Shahid Malik unable to produce receipts or rental agreement.

Sir Philip said that it was "unfortunate" that Mr Malik had not been able to establish a proper audit trail to support his assertions on rent payments.

Mr Malik was able to return to the Government as a junior communities minister after he was cleared by Sir Philip of any breach of the ministerial code of conduct.

On Tuesday, the Prime Minister refused to publish a report by Sir Philip into Mr Malik's finances.

But on Wednesday, after calls for publication from figures including Sir Christopher Kelly of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Mr Brown backed down and an edited summary of the document was later published.

The Cabinet Office released Sir Philip's full report, with the address of Mr Malik's Dewsbury house omitted, along with the name of his landlord, Tahir Zaman, and his property company, which had been disclosed previously by The Daily Telegraph.

It found Mr Malik had originally rented one property for £320 a month for three-and-a-half years until the end of May 2008. He then moved into the larger property next door for a monthly rent of £620.

In this report, Sir Philip, the Prime Minister's adviser on ministerial interests, said that he was satisfied that Mr Malik had been charged a commercial rent on both properties, but expressed concern at the way in which payments were made on the second house.


He concluded, in relation to the first property: "I am satisfied that Mr Malik was charged a market, not a discounted rent... I am also satisfied that Mr Malik paid the rent agreed."

On the second, larger property, Sir Philp said he was "clear" that Mr Malik had also been charged the market and not a preferential rent.

"However," he added, "there is no tenancy agreement in relation to the house stating the rent", before noting that there were also no receipts available for cash rental payments involved.

"So I am left with the question, not whether the rent Mr Malik says he was charged was preferential, but whether Mr Malik actually paid the rent he... says he was charged," he said.

"Three pieces of evidence appear to confirm that these cash payments were made...

"I conclude that, on the basis of the evidence before me, it is more likely than not that these cash payments were made."

He added: "It is unfortunate, particularly given his public position, that, in respect of that house, Mr Malik did not think of obtaining at the outset a rental agreement specifying in writing the rent to be paid," Sir Philip said.

"He then entered into an arrangement to pay part of the rent in cash, for which payments (name of the property company) did not give him any receipt.

"I understand the point Mr Malik makes about the influence on him of religious and cultural norms in the Muslim community relating to payments made in cash, but the absence of a rental agreement and of receipts meant that he was left without a clear audit trail to show the payments he had made."

Sir Philip said that Mr Malik had told him that, following original disclosures in The Daily Telegraph's allegations, he had asked for a rental agreement to be drawn up and was "actively considering" paying all of his rent in future by direct debit.

"I hope that, in both his own best interest and the wider interest, he will institute arrangements in this respect immediately," Sir Philip said.

Caroline Flint launches 'stiletto in the heart' of Gordon Brown

After being snubbed for a promotion, Caroline Flint, the Europe Minister, delivered the most personal attack yet on the beleaguered Prime Minister, accusing him of using her as "female window dressing" and of operating a "two-tier Government".

In a move designed to maximise the damage to Mr Brown, she announced she was quitting his Government just as he faced the cameras to insist he would not walk away from Downing Street following Labour's worst performance at the polls in 30 years.

Less than 24 hours earlier, she had taken to the airwaves to support his leadership in the wake of the shock resignation of James Purnell, the Work and Pensions Secretary, and his demand that the Prime Minister go for the good of the party.

But her departure was just one of a series of ministerial walk-outs which undermined Mr Brown's hurried attempt to reshape his Government and relaunch his premiership.

Geoff Hoon, John Hutton, Paul Murphy, Margaret Beckett and Tony McNulty have all quit the Government.

They followed Jacqui Smith, Hazel Blears, Mr Purnell and Beverley Hughes out of the exit door.

Mr Brown was forced to retreat from his plan to sack Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, instead keeping him and Foreign Secretary David Miliband in their posts, promoting leadership rival Alan Johnson to the Home Office and effectively making Peter Mandelson deputy Prime Minister.

Miss Flint's resignation came after a stormy meeting at Downing Street.

She issued a savage resignation letter personally attacking Mr Brown's style of Government and the overwhelming pre-eminence of men.

"You have a two-tier Government, your inner circle and then the remainder of Cabinet," she said.

"Several of the women attending Cabinet – myself included – have been treated by you as little more than female window dressing."

MPs block bid to stop golden farewells

The Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) formally recommended last year that the payments – worth up to £64,766 – should no longer be given to MPs who choose to stand down.

Only those who suddenly needed a job after losing their seat in an election should be eligible, it said, rather than those who knew long beforehand that they would be leaving Parliament.

Had it been implemented, the proposal could have saved the taxpayer millions of pounds at the next general election, when dozens of MPs are expected to stand down following the expenses scandal.

However, in an unusual move, the Speaker’s Committee – a group of MPs including Michael Martin, the Speaker; Harriet Harman, the leader of the House; and Alan Duncan, the shadow leader of the House – rejected the recommendation.

Their decision was never publicised. It was finalised two months ago, after party leaders had been warned privately that many MPs would be embarrassed by the disclosure of their expenses’ claims.

Since The Daily Telegraph began its investigation into the expenses system, more than 15 MPs have announced that they will stand down at the next general election.

It has been predicted that many others will follow. However, to the anger of many of their constituents, all of them will be entitled to the “parachute” payment, or Resettlement Grant as it is officially called.

It is worth up to a year’s salary, depending on the MP’s length of service and age, and the first £30,000 of it is tax-free.

