Thursday 18th June 2009 | 09:18

Expenses publication: Latest revelations

PoliticsHome's comprehensive guide to what bloggers and journalists are uncovering and talking about in the newly published expenses files.

Friday 19 June

16.01 The Guardian's 'crowdsourcing experiment' is seeing particular interest in this £3,817.38 claim by Gordon Brown and a dateless £1,000 claim by Geroge Galloway for food.

15:49 Madeleine Moon's £1 repayment was for Ikea gift wrap which "was claimed inadvertently and repaid as soon as it was spotted", according to Paul Waugh.

14:40 Not directly expenses related, but Margaret Beckett, John Bercow and Sir George Young are now joint 5/2 favourites to be the next Speaker with William Hill.

13.43 David Cameron calls for 08/09 expenses to be published unredacted, and has put in place new transparency rules for the shadow Cabinet.

13:09 Gordon Brown, speaking at a news conference in Brussels, says "our first principle must be maximum transparency".

12.35 More from Comment Central: Why has Gerry Adams been able to make claims for a second home when he doesn't sit at Westminster?

12.08 Comment Central wonders why Nick Brown needed a half page advert for his constituency surgery in the Girl Guides annual report.

12.03 Paul Waugh has spotted that one of those featuring on Parliament's 'payback' table is Richard Packer - there is no such MP.

11.58 Ben Brogan asks a pertinent question on his blog: So who redacted the files?

11.34 The Telegraph writes that Kitty Ussher's avoidance of capital gains tax by redesignating her second home would have gone undetected if only yesterday's edited account had been published.

11.13 Paul Waugh notes that the receipt submitted by Richard Timney, Jacqui Smith's husband, for two pornographic films, was published yesterday.

09.51 Lynne Featherstone writes "I have never claimed a penny for food - ever - from Parliament" and maintains the claims she submitted were for her interns' expenses.

Liam Fox spent £5,137.70 on mobile phone bills between April 2007 and January 2008, according to the Guardian. At the other extreme, Hugo Swire claimed £5 on a ticket to the opera at Glyndebourne.

09.00 The Telegraph publishes its own copies of Cabinet ministers' expenses claims without redactions.

The paper also has a countdown of the twenty "worst cover ups".

The Times reports that Alex Salmond's bid to impeach Tony Blair in 2004 cost the taxpayer £14,000.

The Express and the Mirror both cover the unfortunate timing of Bill Cokburn, the chair of the Senior Salaries Review Body, who yesterday recommended a pay increase of ten to fifteen percent for MPs.

The Guardian is running a competition to reward the reader who spots the best claim with a floating duck house.

07.30 The Times reports that Labour MPs have channelled £235,000 of taxpayers’ money to a computing consultancy that operates from the party’s headquarters.

The Times also counts the cost of editing the documents released yesterday and gives a total of £1.2 million.

 

Thursday 18 June

20.52 FT: Madeline Moon made a repayment to the House of Commons of £1.

20.38 Ed Miliband spent £35.36 on pictures of himself in parliamentary debate, according to the BBC.

20.29 The paper also reports that MPs from all three main parties have paid rent to their own parties for use of their constitency offices.

20.15 The Guardian's analysis of the expenses claims of the Speaker candidates finds that John Bercow rounded off his claims. He did not, however, round off his repayment of £1,470.62.

19.31 Parliament has published a list of all 185 MPs to repay allowances to the House so far. The repayments total £478,617.

18.52 The Guardian puts the total amount claimed by MPs for food at £1.197 million, or an average of £154 per MP per month. Thirty-two members claimed the maximum £400 each month.

18.45 Channel 4 News offer their examples:

 Labour MP Bridget Prentice made two identical claims for £1,420.88 for Siemens computer equipment (p46 and 66). 

Alan Meale MP charged the taxpayer almost £30 for 18th birthday cards (p28). 

Jonathan Djanogly, Conservative MP for Huntingdon, claimed nearly £50 bill for jam-making (p8). 

Secretary of State Ed Balls charged £50 to be the ball sponsor for Ossett Town AF and Social Club (See p4).

While Richard Bacon was warned over impending legal proceedings for a £272.34 water bill (p12). 

18.23 FT: Liam Fox, shadow defence secretary, over-claimed £1,400 on his expenses when he claimed an annual £1,400 service charge in both July 2005 and August 2005. A spokesman for Mr Fox said he repaid what was an administrative error.

