Mr Cook submitted the claim as part of his office expenses following a service to commemorate the sacrifice of RAF pilots.
Mr Cook, the left wing MP for Stockton North, one of the most deprived areas of Britain, made the claim as part of his Incidental Expenses Provision (IEP) designed to cover his costs of running an office.
The IEP is normally used by members of parliament to pay for office rent, telephone bills, computer equipment, printing and stationary.
But at the end of September 2006, Mr Cook submitted an IEP claim which included the donation he made at the Battle of Britain Day service in Stockton High Street a few days earlier.
A note attached to the claim, written in the form of a receipt, reads: "Battle of Britain church service, Sunday 17.09.06. £5 contribution to offertory on behalf of Frank Cook MP."
The note appears to be signed by Mr Cook's personal assistant George O'Neill. However the claim for reimbursement was signed by Mr Cook himself.
It was rejected by a member of staff in the Parliamentary fees office, who wrote on his claim form "not allowed".
Mr Cook last night said he could not remember making the claim, but apologised for doing so and said it was "unjustified".
His claim for the donation is particularly embarrassing because he is an official supporter of the campaign to commemorate Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park, who commanded 11 Group Fighter Command, RAF, during the Battle of Britain.
He is also a former member of the Commons Defence Select Committee and his son Andrew is a serving soldier with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.
Mr Cook – who was deselected as a candidate for the next general election by his local constituency party last year after more than 24 years representing Stockton North – is among the twenty MPs who represent poor value for money to taxpayers, according to an analysis earlier this year by The Sunday Telegraph.
Despite claiming a total of £153,902 in expenses last year, including travel, home, office and staffing costs, Mr Cook turned up to just 44 per cent of votes in Parliament, spoke only 11 times and submitted a mere four questions to Ministers.
In three of the past four years he has claimed the maximum second home expenses under the Additional Costs Allowance (ACA) rules.
Last year he received £23,083 of taxpayers money to run his second home, a house in Camberwell, south London.
The bulk of this went on his mortgage interest payments, which last year reached £1,922 a month following a number of interest rate rises.
Mr Cook, a former gravedigger, Butlins redcoat and special needs teacher, has claimed the maximum ACA in three out of the past four years.
So high were his second home claims in 2004/05 that in February of that year he was reimbursed just 7p out of his £1,618 monthly claim, after having already exceeded the amount permitted under the ACA.
Mr Cook was also involved in an expensive legal fight which he charged to the taxpayer after he was sued for constructive dismissal by a former member of staff.
The MP ran up a legal bill of at least £20,000 between June 2005 and September 2006, after being taken to Newcastle Employment Tribunal by a former employee who alleged constructive and unfair dismissal and discrimination on grounds of disability.
He was reimbursed the full amount with the agreement of the fees office.
The former employee withdrew the claim in September 2006, following months of work by Mr Cook's lawyers, and agreed to pay £2,500 towards the MP's legal costs. This was, however, a fraction of the sum Mr Cook had claimed.
The £2,500 has now been returned in full to the fees office by way of a contribution to the overall cost of the case to the public purse.
Earlier this month Mr Cook said he had no intention of following the example of some MPs and publishing his expenses claims for the public to scrutinise, ahead of their planned publication by the Commons later this summer.
He told his local newspaper: "There's no way that you are going to persuade me to engage in the state of panic and rush that has taken place through all parties for the past 10 days, I've got far too much to do."
Mr Cook, who describes himself as 'Old Labour' and prides himself on his willingness to buck the party line, was criticised by relatives of victims of the Dunblane massacre in 2001 after he prepared an early day motion calling for hand gun laws to be relaxed to help shooting competitors prepare for the Commonwealth Games.
At the time Mr Cook was president of the House of Commons shooting club.
On Saturday night, Mr Cook told The Sunday Telegraph: "I don't remember the specific details of the Battle of Britain Day donation, but the claim was quite unjustified and I have to hold up my hands and say sorry.
"I have been to many memorial services over the years and never made any other claim like this. Neither have I claimed for wreaths, as some MPs have.
"Claiming for my legal bill was justified because I employed the individual as a Parliamentary employee and the case was brought against me as a Member of Parliament and the costs were therefore incurred wholly as a result of carrying out my duties as an MP.
"The individual was encouraged by senior members of the Labour Party to make these allegations against me, which he then withdrew, as a way of getting at me."
Mr Cook disputed claims that he did not represent value for money.
He said that as well as working hard as a constituency MP he is also senior member of the defence and security committee of the Nato Parliamentary Assembly, which involves frequent absences from the Commons.
"To judge someone only on their voting and speaking record in the chamber is a very simplistic view of the duties of an MP," he said.
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