The rejection of the SSRB’s recommendation also means that even those MPs who have been suspended from their parties or forced to stand down over the scandal will receive the payments.

Among those who will be given the grant are Elliot Morley, David Chaytor and Ben Chapman, all of whom made “phantom claims” for mortgage interest on home loans which did not exist.

They were subsequently banned from standing by the Labour Party.

However, in addition to the resettlement grant and their gold-plated final salary pension schemes, “retiring” MPs will receive other payments for up to a year before the next election.

They are entitled to a “winding up allowance” of as much as £42,068 for costs including paying off staff, many of whom are their spouses or relations.

Gordon Brown and David Cameron, the Labour and Conservative leaders, have already come under pressure from Nick Clegg, their Liberal Democrat counterpart, to scrap the parachute payments before the next election.

Mr Cameron has said that he will wait for independent recommendations, despite it now emerging that such proposals have alreadybeen made and privately rejected.

The SSRB, which publishes regular studies on Parliamentary pay, pensions and allowances and is made up of Whitehall officials, recommended an end to the payments last year.

In its January 2008 report, which was presented to Parliament, Sir John Baker, the head of the SSRB, said: “We consider the purpose of the grant is analogous to redundancy payments and we recommend that it should no longer be paid to MPs who retire or resign.”

However, minutes from a meeting held in the Speaker’s house in March 2008 and attended by the Labour MP Sir Stuart Bell, the Lib Dem Nick Harvey and the Conservative David Maclean, noted that the group disagreed with the SSRB about the resettlement grant.

“The view was expressed that the SSRB had underestimated the uncertainty of parliamentary life and the impact on Members after normal retirement age,” the minutes stated.

By June 2008, the Speaker’s Committee had decided that if MPs could only get the resettlement grant by standing again, they might deliberately stand for unwinnable seats, which would be “difficult to manage”.

By April 2009, the committee had decided to reject the SSRB proposal. The new Green Book of Parliamentary rules stated that the payments would be made “for all Members who fail to be re-elected or who do not stand at a general election”.

The resettlement grant is also available to MPs who stand down during a parliament because of ill-health. These MPs have to write to the director of the fees office setting out their situation.

MPs including Ian McCartney, Elliot Morley and Margaret Moran (all Labour) have all mentioned health problems in their resignation statements. It is not known whether any MPs have contacted the fees office. At the 2005 election, 136 MPs left the Commons and got £5.3 million, an average of 64 per cent of their salary.

Only 49 would have received the resettlement grant under the proposals.

More than 15 MPs, including the Conservatives Douglas Hogg, Julie Kirkbride and Sir Peter Viggers, have now announced that they will stand down at the next election after The Daily Telegraph published details about their expenses.

Bob Blizzard

Bob Blizzard claims £1,278.25 monthly mortgage interest payments on a second home in London. Mr Blizzard has made few other claims. Those included £363 for a washing machine.

David Blunkett

David Blunkett designates his second home as a rented property in Derbyshire. He pays £600 per month in rent. He claimed £1,600 for half the cost of relaying a path there.

Anne Cryer and son John both claimed for flat owned by her daughter

Ann Cryer, who is still the Labour MP for Keighley, billed the taxpayer for the cost of living in a Westminster flat owned by her daughter Jane Kilduff and her husband, which they later sold for a big profit. At the same time, her son John Cryer, then MP for Hornchurch, also claimed the additional costs allowance on the flat.

The expenses files show that in 2004, both Mrs Cryer and her son designated the flat in Westminster as their second home for the purposes of claiming the additional costs allowance. Mrs Cryer paid her daughter £1,200 a month in rent, while Mr Cryer claimed £400 a month for food.

Mr Cryer, who represented the Essex constituency, 15 miles from Westminster, until he lost the seat in the 2005 election, completed his second home claim forms without including an address.

When the fees office asked him to supply one, Mr Cryer wrote: "Further to our conversation of a few weeks ago, I confirm that I sometimes stay overnight at my sister's flat". He then gave the address of the flat also named by Mrs Cryer.

Jane and her husband David Kilduff had bought the Westminster flat in 2001 for £435,000. They sold it in 2006, for £635,000 – an uplift of £200,000.

Mrs Kilduff, known professionally by her maiden name of Jane Cryer, is the divisional Crown Prosecutor for the CPS in Calderdale, West Yorkshire.

Her husband is a partner at solicitors Walker Morris in Leeds. The law firm's website says Mr Kilduff is "a nationally recognised leader in the field of public sector law, including experience in all aspects of powers, procurement, joint ventures and, more recently, the PFI and PPP in local government, health, education and defence sectors".

Mrs Cryer granted Mr Kilduff a parliamentary pass, which allowed him access to the House of Commons. After Mrs Cryer moved out of her daughter's flat, she bought another flat in the apartment block next door for £285,000 which she designated her second home.

She then claimed £10,126 for stamp duty and legal fees relating to the purchase of the new flat. She also spent a total of £3,243 on household goods. Mrs Cryer recently showed receipts to her local newspaper and said she had put her life savings into the new flat. "I really was trying to be Mrs Virtuous," said Mrs Cryer. "It saddens me some people have stretched their claims."

Mrs Cryer took out a mortgage of £150,000 on the new flat and claimed the mortgage interest payments.

In total, Mrs Cryer, who has been an MP since 1997, claimed £82,670 in four years.

