Husband and wife Labour MPs claim £40,000 expenses (without a single receipt)

They were paid the money from the public purse and were never asked to explain why they needed it.

The couple each claimed - and received - £1,640 a month during 2002/03, one-twelfth of the maximum allowed in one year.

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That will raise eyebrows because it indicates they were making sure they received the maximum possible amount.

There is no suggestion that the couple broke the rules.

However, their case is a stark example of the lax Commons expenses regime and will intensify pressure for sweeping reform of the way MPs pay themselves.

Details were revealed three years after a Freedom of Information request was put in.

Mrs Keen, 59, a junior health minister, is MP for Brentford and Isleworth in West London.

Her 70-year-old husband represents the neighbouring constituency of Feltham and Heston.

The couple - known as Mr and Mrs Expenses - live in West London, but also have a home in central London nine miles away.

In 2002/03, they were each allowed to claim up to £19,682 from the additional costs allowance, which is intended to help MPs maintain a second home.

They are eligible for double the money other MPs get even though they share a property.

Critics say they were so near to the Commons they should only be able to claim the London supplement of £2,700.

The rules were tightened the following year, with MPs being forced to give more details on why they wanted the money.

The Keens then received £4,000 less than they had in 2002/03.

It also emerged yesterday that unmarried MPs are pushing for the right to free travel for their long-term partners.

It would enable them to travel first-class at taxpayers' expense between Westminster and the MP's constituency, as members' spouses or civil partners can do.

Tony Blair spent £47,000 of taxpayers' money over three years on his Sedgefield constituency home while living rent-free in 10 Downing Street.

The money went on mortgage payments, cleaning, food, furniture and other bills at the detached house in Trimdon, County Durham, between April 2001 and March 2004.

Freedom of Information Act details showed he claimed the money under the allowance to help MPs meet the cost of two homes.

He only had to run one, because costs at No 10 are met by the taxpayer, but was entitled to the payments under the rules.