17.15 PoliticsHome: David Cameron has apologised for his “inadvertent mistake” he made in an expenses claim for his mortgage.

17.03 CommentCentral:Tory candidate for Speaker John Bercow claimed £1197.51 for a sanitary towel blockage.

The engineers receipt for £264.37 says: “Attend site to rectify problem with moderator. Engineer strip down pump. Check to find sanitary towel blocked in pump. No responsibility to ourselves.”

He then claimed a further £933.14 for replacing the toilet.

16.41 Tory MP Paul Beresford put in a £1047.90 claim for a "replacement light" in 2005 (See p35 of his allowances).

16.26 Times: James Purnell claimed for 3,000 promotional fridge magnets that he ordered at a cost of £247. Macro Productions, who make the magnets, appear to be based in Israel so presumably he had to pay customs charges before Parcel Force would deliver them.

Mr Purnell also purchased a 3KG jar of mint imperials for £16.64 plus VAT.

16.14 CommentCentral: Bill Wiggin, MP for Leominster, charged the taxpayer £68.16 for a two year subsciption to Practical Poultry magazine, and £68 for Fishing News.

16.12 Guardian: Eleanor Laing, MP for Epping Forest, claimed for 2 days of 'office filing' in Nov 2007 at £250 a day, which roughly works out as £65k a year.

15.39 Commenting on the Guardian live blog, Greykid has fished out the revelation that Gerald Kaufman MP claimed for three PAYG Nokia N95 phones between April and August 2007.

His 'Incidental Expenses Provision/Staff Allowance 2007-08' contains the following:

Carphone Warehouse - Nokia N95 - 13/08/07 - £479.95

Carphone Warehouse - Nokia N95 - 24/06/07 - £479.95

Carphone Warehouse - Nokia N95 - 11/04/07 - £499.95

15.38 Times:Oliver Letwin charged the taxpayer £1,765 for his monthly phone bill in September 2007. An explanatory note in the margin explains that the bill was so high because he was "dictating constituency expenditure from abroad" (See page 36 here).

15.37 ConservativeHome: Scotland Secretary Jim Murphy also allegedly broke Commons rules by claiming £594.55 for Christmas cards.

Alan Johnson spent £8289.04 of public money on a device to fold paper and insert it into envelopes. The automatic envelope-stuffer is capable of filling and sealing up to 2,200 envelopes an hour.

And in 2005 Douglas Alexander claimed £9.20 for a box of latex gloves.

15.29 Comment Central: Paul Keetch MP for Hereford claimed for a soft toy in his 2004/5 Additional Cost Allowances.

15.24 Paul Waugh: The Justice Secretary Jack Straw claimed £510.84 for 1,000 Christmas cards in October 2005. Claiming for Christmas cards is against the Commons' Green Book of rules.

14.36 Sky: David Cameron is to repay £947 to the Commons fees office that he wrongly claimed on his expenses, his spokeswoman has said.

14.12 Tory Bear: Labour MP Ben Bradshaw charged a gay lifestyle magazine to the taxpayer.

14.12 Guardian: Graham Brady, revealed earlier to have claimed for a milk-frother, charged £70.50 for a locksmith after he locked himself out of his home.

13.32 Guardian: Gordon Brown charged the taxpayer almost £700 to remove mice and pests plaguing him in both London and Scotland, between May 2006 and November 2007.

The Guardian also reveals Mr Brown claimed £1,157.50 for garden maintenance in less than a year.

Meanwhile, Alistair Darling charged £2,339 for the supply and fitting of a "magnolia cavalier cavalace velvet wool carpet with cloud and cumulus underlay".

Redacted expenses have also failed to flag up Alistair Darling's council tax error and Shahid Malik's property arrangements.

13.17 Weston & Somerset Mercury: David Heathcoat-Amory, of horse manure fame, has reportedly claimed for numerous other horticultural items, including £218.25 for bulbs.

12.47pm Guardian: Jeremy Hunt, the shadow culture secretary, has submitted an invoice for 1p for a 12 second mobile phone call.

12.41 Guardian: Downing Street has set up a support line for MPs distressed over expenses claims, offering counsel and legal advice.