SNAPSHOT

Ann Cryer

Job: backbench Labour MP for Keighley

Salary: £64,766

Total second home claims

2004-05: £20,160

2005-06: £21,634

2006-07: £21,111

2007-08: £19,765


John Cryer

Job: former Labour MP for Hornchurch

Salary: £57,485 in 2004

Total second home claims

2004-05: £4,571

2005-06: N/A

2006-07: N/A

2007-08: N/A

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

Bob Ainsworth's repairs cost the taxpayer £5,925

Bob Ainsworth, the Armed Forces Minister

Bob Ainsworth, the MP for Coventry North East, also tried to claim £2,225 for a sofa and £1,000 for a LCD Samsung television, both of which were reduced by the fees office.

According to the Green Book of parliamentary rules, MPs are not allowed to claim “the capital cost of repairs which go beyond making good dilapidations and enhance the property”.

In files seen by The Daily Telegraph, Mr Ainsworth submitted two invoices for £8,025 in July 2005, which detailed work to be carried out on the property.

The invoices included removing a wall between the sitting room and study and adding “support with oak beam”, supplying and fitting oak beams to the ceilings, “hacking” off Artex, the swirling ceiling plaster popular in the 1970s, and removing pipes at the side of the fire.

The work also “exposed brickwork to the fireplace and constructed archway for fire”, while carrying out brickwork “for support of railway sleeper”.

Describing the internal work, the invoice added: “Decorate on completion in style and colours of your choice.” The invoices also included electrical work, preparing floors for laminate, fitting a drain gully, supplying and fitting pine doors, as well as installing a 6ft by 3ft gate “with good quality locks” and constructing a 6ft by 12ft fence.

On Tuesday, the MP said he had only claimed for necessary repair work and had reduced the bill to £5,925 to avoid claiming for capital improvements.

In April 2006, Mr Ainsworth submitted a further £951 bill for fencing and in August charged £1,160 for a gas fire.

That same year, he was told by officials he could not claim £1,000 for a Samsung LCD television because he had exceeded the “recommended maximum”.

In August, the minister wrote to the fees office to explain why he was claiming £2,225 for a Roma corner sofa.

He said: “If you feel this is excessive can I say that due to size and layout of the room a normal three-piece suite will not fit. This 'corner group’ fits perfectly and maximises the space.”

But in October, the fees office told him again the claim was greater than the “recommended maximum”.

In February 2007, Mr Ainsworth claimed £2,000 to re-point part of the property and two months later submitted a third claim for fencing worth £4,500.

Between May 2005 and April 2007, he claimed a total of £19,920 in renovations, repairs, furniture and electrical equipment. He also submitted regular claims for the maximum monthly food allowance of £400 and monthly bills of £45 for dry cleaning.

At the end of 2007, Mr Ainsworth switched his designated second home to a flat in London, which he rented from Lady Grylls, the mother of adventurer Bear Grylls, and claimed a monthly rent of £1,208.

In 2007-8, the minister was the joint highest claimant for second home allowances, claiming the maximum amount of £23,083.

On Tuesday, Mr Ainsworth said he had acted entirely within the spirit and letter of the rules.

Referring to the £5,925 bill, he said: “I claimed some of this amount for repair and redecoration work.

“The repair work included: refitting a damp floor; the removal of a dangerous chimney and corroding pipe work; rewiring unsafe electrical cables; and the redecoration of two rooms, the study and lounge. As permitted by the rules.

“I paid for the work which covered the improvements made to my home. I paid this money because under the rules I did not believe that I was entitled to claim for improvements.”

Mr Ainsworth said he accepted the cap on his claims for the television and sofa, had replaced the gas fire because it was dangerous and claimed for dry cleaning and food as was permitted under the rules.

“Along with most of my colleagues, I recognise that the allowance system for MPs is now completely discredited and needs to be swiftly replaced,” he added.

“I can state in all honesty that I acted within the spirit and letter of the rules. However the problem is, of course, that the rules were not good rules.

“We now must act to change this.”

Bob Ainsworth

Job: Minister of State for the Armed Forces and Labour MP for Coventry North East

Salary: £104,050

Total second home claims

2004-05: £19,275

2005-06: £18,911

2006-07: £18,878

2007-08: £23,083

Hazel Blears' resignation 'due to capital gains tax avoidance on another property'

Hazel Blears: Communities secretary has stood down from the Cabinet

The property allegedly involved had previously been declared as her second home for the purpose of claiming parliamentary expenses.

It is understood that the Communities Secretary was concerned that it might be disclosed that there was another property deal from which she gained.

The Telegraph has learned that the £13,000 that Miss Blears repaid voluntarily last month, in the wake of expenses disclosures about the sale of her Kennington flat, was not allegedly to cover just one property.

It is understood that a Cabinet Office compliance unit looking at ministers’ arrangements has uncovered another property sale in which Miss Blears declared the property as her primary residence for tax purposes while at the same time telling the Commons authorities that it was her designated second home.

She was apparently concerned that the full details would soon emerge - possibly as early as today.

The Telegraph last month sparked the controversy surrounding Miss Blears when we disclosed that she sold a property in Kennington, south London, in August 2004 for £200,000, making a profit of £45,000. She had designated that property as her second home for parliamentary expenses purposes.

The “flipping” of properties involved is not against the law or the rules governing MPs’ expenses claims, but Gordon Brown called her behaviour “totally unacceptable.”

Miss Blears confirmed on May 12 that she did not pay capital gains tax (CGT) on the profit from the sale because "no liability" had arisen.

But in an effort to shore up her Cabinet position she went before television cameras and wrote a cheque for £13,000. She has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

It was presumed that the amount was for the Kennington flat, but that allegedly is not the case.

