Tory claims £57,000 to rent flat from own company.

Brian Binley claimed £1,500 a month to rent the flat for more than three years, despite House of Commons rules forbidding MPs from renting properties from themselves or their companies.

The Daily Telegraph can disclose that Mr Binley’s rental claims were first flagged up by parliamentary officials in April 2006, but the payments were not stopped until April of this year.

In 2006, he was told that the claims were not allowed. But he was permitted to continue claiming after appealing to Michael Martin, the Speaker of the House of Commons. Mr Martin only ruled in April 2009 that the claims must stop but Mr Binley has not had to repay the £57,000 he improperly received while the Speaker deliberated.

The latest disclosure concerning MPs’ expenses will cast further serious doubts over the policing of the system by the parliamentary authorities.

The House of Commons is expected to publish details of each MP’s expense claims tomorrow. However, the information is expected to be heavily censored, with addresses and other key details blacked out. With only this information, questionable claims — such as those made by Mr Binley — would be very difficult, if not impossible, to uncover.

The latest disclosure comes as:

The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner began an investigation into the expense claims made by Shahid Malik, the Communities Minister. The Daily Telegraph disclosed last week that Mr Malik received thousands of pounds to rent “office space” which was actually on the ground floor of his constituency home.

It is not clear why Mr Binley, the MP for Northampton South, was permitted to continue receiving substantial sums of taxpayers’ money for more than three years despite being in breach of the rules.

Mr Binley was elected to the Commons in May 2005. He at first used the “second home” parliamentary allowance — the additional costs allowance (ACA) — to stay at the Carlton Club in London, a gentleman’s club for Conservative supporters.

In February 2006, he began claiming rent at £1,500 a month for a flat in Pimlico, close to the Houses of Parliament. Land Registry records show that the flat is owned by a company called BCC Marketing, which had purchased the property in December the previous year for £345,000.

Mr Binley is the chairman and founder of BCC Marketing and currently owns 20 per cent of the shares in the company. His wife Jacqueline holds a further 20 per cent of the shares while his son James works for the business.

Initially, the arrangement for Mr Binley to pay his own company may have been within MPs’ rules. In 2005, the Green Book, which sets out parliamentary rules, stated that MPs were barred from claiming for “the costs of leasing accommodation from yourself”. However, in April 2006, the rules were tightened specifically to bar MPs from paying rent to their own companies. Following the change, the House of Commons fees office contacted Mr Binley to inform him that his arrangement was outside the rules.

Mr Binley appealed and, when Mr Martin rejected it two months ago, Mr Binley says that he moved out of BCC Marketing’s flat and into nearby premises.

He has insisted that the rent he paid to the company did not fully cover the costs of the mortgage on the flat. However, had he bought the flat directly himself he would only have been able to claim for the interest on the mortgage, which is substantially less than the full cost of repaying the loan.

After The Daily Telegraph began disclosing information about MPs’ expenses last month, Mr Binley held a public meeting in his constituency and handed out copies of his expenses, with addresses redacted.

“I have dealt with my expense claims honourably and honestly, and will be handing out a full breakdown of my claims, year by year,” said Mr Binley at the time. “Anyone who wants to tar us all with the same brush should be ashamed of themselves.”

Mr Binley’s actions are likely to put David Cameron under pressure to discipline him. It is understood that the MP’s controversial arrangement had not been disclosed to the Conservative Party’s scrutiny committee, which is examining expense claims made by the party’s MPs. The committee is now expected to re-examine Mr Binley’s expenses.

Mr Binley defended his decision to pay rent to BCC Marketing. “I am an MP from a working-class background who knows that most of his constituents don’t earn much above the average wage and therefore treats taxpayers’ money with the care it deserves,” he said.

“I did rent a flat for the reasons that I have stated from a company that I founded. The rent charged included council tax, water rates, electricity, gas, and all the furnishings and white goods in the flat. In addition, I paid the cleaner, rightly and properly, from my own pocket.

“When the mortgage was taken out, it was totally cleared by the Fees Office and when the rules were changed which stated that I could not rent from a company that I had an interest in, I appealed that decision. I sadly lost that appeal, accepted the decision and found another flat which unfortunately costs the taxpayer more money because that is the going rate.”

Brian Binley and how his conscience is clear, this is just a witch hunt

Happily, I have never lived in a totalitarian state. But this week I was given an insight into what it must have been like in the dark days of East European Communism to receive the infamous knock on the door from those delightful individuals who once did the dirty work of the Stasi and the KGB.

