Roger Godsiff was already claiming his maximum second home allowance to cover the interest on a large mortgage for his home in London when he made dozens of claims for 'office sundries' on his office expenses.
Receipts suggest the purchases were in fact for household items including a lawnmower, hedge trimmer, cushion covers and bath mats.
He also used office expenses for extensive roofing work, rewiring, replacement guttering and even clock repair at a property he owns in his Birmingham constituency.
The former bank clerk used the maximum Additional Cost Allowance (ACA) in the four years between 2004/5 and 2007/8 by claiming around £1,900 a month for the mortgage interest and around £400 a month for a secured loan on his detached house in Lewisham, south-east London, which he designated his second home.
The total monthly claims of around £2,300 were so large that the maximum ACA was not enough to cover all his annual repayments.
In total Mr Godsiff claimed £86,919 over four years in second home costs for the house which is in the area in which he grew up and began his political career and where his wife and family are listed on the electoral roll.
Last year the member for Birmingham Sparkbrook & Small Heath turned up for only 49 per cent of House of Commons votes, spoke in four debates and asked nine parliamentary questions but claimed £163,885 in total expenses, including travel, home, office and staffing costs.
Mr Godsiff used his Incidental Expenditure Provision (IEP), which is designed to cover office costs such as stationery and leaflets, to claim for watch batteries costing £28.80, CD polish for £3.99, a £130 leather armchair and £124.40 claim for "stationery" which, according to the receipt, included £18.90 for Nurofen painkillers.
He submitted eight claims from home furnishing chain Dunelm Mill under the heading 'office sundries' even though one of the receipts was clearly marked 'cushion covers' costing £18 and another for "S/S Rev B/Mat Cream" for £13.98.
A telephone call by The Sunday Telegraph to Dunelm Mill confirmed the receipt was for two cream-coloured bathroom mats.
In September 2006 the former trade unionist, a lifelong supporter of south-east London football club Charlton Athletic, claimed £29.99 for "sundries" on his office expenses on a receipt from Focus DIY marked "AHS 4-16 H/TRIM".
A telephone call by The Sunday Telegraph to Focus DIY confirmed the description referred to a Bosch AHS 4-16 hedge trimmer. In 2007 he made a similar claim for "sundries for office" but submitted a receipt for £69.98 from the south-east London branch of B&Q marked "Concorde 320".
A telephone call by The Sunday Telegraph to B&Q confirmed the description was for a Qualcast Concorde lawnmower with 320mm blades.
The 62-year-old former mayor of Lewisham also billed his IEP office allowance for one fifth of the £37,886 cost of improvements to the property he owns in Sheldon, Birmingham.
He claimed for £1,005 for rewiring, £3,953 for extensive roof renovations, £1,356 on fixing a leaking shower and replacing a Saniflo waste pump and £1,260 for redecoration, guttering and new bathroom tiles.
He also claimed £30.08 for "repairs" on his office IEP for one fifth a £150 invoice from a Birmingham firm specialising in "the restoration of antique time pieces".
Other office claims include two £155 chairs, £113 for sending his secretary on a word processing course and the purchase of four coffee makers in the space of three years.
Mr Godsiff, who entered parliament in 1992, has already been selected for the Birmingham Hall Green seat at the next election following boundary changes that will see his existing constituency disappear.
Representing an area with many Muslims, he has repeatedly criticised the Iraq war and the plans for 90 days detention without trial but also called for curbs on further immigration.
Mr Godsiff was unavailable for comment on Saturday. His House of Commons researcher said he was in Asia on parliamentary business.
Roger Godsiff
Job: Labour MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath
Salary: £64,766
Total second home claims
2004-05: £20,902
2005-06: £21,634
2006-07: £22,110
2007-08: £23,083
Total expenses
2007-08: £163,885
Rate of attendance at votes: 49 per cent
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