The disclosure that the £13,000 allegedly included “back tax” for another “flipped” property deal will lead many to suspect that she resigned today before the details were disclosed.

The resignation of Miss Blears has deepened the political crisis now engulfing Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister.

Dealing a fresh blow to Mr Brown’s fragile political authority in the wake of the MPs' expenses scandal, Miss Blears said in her resignation statement today that the Labour Party has lost its connection with the British people.

“I have told the Prime Minsiter I am resigning from the Government,” Miss Blears said. “I am returning to the grassroots. I want to help the Labour Party to reconnect with the British people.

"My politics has always been rooted in the belief that ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things.

"The role of a progressive Government should be to pass power to the people.

"I want to help the Labour Party to reconnect with the British people, to remind them that our values are their values, that their hopes and dreams are ours too."

Today's statement was notable for the absence of any expression of backing for the Prime Minister.

David Cameron, the Tory leader, taunted Mr Brown in the Commons today at prime minister's questions, saying his command over his Cabinet had "simply disappeared".

Mr Cameron accused the premier of being "in denial" in the wake of the resignation of Miss Blears and other ministerial departures.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Theresa May said the Government was no longer capable of governing and that a General Election was now essential.

"The Government has no answer. They are racked by infighting and they are unable to deal with the real issues that matter to people," she told the BBC News channel. "We need a General Election."

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said the Government was in its "death throes".

Gordon Brown “respects and understands” Hazel Blears’ decision to quit the Cabinet and believes she made “an outstanding contribution to public life”, said a Downing Street spokesman.

Miss Blears told Mr Brown of her decision to quit at a face-to-face meeting this morning.

The spokesman added: "She will be replaced very shortly."

Miss Blears' move followed confirmation that Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, will step down from the Cabinet at the reshuffle. Two other minsters, Tom Watson and Beverley Hughes, have also said they are quitting.

Miss Blears has been a public critic of the Prime Minister, and there is now intense speculation that she will attack him from the backbenches.

Colin Challen sold flat to senior researcher, then rented it back nightly

Colin Challen said his senior researcher did 'not fall within the category of a business associate' and was not a relative or partner

Mr Challen, the MP for Morley and Rothwell, sold the flat to Tina Davy in 2006 but rented it regularly until November 2007. Since then, he has stayed in hotels in London.

Although the Green Book states that the second home allowance must not be claimed for leasing accommodation from “close business associates”, partners or family, Mr Challen said the fees office approved the claim.

He said his senior researcher did “not fall within the category of a business associate” and was not a relative or partner.

Mr Challen bought the flat in the Pimlico apartment block for £175,000 in 2001, shortly after he was elected to Parliament.

Five years later, he sold the flat to Miss Davy for £210,000, which was the market price. Mr Challen said he paid capital gains tax on the £35,000 profit.

After the sale, the MP paid Miss Davy for “accommodation at £60 per night” for up to 14 nights a month and also claimed about £130 a month for food. For October and November 2007, the price rose to £70 a night. In the past 18 months, Mr Challen claimed for stays in hotels, which cost about £160 a night.

“I think all my claims have been justified and not only conform to the letter but the spirit of the rules,” said Mr Challen. “I now stay in a hotel, and have done so for nearly a year and a half.”

He announced that he was standing down at the next election. A new seat — Morley and Outwood — was being created from Mr Challen’s seat in West Yorkshire and the neighbouring Normanton constituency of Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.

Although at first Mr Challen, 55, said he would fight for selection in the new seat, he decided to let Mr Balls stand unopposed.

Mr Challen said: “I sold my flat because boundary changes had made my future as an MP uncertain and I had a buyer. I was able to rent from the buyer whilst I considered what my accommodation needs were, and did so at a considerable saving to the public purse.”

Mr Challen, who is unmarried, said he would leave parliament to campaign against climate change. He has been a member of the Commons’ environmental audit committee since shortly after he was elected and also sits on the energy and climate change select committee.

Miss Davy, 47, lists public affairs work for The Davy Consultancy on the parliamentary register of interests. In March, she attended the worldwide conference on climate change in Copenhagen with Mr Challen and she also visited the European Space Agency in Frascati in Italy with the MP in 2007.

Colin Challen

Job: Labour MP for Morley and Rothwell

Salary: £64,766

Total second home claims

2004-05: £13,190

2005-06: £16,521

2006-07: £12,694

2007-08: £11,412

Lynne Jones claimed £1,000 for wallpaper

Lynne Jones gave her Lambeth flat a £22,000 facelift, including £6,100 for a new bathroom, £600 for Persian rugs and £518 for an LCD television.

Miss Jones, a leading member of the Socialist Campaign Group founded by supporters of Tony Benn, gave her Lambeth flat a £22,000 facelift which also included £6,100 for a new bathroom, £600 for Persian rugs and £518 for an LCD television.

Almost £7,000 of claims for painting and decorating, furnishings and a new boiler were paid out after the date in 2007 when Miss Jones announced her intention to stand down as MP for Birmingham Selly Oak at the next general election.

The cost to the taxpayer would have been even greater if the parliamentary fees office had not refused to pay for other items deemed “excessive”, that included two limited edition etchings by the artist Phil Greenwood which cost a total of £725, and £1,105 of decorating work for which the bill was put in too late.

Many of the claims submitted by Miss Jones appear highly questionable in the light of rules set out in the parliamentary Green Book, which ban claims for any items which are “luxurious or premium grade” or work which “enhances” a property.