In my case, it came in the form of an email from the Daily Telegraph, informing me that I had "questions to answer" about my living arrangements in London in the three years after I was elected to Parliament in 2005.

My conscience was perfectly clear, and after reading the "accusations", I knew there was nothing for which I had to answer and duly contacted the reporter to explain the situation.

But frankly, I might not have bothered. Sadly, such is now the Telegraph's thirst and hunger for making mischief since obtaining the records of MPs' expenses, that it has long since abandoned the idea of fair and honest reporting.

Of course, some MPs have deservedly been exposed for the misuse of public funds, be it claiming for non-existent mortgages, "flipping" between homes, or claiming a fiver for a wreath they bought for Remembrance Sunday.

But now the newspaper has turned it into a McCarthyite witch-hunt for the sake of a circulation increase. It is doing the reputation of British journalism a lot of damage.

Anyway, I phoned the reporter, and began to explain the situation, but it did not take me more than a few seconds to realise that she had no intention of engaging in a fair and proper conversation. She – or rather the Telegraph's newsdesk – had already decided that they were going to run a story about me and whatever I said was not going to change that. Her attitude was aggressive and sometimes downright rude, and it left a sour taste once I put the phone down.

I then waited with baited breath for Wednesday's Telegraph to come out, and when it finally did, I was stunned.

Stunned that my story had made its front-page lead; and stunned by the insidious implications, like referring to me as a millionaire. What on earth is the relevance of that, whether I am or not? It was a grubby way of insinuating that I was some hard-nosed capitalist out to make an easy buck at anyone's expense, and I deeply resent that.

For the record, the Telegraph implied that I had broken the rules by renting a flat in London that was bought by a company I founded, and ran, before becoming an MP, and that, essentially, I was paying rent to myself. Bunkum.

My company did buy a property near Westminster, but it was a commercial decision agreed to by the board of directors. It was the property of BCC Marketing, and it was perfectly correct that I pay rent. And let me make two points here: if I didn't pay rent to BCC Marketing, I would have had to pay rent to another landlord and the rent I paid was all inclusive (council tax, utility bills, and so on), and cheaper than I would have paid for similar accommodation I might have rented privately.

And the company was about £38,000 down on the deal over the three-year period. So much for implying that I had diverted taxpayers' money for my own personal benefit.

I had cleared my living arrangements with the Fees Office at Parliament, and then the rules changed, so I had to move out, though I appealed against the changes before I did so.

All in all, it is a non-story. My Northampton South constituency executive have always been aware of the situation and were perfectly at ease as I featured in news bulletins during the day. I obliged with all interview requests, because I was angry at what the Telegraph had done, the way it had ignored my explanations, and the damage to my reputation.

Thankfully, the local media in Northampton have been extremely professional in their treatment of the story. So much so, that constituents who were initially angered after first reading, or hearing, the "allegations" about me, and said so, have since been in touch to apologise and admit that further investigation reveals nothing. Exactly.

And this is the point. The Telegraph is doing enormous damage in its hunger to exploit the expenses scandal to its own commercial profit. Of course it did some good initially, and of course the expenses system needs an overhaul. I have been saying that since I first arrived at Westminster.

But this has gone too far, and it is about time someone stood up to them. They have taken it upon themselves to become judge and jury, without any thought to seeking the truth before they publish.

It reminds me of Rudyard Kipling's famous quote for Stanley Baldwin: "What the proprietorship of these papers is aiming at is power, and power without responsibility – the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages."

Patrick Cormack

Sir Patrick Cormack claimed more than £1,000 a month in rent for his second home in London. Other claims included £329 on a TV £200 on a radio and £349.97 on replacement reading lamps.

Douglas Carswell's Love seat?

Douglas Carswell claimed £655 from his expenses for a love seat.

Peter Bone claims £1,300 a month rent

Peter Bone claims £1,300 a month rent on a flat in London, along with £400 a month food. His other claims included £299.99 on a television, £87.98 on a DVD player and £599.98 on two sofas.

Richard Bacon rent bill of £1,538 a month?

Richard Bacon designated second home in London, where he claimed £1,235 in monthly mortgage interest between 2004 and 2007. Claimed for £2,500 to repaint and redecorate flat in spring of 2006.

Moved out in 2007 and stayed in hotels until he rented in Dolphin Square at £1,538 a month.

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.