12.40 ConservativeHome: Ed Balls is rumoured to have claimed for a book entitled Reasons to be Cheerful.

12.38 Guardian: Diane Abbot claimed £1,292.50 for legal advice from Outer Temple chambers which includes drafting a "compromise agreement" (See p6 of the document here).

12.28 BBC: Labour MP Ann Coffey claimed twice in the same year for digital cameras, after apparently losing the first.

12.15 CommentCentral: Conservative party chairman Eric Pickles has claimed £1000 for a payment to his local Conservative association.

The receipt states it was "administration, storage and equipment hire" for the Brentwood and Ongar Conservative Association in October 2007 (See p22 of his Incidental Expenses Provisions 2007-2008).

12.00 ConservativeHome: Yvette Cooper charged taxpayers £148.50 having been caught without a train ticket. Page 38 of here.

11.58 The BBC has some amusing revelations: Tory MP Graham Brady claimed £10 for a "milk frother", while Maria Miller, the Conservative MP for Basingstoke, claimed for £154.61 for books including Vikings Don't Wear Pants: Potty Poems of the Past and two books about Tony Blair - Blair Unbound and Blair's Britain.

In May 2007, Eric Joyce (or a member of his staff) claimed £235 for an Assertiveness at Work training course.

The BBC also reveals that redacted receipts released do not show that Margaret Moran's second home was in Southampton - 100 miles from her Luton constituency. There is also no mention of Sir Peter Viggers' attempts to claim £1,645 for a "duck island".

11.30 Telegraph: Tony Blair claimed almost £7,000 for roof repairs on his second home just two days before stepping down as Prime Minister. Other invoices submitted by Mr Blair in 2007-08 included £305.50 for shredding.

11.22 Times: David Cameron charged taxpayers £150 for a fine he incurred from the Opposition Whips office for losing his pager.

11.05 CCHQ tell ConservativeHome that "Gordon Brown claimed £176.25 on his Communications Allowance in January 2008 for a CD of photographs of himself."

11:01 Ben Brogan: The Prime Minister claims for the ironing of his shirts, and his subscription to Sky TV.

10:45 Guido: Alan Duncan claims £250 in petty cash each month without justification.

Guido also reveals that Lembit Opik claimed £19.99 for the “mother of all wigs” – justified as a sundry cost "incurred while supporting a charity event".

Meanwhile, the recently disgraced Labour MP Jim Devine claimed £938 for a mink-coloured suit and Tory MP James Arbuthnot claimed £138 for a chainsaw.

10.42 Times: David Cameron, renowned for being an 'off the cuff' speaker, charged the taxpayer £10.99 for a copy of the Penguin Book of Historic Speeches.

10:36 Paul Waugh: David Cameron claimed £564 for pictures of himself on his website gallery.

10.32 Dizzy Thinks: Dr Phyllis Starley, Labour MP for Milton Keynes South West, claimed 50p for an unknown item.

10:08 Sky's Jon Craig reports that Hazel Blears claimed £668.56 for bed linen, while outgoing Speaker Michael Martin claimed £17.99 for a can opener.

9.58 Guardian: Ann Widdecombe apparently pays for her own drinks. She has crossed out all the alcohol items from hotel bills she submitted under the additional costs allowance for 2007-08.

09.00 Telegraph: More than 30 MPs claimed the maximum £400 food allowance every month of last year, even though they are not meant to claim when the Commons is not sitting. The claims revealed appetites for snacks including Peperami sausages, Pot Noodles, pork pies, jellied eels and Farley's rusks.

09.00 The Argus: The Labour MP Laura Moffat, who saved thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money by sleeping on a camp bed in Commons office to avoid second home allowances, has been told to “move out” due to fire regulations.

08:57: Paul Waugh: George Osborne claimed £47 for two DVDs of his own speech on getting value for taxpayers money. The BBC has George Osborne's response: "Four years ago George received a request from a member of the public for a video copy of the speech which he obtained through the House of Commons broadcasting unit."

08.01 Total Essex Gazette: Tory MP Eric Pickles claimed more than £8,000 to cover the cost of cleaning his second home between April 2004 and March 2008, while his food bill over that period was £9,500.

In addition taxpayers paid more than £7,500 for a state-of-the-art laptop, printer and other equipment in 2005.

08.00, Thursday 18 June You can look up your own MPs' expense claims here.