Miss Jones, 58, a former Birmingham city councillor who has been a backbench Labour MP since 1992, is a staunch opponent of the New Labour project, and threatened to stand against Gordon Brown to prevent him being elected unopposed as Labour leader. Between 2004 and 2008 she claimed a total of £61,468 in second home allowances for her London flat, where the mortgage interest repayments in 2008 were just £314 per month.

In the same period, Miss Jones claimed £5,074 for a painter and decorator. In addition she claimed for 11 rolls of block printed Farrow & Ball “St Antoine” wallpaper, at £63.99 per roll; eight rolls of Farrow & Ball Toile Trellis wallpaper at £52 per roll, and £71.50 for Farrow & Ball paint.

The mother of two also submitted two invoices for the refurbishment of a bathroom, totalling £6,100, £323 for two pictures, £1,298 for a bed from the Iron Bed Company, £600 for bookshelves and £878 for new floorboards. She claimed £600 towards the £1,300 cost of two Persian rugs.

An £815 bill for the replacement of two radiators was submitted twice and appeared to have been paid for twice.

In January 2007 Miss Jones announced that she would not be standing at the next general election, but the refurbishment of her London flat carried on, with another £6,761 spent on renovations. Miss Jones, who has already published details of her expenses on her website, yesterday said she had decorated her London home to a similar standard to her constituency home, often using the same brands, such as the Farrow & Ball wallpaper, which she regarded as being “in both the spirit and letter of the rules as I understood them”.

She said the old bathroom had been “tatty and unhygienic” and that she would be contacting the fees office to see if the plumbing bill had been paid twice.

She also said she would pay capital gains tax on any profit she made.

Lynne Jones

Job: backbench Labour MP for Birmingham Selly Oak

Salary: £64,766

Total second home claims:

2004-05: £16,319

2005-06: £17,576

2006-07: £14,045

2007-08: £13,528

Celia Barlow claimed £28,000 before switching home

Labour MP Celia Barlow submitted a £540 bill for gardening, installed a porch door and submitted another £520 invoice for shed removal.

In the 10 months after she informed officials of her plans, Miss Barlow redecorated two bathrooms, claimed more than £1,000 for electrical work and spent thousands in removal fees.

She submitted a £540 bill for gardening and installed a porch door and submitted another £520 invoice for removing a shed from her new garden and getting rid of unwanted concrete.

The MP for Hove has been feted for making no claims on her second home allowance in the past two years.

However, in 2006-07 she ranked joint first on the list of highest claimants.

Last week when questioned locally about her expenses, she said she had “no idea” how people would react.

In January 2006, Miss Barlow told the fees office she was nominating her new £555,000 house in Hove as her second home, with the intention that it would soon become her main house.

This allowed the MP to claim legal fees, stamp duty and her mortgage broker’s charges.

She also submitted a £2,890 bill for removal costs in the same form at the beginning of 2006. In all, she claimed £29,399 and was paid £13,881 by the fees office.

In May 2006, Miss Barlow submitted a £1,437 claim for moving furniture on her second home allowance.

Two months later, she claimed £5,565 which included £2,321 for “alterations to two bathrooms”, a £502 bill for storage and a £294 bill for a bed and a chair.

The MP was paid all but £446 of the bill.

She was refused the cost of the furniture because the receipt dated back to the last allowance year. Miss Barlow also submitted two receipts worth £1,060 for the cost of gardening, removing a wooden shed and concrete and installing a porch door. Although one claim for £520 was rejected, it was not clear if she was paid for the remaining £540.

In August 2006, Miss Barlow submitted an invoice from Bathstore which included a lavatory, basin, shower valve and a “high lustre silver” bath screen which came to £2,458.

Her total claim came to £5,183 and she was paid £4,935. She then submitted another claim which included £458 for a whirlpool bath, £574 for more bathroom goods and £1,183 for electrical services.

In all she claimed £4,181 and was paid £3,570 by the fees office, which took her to her maximum annual allowance of £22,110 five months early.

Miss Barlow said the fees office asked if she intended to make the Hove address her main home.

“I said that I probably would do so which I did after the move to Hove was concluded. I was advised to claim for the cost of moving into the Hove home.”

She said the porch was installed for security reasons, one bathroom was bare and the other had a broken lavatory.

Miss Barlow said the move took time because her children went to school in Chichester and that she had stopped claiming ACA in October 2006, even though she was entitled to a second allowance.

Tom Harris, the fees office and the battle of the bottle steriliser

Tom Harris said MPs needed 'two of almost anything'

Mr Harris, who designated his property in London as his second home, said MPs needed “two of almost everything”, including the equipment for his child.

His claims of £90 for the cot and £50 for the steriliser, made under the additional costs allowance (ACA), were rejected because they were “not wholly, exclusively and necessarily” incurred in relation to parliamentary duties.

Mr Harris wrote to the fees office to complain. He said: “I wish to object to your decision not to reimburse me for the costs of purchasing a baby’s cot and bottle steriliser for use in my London home.

“I can confirm that these expenses have been incurred 'wholly, exclusively and necessarily’ in relation to my parliamentary duties in that the only reason my wife and baby son visit me in London is because I live there half the week. And the only reason I live in London half the week is that I am a Member of Parliament.

“MPs by necessity have to own two of almost everything — two sets of furniture, two TV sets, two DVD players, two electric shavers, etc.

“Since all of these were legitimately claimed from my ACA, perhaps you can explain why a cot for my son cannot be.”

Mr Harris concluded: “If you insist on upholding this odd decision, perhaps you might be good enough to write to me explaining where my son should sleep next time he visits me in London?”