Second home for Lib Dem who was nine miles from Commons

The party's spokesman on health in the House of Lords was MP for Richmond Park until 2005 when she stepped down at the general election. Even though her constituency was just nine miles from Westminster, Lady Tonge claimed between £650 and £850 a month in mortgage interest on a flat in central London, as well as utility bills.

The peer also regularly claimed between £150 and £200 a month for food.

She no longer pays a mortgage on the £330,000 property but has rented it out since her retirement four years ago to Stephen Williams, the Liberal Democrat MP for Bristol West. He, in turn, has claimed the rent on his tax-free designated second home allowance.

Mr Williams, the shadow secretary of state for innovation, universities and skills, paid her £1,200 a month between 2005 and October 2007, when the rent increased to £1,500.

Lady Tonge, who lives in an £810,000 property in Richmond, west London, said she had bought a second home in the centre of the capital because Parliament used to sit much later in the evening.

She said: "The hours in 1997 when I became an MP were very different from now. I took a flat at Westminster because of all-night and late-night sittings. The journey to and from Westminster may not seem much in miles but it becomes much more difficult at that time of night."

Lady Tonge also defended letting her flat to another politician and said that she still owed money on the property. "In 2005 I offered my flat to one of the new MPs, I charged a rent which covered the interest on the loan but not the service charge on the flat. I have not made any profit whatsoever and I still have the overdraft that I took out to buy the flat."

Lady Tonge was replaced in her Richmond Park constituency by Susan Kramer at the last election.The peer caused a storm of protest in 2004 when she appeared to empathise with suicide bombers in Palestine. She said: "If I had to live in that situation – and I say that advisedly – I might just consider becoming one myself."

She was sacked from her post as the Liberal Democrat spokesman for children by Charles Kennedy, the party leader at the time. Lady Tonge stepped down as an MP a year after her daughter was electrocuted in an accident, saying she wanted to spend more time with her children.

SNAPSHOT

Jenny Tonge

Job: former Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park

Salary: £57,485 in 2004

Total second home claims

2004-05: £16,579

2005-06: £0

2006-07: N/A

2007-08: N/A

Lord Tyler claimed for mortgage, then 'sold' flat to his daughter

The peer bought the flat in Westminster for £275,000, with his wife Nicola and his daughter Sophie, in November 2001.

Lord Tyler, then Paul Tyler, MP for North Cornwall, claimed tens of thousands of pounds in mortgage interest payments in the run-up to the 2005 general election.

Documents lodged with the fees office show that Lord Tyler claimed mortgage interest payments of more than £9,200 in 2004-05.

After he stood down as an MP in 2005, he arranged for the ownership to be passed to his daughter, who took over the mortgage.

Land Registry documents show that it was finally paid off last April.

On Tuesday Lord Tyler said he transferred the flat to his daughter in June 2005 "when my retirement from the Commons was expected to mean that I would spend less nights in London".

He said Miss Tyler had paid to buy his and his wife's share of the property – but he declined to say how much.

He said: "When we transferred the flat to her in 2005 we paid off £100,000 of the mortgage and she took on responsibility for the other £100,000."

Lord Tyler added: "There has been no capital gain on this flat, and we have none of us made a profit and, as an MP, I voted for reform of the expenses system and for greater transparency."

He said the claims were "wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred" for performing his parliamentary duties, since his main home was in the constituency.

"My expenses were regularly checked with the fees office, acknowledged to be modest, 'value for money' and there was never any 'grounds for a suggestion of a misuse of public money'."

SNAPSHOT

Paul Tyler

Job: former Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall

Salary: £57,485 in 2004

Total second home claims

2004-05: £13,515

2005-06: £0

2006-07: £0

2007-08: £0

Mark Francois - A bit of an animal

While other politicians billed for flat screen televisions and moat clearing, Mark Francois, the shadow minister for Europe, claimed for a wide variety of on-the-go snacks through his expenses.

His claims included Mars bars, Snickers, Kit Kats, wine gums, Twiglets, Jaffa Cakes, chocolate biscuits, Pringles crisps and "bags of sweets".

The Conservative MP for Rayleigh in Essex also claimed for Häagen-Dazs ice cream, lemon sorbet, choc ices, crisps, Starburst, Bourneville dark chocolate and Trebor mints. Among his purchases were several Peperami "hot" 5 packs. The spicy pork snack is marketed with the slogan: "Peperami: It's a Bit of an Animal".

