Robert Walter: The MP claimed £85,000 in four years for his home in Dorset after switching his second home designation from a property in LondonMr Walter bought the carpets to furnish his constituency home while on a visit with fellow Tories, paid for by the Indian government and the Confederation of Indian Industry.
Although the fees office knocked him back for the full amount, it agreed to pay him £600. The MP claimed £85,000 in four years for his home in Dorset after switching his second home designation from a property in London. The total claimed on his additional costs allowance (ACA) includes £16,790 in removal bills, solicitors’ fees, stamp duty and estate agency commission when he moved five miles from his home in Gillingham to his new £395,000 home in Shaftesbury in 2004.
In addition to a £1,200 monthly mortgage interest bill for his Shaftesbury home, he also claimed for gardening, pot plants, cleaning, gas and electricity.
His claims under the incidental expenses provision, which is designed to cover office costs, included receipts for two Marks & Spencer’s Choc Sundaes, an Exquisite Sundae from Morrisons and a Creme Egg bar costing 47p, which he said had been consumed by “unpaid post graduate interns who work on my staff”. An analysis by The Sunday Telegraph found Mr Walter was among those MPs who deliver the least value for money. He claimed £133,000 in expenses, including travel, home, office and staffing costs, in 2007/08, took part in just 36 per cent of votes, spoke in eight debates and submitted 11 written questions.
Mr Walter said that in 1997, when he was elected, his principal home was a farm in Devon and he had designated London as his “second” home.
A widower, he remarried in September 2000 and sold the farm two years later, deciding with his new wife to make London their principal home.
He said: “I designated my constituency home as my second home. In the year in which I claimed removal expenses I made no claim for council tax, utility bills or any other maintenance charges.’’
Robert Walter
Job: Conservative MP for North Dorset
Salary: £64,766
Total second home claims
2004-05: £20,902
2005-06: £19,871
2006-07: £22,095
2007-08: £22,496
Total expenses 2007-08: £133,170
Rate of attendance at votes: 36 per cent.
No comments:
Post a Comment