But officials in the fees office were unmoved. In July 2008 Mr Harris claimed £19.99 for a child’s bed set and £59.79 for a child’s inflatable bed, which were also rejected.

He said: “It’s important to me that I see my young children as much as possible, even when I’m in London..”

Mr Harris said he bought the blow-up bed because it was cheaper than a “proper” bed, which would have been allowed under the rules.

Brian Donohoe allowed to claim over odds so fees office not 'petty'

The fees office did not want to antagonise Brian Donohoe or appear petty

Mr Donohoe put through a £2,575 receipt for one three-seat sofa and two double-seaters after buying them in Ayr in February 2006.

He was challenged by the fees office as the address printed on the invoice was that of his main home in Scotland, not his flat in London, which he designated as his second home.

He provided another receipt containing the address in the capital but officials then considered questioning the sum, as it was £75 more than is allowed for a three-piece suite.

However, an internal memo states: “I’m aware of the £2,500 guideline set for furniture but as Mr Donohoe has exceeded this by £75, I don’t see any benefit in reducing this claim. It would antagonise Mr Donohoe and would make ourselves seem petty.” The expenses file for Mr Donohoe, who represents Central Ayrshire, shows that he spent thousands of pounds worth of public money on renovating a London flat before selling it.

He had owned the property since 1993 and in 2004-05 was reimbursed £2,190 for secondary glazing, £4,409 on furniture and £3,500 for a new bathroom.

In November 2005, he sold the flat for £173,000 and began renting a property near Westminster. The following summer he bought another flat nearby for £430,000 and claimed £1,733 in legal fees.

The fees office had to ask him to return the £1,650 deposit on the rented flat.

Mr Donohoe said: “At the time this work was done on the windows and bathroom, I was planning to stay in the flat. I didn’t know I would be selling it later that year.

“The furniture was in fact delivered to London, and is in my current flat.”

Brian Donohoe

Job: backbench Labour MP for Ayrshire Central

Salary: £64,766

Total second home claims

2004-05: £17,552

2005-06: £21,512

2006-07: £22,110

2007-08: £23,083

Rosie Winterton claimed for soundproofing bedroom

Rosie Winterton also claimed expenses for gardening and decorating at her flat.

Miss Winterton’s claims, which are close to the maximum allowance for second homes, will raise concerns that some MPs spend large sums of taxpayers’ money on improving properties.

The Labour MP claimed £4,690 for “soundproofing of bedroom wall and redecoration to bedroom, bathroom, living room, kitchen, staircase” in February 2007.

The payment was reduced to £3,800 by the fees office after it refused to pay for soundproofing with acoustic felt and “acoustic mineral wool slabs”.

The labour and materials for the soundproofing cost £890.

Three months later Miss Winterton claimed £2,574 for installing a new television aerial and work on the front and back of the house.

Another claim for £550 at the same time repaired a leak from a lavatory, which caused “damp stains” on the ceiling of the room below.

Miss Winterton, 50, is a close ally of John Prescott, the former deputy prime minister. She has known Mr Prescott since she was a student and began her political career working in his Hull constituency office.

She was Mr Prescott’s head of office between 1994 and 1997.

Mr Prescott supported her selection for the safe seat of Doncaster Central and Miss Winterton was elected to Parliament in 1997. She was promoted to the Government in 2001.

Miss Winterton bought the flat in a tree-lined cul-de-sac in south London for £315,000 in 2003. The terrace house is now believed to be worth at least £380,000. In 2005, she submitted a bill from a garden landscaping firm for £3,000. The fees office withheld the payment on the grounds that it “may be considered excessive”.

The landscape gardener’s invoice included decking, 38 bags of gravel and deluxe trellis. “Please observe the quality of the trellis,” wrote the gardener. The fees office agreed to pay £1,700 after correspondence with the MP.

Other claims included £298 for linen and curtains from House of Fraser and £96 for towels, as well as £750 a month for mortgage interest. Last year, Miss Winterton also claimed £1,100 for a burglar alarm. Over four years, she claimed £86,277. “All my reimbursed claims were either for replacement items or for repairs and maintenance work,” said Miss Winterton.

“The claims for the particular items about which you asked were discussed with the fees office and they decided which parts of the invoices should be reimbursed. However, it is obvious that we do need a new system which I support.”

As health minister, she was in charge of introducing the NHS dental contract in 2006. Last year, the House of Commons health select committee found that instead of improving access to NHS dentistry the reforms have made it worse.

Hundreds of dentists have left the NHS after refusing to sign up to the contract and in the two years after the contract was introduced, 900,000 fewer people saw an NHS dentist than in the last two years of the previous system.

Rosie Winterton

Job: Minister for Work and Pensions

Salary: £104,050

Total second home claims

2004-05: £20,902

2005-06: £21,634

2006-07: £22,110

2007-08: £21,631

Mark Hendrick paid back £7,000 after claiming for loan on two homes

Mark Hendrick would not give the Telgraph mortgage statements to support his claims for interest.

Mr Hendrick, MP for Preston, yesterday admitted that he had been claiming on a mortgage that covered both his constituency “second home” and his main residence in London, in breach of the rules.

When questioned about his mortgage interest claims earlier this week by The Daily Telegraph Mr Hendrick denied any wrongdoing in relation to his mortgage claims, although he did admit “estimating” his claims.

But on Thursday he disclosed he had had to repay £6,850.52 to the fees office after over-claiming on his second home allowance.

