Alice Mahon's £20,000 loan for new doors, paid off by the public

Alice Mahon had been a member of the Labour Party for more than half a century

Alice Mahon, who represented Halifax, West Yorkshire, from 1987 until 2005, applied for the loan in order to fit security doors and new bolts on her London second home following a burglary.

She sought permission from the fees office in 2001 to put the monthly repayments of £400 on her second home allowance, and received a total of at least £17,000 before standing down at the 2005 election.

Notes on her files show that by 2004 officials considered that the arrangement was not within the rules, but because it had been originally approved, they decided that they were obliged to continue. They also said that they had lost the original files showing that the loan repayments had been approved.

In July 2004, one official wrote: "We would not authorise a note of this sort now, but it is plausible that we could have done so in 2001."

Another replied: "I would be content to carry on with the payments."

Mrs Mahon, who resigned from Labour in April in protest at the Damian McBride smears row, continues to own the house in Kennington, south London, which she designated as her second home.

She paid off the mortgage within weeks of leaving the Commons, having claimed £219 a month in mortgage interest on her expenses until then, and now rents the property out to tenants.

A sufferer from age-related macular degeneration, which has left her bind in one eye and with significant sight loss in the other, Mrs Mahon said that she let out the house in order to pay for her treatment after her request for NHS care was turned down.

She fought a high-profile campaign at the High Court against Calderdale Primary Care Trust, which refused her treatment that could have stabilised or potentially improved her condition.

Mrs Mahon said that she was justified in retaining the property after standing down because she had contributed some of her own money as a deposit when she bought it, and because it would have been more expensive to rent a similar property nearby.

She added: "When I became involved in the eye campaign to try to get treatment on the NHS for age-related macular degeneration – I had left Parliament then – I invited the press into my flat, where I made a specific point of telling them that even someone on an MP's pension would have difficulty paying £1,700 per injection for my condition and, therefore, I was letting my flat for a short period to pay for the treatment. I believe at all times I have followed both the spirit and the letter of the rules for claiming expenses during my years as an MP."

Mrs Mahon added that she was unaware that the Commons fees office did not consider that the loan was within the rules.

She said: "The loan for security after the burglary was agreed by the fees office and their note simply says they have agreed to pay the claim. They never challenged my claim and I was not aware that they had lost the original documentation.

"I did look at other properties in the area close to where I lived in London to see if I could get something more secure but the rents were astronomical, over £1,200 a month. I decided it was much cheaper to have the security work done and stay where I was."

SNAPSHOT

Alice Mahon

Job: former Labour MP for Halifax

Salary: £57,485 in 2004

Total second home claims

2004-05: £17,563

2005-06: N/A

2006-07: N/A

2007-08: N/A