Under the second home allowance MPs were allowed to claim a food allowance of up to £400 per month without receipts. But, unlike many of his colleagues, Mr Francois was scrupulous about claiming exact amounts for his food purchases and submitting receipts for them.

A typical receipt from a trip to his local Tesco showed that he spent £7.87 on ice cream, £4.36 on bags of sweets, £3.24 on Kit Kats, £2.68 on Mars bars, £1.28 on Snickers bars, and 96p on wine gums.

On another visit he spent £5.04 on Mars bars, £3.24 on Kit Kats and £2.42 on a Pot Noodle. A separate grocery trip saw him picking up two Peperami "hot" 5 packs for £2.18 each, and spending £14.26 on biscuits, and another £3.26 on "bags of sweets".

Before entering Parliament, the MP served as an infantry officer in the Territorial Army, including with the Royal Anglian Regiment, and his hobbies include hill walking.

He claimed £1,500 per month to rent a second home in London and made very few other claims apart from food bills. The other claims did include £12.94 on toothbrushes and the purchase of three alarm clocks in the space of three years.

Mr Francois said of his claims: "Given all of the revelations over the last month I hope none of this seems particularly excessive but, like almost every other MP, I recognise that the system does need to be reformed and the quicker the better."

SNAPSHOT

Mark Francois

Job: Conservative MP for Rayleigh, shadow minister for Europe

Salary: £64,766

Total second home claims

2004-05: £19,990

2005-06: £18,509

2006-07: £20,374

2007-08: £20,689

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

Lord Archy Kirkwood did up flat on expenses, then sold it cheaply to daughter

The peer, a work and pensions spokesman, used public funds to buy carpets, curtains and bathroom furniture for his Westminster flat from stores including John Lewis and Fired Earth.

He made the purchases after announcing in April 2004 that he would retire as MP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire at the general election in May 2005. During his final year in the Commons, he claimed a total of £18,806 in allowances for the flat, which he bought for £182,500 in 2001.

These included about £670 a month to pay the interest on its mortgage. He then sold it in May 2007 to his daughter Holly, 31, a journalist for Country Life magazine, for £100,000. On Tuesday he said the flat had been valued at £225,000.

Three weeks before the sale, a flat in the same building sold for £358,000.

When he made the claims, Lord Kirkwood, then Sir Archy Kirkwood, sat on the House of Commons commission which was overseeing the first publication of basic details of MPs' expenses. As the details were published in October 2004, he said that he welcomed the fact that "taxpayers can really see how their money is being spent".

However, he dismissed suggestions that voters would be shocked by the amount of money involved. "I'm not saying it's an insignificant sum, but it's pretty small beer," he said.

Between November and December 2004, Lord Kirkwood claimed more than £3,000 for carpets and flooring for his kitchen and bathroom from John Lewis. He also claimed £94 for a lavatory paper holder and tiles from Fired Earth.

In April 2004, the month he announced his intention to step down as an MP, he claimed £200 for repairs to the flat's electrics. In June 2004, he claimed £50 for fans. In July he claimed £660 for unspecified work by a contractor.

Over the following months, he returned to John Lewis to buy a £207 bathroom cupboard and mirror, curtains for £90 and lighting worth £72.

In February 2005, he claimed £145 for a clothes rail and storage devices, £78 for kitchen stools and £56 for roller blinds. He also claimed £115 for computer equipment through his office expenses two months before he retired.

Lord Kirkwood, 63, had designated as his main home a house in Selkirk where he still lives with his wife Rosemary.

He claimed more than £63,000 in House of Lords allowances last year, including £20,019 on overnight subsistence: the Lords' equivalent of second home allowances.

He claimed £11,419 in "day subsistence" allowances, £11,419 in office running costs and £9,741 in travel costs.

Lord Kirkwood, who was knighted for services to Parliament in 2003, was one of five Lib Dem MPs put forward for peerages by Charles Kennedy, the then party leader, after the 2005 election. He announced his retirement after it was decided that his seat should merge with that of Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, which was held by Michael Moore, a fellow Lib Dem.

Lord Kirkwood said yesterday: "When I sold the flat to my daughter a professional valuation was secured on the property. It was valued at £225,000. This was declared for capital gains.

"The fuse box and wiring system was unsafe and needed to be replaced. There were some costs of relaying flooring in parts of the property."

SNAPSHOT

Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope

Job: Former Lib Dem MP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire

Salary: £57,485 in 2004

Total second home claims

2004-05: £18,806

2005-06: £372

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