After the improper claims were noticed by the fees office and the money repaid in 2008, Mr Hendrick submitted similar claims the following year, and was again paid in full for the mortgage interest for both properties. It has been reported that he has agreed to repay a further £949.17 when he returns to Westminster next week.

His claims first aroused suspicion when it was noticed that he claimed regularly for varying amounts. He said that this was because he “estimated” his claims because his mortgage included a capital repayment element that he found difficult to separate out.

At the end of the year, he said, he worked out the correct figure and informed the fees office accordingly. Files seen by The Daily Telegraph show no such settlements were recorded, with the exception of a sum of £1,344.54 in January 2008, which he said was for “unclaimed mortgage”.

Mr Hendrick refused this newspaper’s request to provide mortgage statements to support his claims for between £900 and £1,015 a month on the north London flat he had initially designated as his second home, before “flipping” to his house in Preston.

In 2007, Mr Hendrick paid off the mortgage on the London flat, but transferred the loan to the mortgage on his Preston house, and began charging the taxpayer up to £1,469 a month for the interest on the full debt.

In a statement to his local newspaper, Mr Hendrick said he wrote to the fees office last July to “seek clarification”.

He was told that he had been overpaid, and agreed to pay the money back, but went on to make similar claims for this year.

Nigel Griffiths's £3,600 claim for help listening to 'Scottish TV and radio'

Nigel Griffiths is a former minister and close friend of Gordon Brown

The former minister and close friend of Gordon Brown also argued that a flat-screen television was the best option because he lived in a “cramped flat”.

Mr Griffiths recently admitted to a sexual liaison with a woman in his parliamentary office on Remembrance Sunday last November.

He initially denied being unfaithful to his wife of 30 years, Sally, but was forced to confess after pictures of the tryst were published.

John Lyon, the standards commissioner, received a number of formal complaints about Mr Griffiths, but ruled he had done nothing wrong and had not broken the MPs’ code of conduct by engaging in a sexual assignation within the Palace of Westminster.

The MP for Edinburgh South and former deputy leader of the Commons was taken to task by the fees office in May 2004.

When his £3,604.99 claim for a television, DVD and digital radio was queried, he wrote: “As a Scottish MP, I can only keep in touch with events during the day, which might affect my constituents, by tuning into the Scottish radio stations which the digital set provides.

“Likewise, I record the Scottish TV news and Scottish current affairs programmes, which feature issues in Scotland and in south Edinburgh. In a cramped London flat, flat-screen TV is the sensible option.”

Unimpressed, the fees office wrote back four days later to tell him it had not changed its mind: “Whilst we understand your explanation for the need for the purchase of these items, it is the level of your purchases that remains under question. “An amount of £3,604.99 is not considered to be an appropriate use of public funds when other more reasonably priced options are available.”

Mr Griffiths was asked to contact the director of operations if he wanted to argue the matter further. He did not do so. In November 2004, the MP successfully claimed £9,250 to redecorate the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom in his London flat, £220 for a carpet and £230 for pots and kitchen utensils.

Six months later, he claimed again for redecoration and was reimbursed by the fees office for £4,911. Mr Griffiths redecorated a third time in 2006 and charged the taxpayer £3,310, which was approved.

He said he bought the television to replace one he purchased in Edinburgh in 1983 and a DVD player to replace a 1986 video recorder.

“I mainly use [them] to watch recordings of Scottish TV news programmes affecting my constituents. I also purchased a digital radio, again primarily for listening to BBC Radio Scotland and other stations carrying news of relevance to my constituents.

“I asked the fees office whether these items were refundable and was told to put the request in writing, which I did. The fees office came to the view that they were not eligible for funding.

“None of the items were paid for out of any parliamentary allowance.”

Mr Griffiths said he had decided to redecorate after 14 years and the cost, mainly for labour, “was not exceptional”.

Nigel Griffiths

Job: backbench Labour MP

Salary: £64,766

Total second home claims

2004-05: £20,902

2005-06: £21,394

2006-07: £21,569

2007-08: £15,943

Geoff Hoon pays back allowances money

Secretary of State for Transport, Geoff Hoon.

Mr Hoon's constituency home was funded by the taxpayer while he was also claiming parliamentary allowances for a London town house, it has been disclosed.

During 2006, he claimed hundreds of pounds for the Derbyshire house after "flipping" his designated second home to the capital.

The Transport Secretary has now apologised "unreservedly" for what he described as an "inadvertent administrative error" and repaid £384 to the parliamentary authorities.

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, has also repaid more than £600 after it emerged that he had funded two different second homes at the same time from his expenses.

Gordon Brown was under increasing pressure to take action against Cabinet ministers who have made questionable expense claims. Several back-bench MPs have been suspended from the Labour Party but no senior figures have been disciplined.

Today, David Chaytor, the Labour MP for Bury North, announced that he would resign from parliament at the next election after claiming a 'phantom' mortgage on his expenses.

Meanwhile, Patricia Hewitt, the former Cabinet minister, also said she was standing down at the next election.

She claimed that her decision had nothing to do with the on-going MPs' expenses scandal.

The Daily Telegraph disclosed that Mr Hoon, like Mr Darling, made a series of claims covering two properties during the same period.

Between 2002 and July, 2006, Mr Hoon lived in a grace-and-favour apartment as Defence Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons.

During this time, he claimed parliamentary expenses for his family home. However, after leaving the grace-and-favour apartment in 2006 he "flipped" his designated second home to a property he had purchased in London.

Mr Hoon's expenses files disclose that before flipping, he claimed back bills for a full year's insurance, an annual British Gas service contract and a TV licence in Derbyshire. In a single year, he billed the taxpayer for three TV licences.

