Jacqui Smith sorry but unrepentant over expenses claims

In a series of interviews, Ms Smith conceded she had been through a "difficult few weeks" after it emerged she tried to use taxpayers' money to pay for two pornographic films watched by her husband.

She said she never considered resigning and said a private sector boss had written to her saying he would have few employees left if he sacked them for minor expenses errors.

Ms Smith told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I'm sorry, cross, angry with myself for a claim that I made. I've paid it back, I did the wrong thing."

But she said claims for household items, including an 88p bathplug, were "fair and reasonable".

She spoke in detail for the first time about her decision to designate her main home as her sister's house in London, a move that allowed her to claim more than £140,000 in allowances.

Ms Smith is being investigated by Commons Standards Commissioner Sir John Lyon over whether she should have declared this as her main residence.

But the row over MPs' perks looked set to deepen again today amid allegations that ministers are renting buy-to-let properties to their own staff.

The staff are in turn paid out of parliamentary allowances, raising the possibility that the money eventually ends up in MPs' pockets.

Ms Smith's remarks came as she faced fresh pressure to justify her expenses claims after leaks suggested she bought a barbecue, patio heater and toothbrush holder with taxpayer funds.

Sources close to the Home Secretary have insisted many items on receipts made public over the weekend had actually been paid for with her own money.

According to the receipts, the Home Secretary has claimed about £150,000 towards running her constituency home in Redditch, where her children and husband live.

She added: "What I claim is what I think are fair and reasonable expenses for the fact that I have to live in two places."

But she said parliamentary authorities had been consulted on the arrangement, adding: "I live with my sister. We share a house, we share the expenses of that house, we eat together, we live together.

"This is one of the things that has been wrongly reported — I'm not in some box room up at the top of the house."

But Ms Smith also admitted the current parliamentary allowances system needed to be reformed.