This suggests her constituency base is in fact her main or only home, which would mean she cannot pay for it using the £24,222 Additional Costs Allowance meant to cover the cost of running a second property.

Her files are now being investigated by an internal review body set up the Conservative leader, David Cameron, in the wake of the MPs' expenses scandal triggered by this newspaper's disclosures, and could force her to repay thousands of pounds if it finds her claims were "unacceptable".

Mrs Dories, a former nurse and a mother of three, was elected to become the member for Mid-Bedfordshire in 2005 and last year was behind a campaign to lower the abortion time limit from 24 to 20 weeks.

She rose to prominence recently when it emerged that she was one of the intended targets of the smear campaign devised by Gordon Brown's disgraced aide, Damian McBride. She obtained a personal apology from the Prime Minister in the Commons after challenging him, and has said she will take legal action.

When she was elected, she was living with her husband in the Cotswolds and nominated a flat near Westminster as her second home.

However they split up in late 2006 and she began staying in hotels in London instead.

Mrs Dorries's file shows she tried to claim on her second home allowance for a room just days before Christmas and another on New Year's Eve, although in the name of Mr N Dorries, but was refused by the Commons fees office in a note that told her: "Not allowed – house not sitting."

She also submitted some receipts containing costs for "liquor" and "minibar" that have been disallowed with the message: "Reduced for alcohol."

After that she starting renting a house in her constituency and designated it as her second home, claiming £9,000 in rent on two occasions in the past two years as well as £1,039 in white goods and £188 from IKEA.

When asked by this newspaper to clarify where her main home is, she would not comment directly but instead posted a long statement on her blog in which she appears to concede that her constituency home is where she spends most of her time.

She wrote: "I RENT a house/office/ surgery in my constituency. This house is used in connection with my duties as an MP. For example – this weekend I have had meetings all day Friday. I am presenting to a patients group in Barton Le Clay surgery on changes in the NHS tonight. I am canvassing Saturday and attending a church service on Sunday and then after the church service writing a speech for the Police and Crime Bill to be delivered next week.

"On the weekends I have free, and during the recess, I go somewhere else. I am not publishing the address. I gave it to my whip and emailed it to the fees office in 2008. I spend most of the holidays abroad, all of which can be confirmed. My children stay with me when I am in the constituency, where I go my girls go, however, one also lives in London and one is at UNI. This has not always been the case. I now spend my late nights in London. At my own expense.

"I keep the dogs at the constituency address as I am often there on my own and it confuses them being moved around. When I am not in the constituency, especially during the long summer break, we have a house sitter, at my expense. Again, this can be confirmed.

"During term time I spend the majority of weekends in the constituency as my job tends to be seven days a week, as detailed above. My youngest daughter has attended a school in Bedford since last September. Up until September she attended a school 'somewhere else'. My eldest daughter had a term time job during the last year in the constituency before commencing work in London in a PR firm.

"My doctor, dentist and recent hospital treatment have all recently been undertaken 'somewhere else'."

She insisted she had not tried to claim public funds for her hotel stays over Christmas or New Year, nor for alcoholic drinks, writing: "The Telegraph has an invoice charged to MR N Dorries, which was submitted, but never paid. I don't actually submit the invoices, my PA does, and that one may have been submitted in error, IN ERROR BECAUSE I NEVER STAYED AT ANY HOTEL ON NEW YEARS EVE EVER if it had EVER been paid it would have been refunded IMMEDIATLEY. What may have happened is that someone who is not a member of the Carlton Club may have booked a room in my name, friends do, however my other point is that I am not even sure the Carlton Club is open over Xmas and New Year?

"The fact is though that an invoice was submitted from my office, for a room I didn't stay in, which is obviously an error and no money was paid to me for that invoice.

"Oh that the Carlton Club had mini bars in the rooms, it does not. If I ever bought a drink in the Carlton I paid cash. For some reason they are still listed on the invoice, however, they were not paid. I HAVE NOT, TO MY KNOWLEDGE EVER RECEIVED PUBLIC FUNDS TO BUY ALCOHOL FOR EITHER MYSELF OR VISITING GUESTS AND CONSTITUENTS AND DO NOT THINK IT WOULD BE AN APPROPRIATE USE OF PUBLIC FUNDS. IF THAT IS THE CASE AND I AM VERY HAPPY TO BE PROVED WRONG THEN I WILL NOT HESITATE TO REFUND. TO THINK THAT THAT YOU COULD ACCUSE ME OF BEHAVING LIKE A JOURNALIST SHOCKS ME."