Parliamentary rules allow MPs to claim for only one property at a time on second-home expenses. However, these disclosures show that Mr Hoon had already claimed for services in Derbyshire covering the period when London had become his designated second home. After "flipping", he also bought a number of items in Derbyshire, including glass panes, apparently for his London home.

The latest disclosures add to growing questions over Mr Hoon's expenses claims. It has already emerged that the Transport Secretary did not pay capital gains tax when selling another London flat he owned in 2006. Mr Hoon also claimed for the cost of receiving personal tax advice. He submitted the biggest bill of any Cabinet minister for tax advice – almost £3,000.

He also spent thousands of pounds on furniture, redecorating and electoral items for his Derbyshire house shortly before "flipping" his designated second home to the London property.

The mortgage on his Derbyshire home was less than £300 a month, compared with almost £900 for the London town house. Last night, a spokesman for the Transport Secretary said: "Mr Hoon repaid the money as soon as this was drawn to his attention and although this was an inadvertent administrative error, he unreservedly apologises for the mistake."

Natascha Engel claimed for DVDs of own speech in Parliament

Miss Engel, a Labour backbencher, claimed £117.50 in October 2005 to pay for ten copies of the DVD from the Parliamentary Recording Unit showing her first speech since being elected in that year's General Election.

Miss Engel, who has said she wants her constituents to judge whether her expenses are justified, also claimed £12 for a copy of Thomas Mann's Nobel Prize winning novel, The Magic Mountain, set in a tuberculosis clinic in the Swiss Alps before the First World War.

In November 2005 she charged the taxpayer for a set of socialist history posters to decorate her office. Miss Engel claimed £28.95 on her office expenses for the material, bought by mail-order from the People's History Museum in Manchester.

They included reproductions of historic posters, including "Women vote Labour", "Labour Clears The Way" and "Women Workers".

She also claimed for a set of May Day greetings cards to celebrate workers' day and a set of cards by the 19th century artist Walter Crane, entitled "Solidarity of Labour".

These were delivered, along with the posters, to her constituency office in the Derbyshire village of Eckington.

Miss Engel claimed for the costs of all the items under her Incidental Expenses Provision (IEP) which is designed to cover the costs of running her office.

After being contacted by The Sunday Telegraph Miss Engel said she would be returning the money for the DVDs, book, posters and greetings cards to the fees office.

She said: "The copies of the maiden speech, the charge for the book and the May Day greetings cards are inappropriate and I will pay them back."

An analysis by The Sunday Telegraph has shown that Miss Engel is one of the MPs who offers the least value for money when her work in Parliament is compared to her expenses claims.

Despite attending only a third of votes, speaking in only 14 debates and submitting just four questions to Ministers, she claimed a total of £149,621 in expenses for travel, home, office and staffing.

Miss Engel has already promised to hold a series of "kangaroo courts" to allow her constituents to judge whether she should stand down over her expenses claims.

It was revealed earlier this month in The Daily Telegraph that shortly after being elected in 2005 she spent thousands of pounds of taxpayers' cash on furniture and fittings for her second home under her Accidental Costs Allowance (ACA).

On being elected Miss Engel bought an £1,800 television, a £2,900 sofa and a £1,950 bed.

The fees office docked her payments to the maximum £750 each allowed for the television and bed and £2,000 for the sofa.

She also bought a dishwasher, fridge freezer, washing machine, microwave and kettle, at a total cost of £1,666, which was paid in full.

Miss Engel was also reimbursed hundreds of pounds for expensive kitchenware, including six champagne flutes at a cost of £30 each, a £13.90 Nigella Lawson kitchen herb chopper and a £79.99 "mobile cool box" to drive her groceries from London to Derbyshire.

Last night Miss Engel said: "The maiden speech DVDs were requested by constituents, but that is not a justification. The charge for the posters was to decorate our new office.

"I don't think they promote the Labour Party so much as political history. The expense for these posters will, though, also be returned.

"In mitigation, I had a baby three weeks after the General Election and so my office manager at the time (who no longer works for me), had to set up the constituency office largely in my absence. I take full responsibility for the claims made, though."

She defended buying furniture and fittings for her second home, and pointed out that she had claimed for few items since then other than mortgage interest, utilities and council tax.

Miss Engel said: "We moved our London home to a less expensive house and remortgaged it in order to cover the cost of renovating a very run-down house.

"I did not charge any of that to the taxpayer, and that comes to well over double any total ACA claims I have ever made. I have never claimed for food, nor flipped homes, nor made any financial gain from the second home allowance."

Regarding her work rate Miss Engel pointed out she had been on maternity leave last year and since then her attendance record had risen sharply.

She added: "Many MPs ask thousands of questions and clog up the civil service in order to 'up' their work rate. I think this is wrong and made a conscious decision not to do it.

"In debates the Speaker chooses who to call and this is often determined by seniority. I am a new backbencher and therefore have no seniority. I hope this is something we can look at in the future.

"The work rate does not take into account any committees we sit on, meetings we attend and organise, and most importantly, any work we do in the constituency."

Natascha Engel

Job: Labour MP for North East Derbyshire; parliamentary private secretary to Minister of State at Cabinet Office

Salary: £64,766

Total second home claims

2004-05: N/A

2005-06: £21,064

2006-07: £22,110

2007-08: £20,267

Total expenses

2007-08: £149,621

Rate of attendance at votes: 30 per cent

Roger Godsiff claimed for bath mats and property repairs on MPs' expenses

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