John Prescott's lavatory seat repairs, mock Tudor beams and £4,800pa for food

The former deputy prime minister, who has revealed that he suffers from bulimia, put in a food bill for two years at the maximum annual level of £4,800.

He also used public funds to have mock Tudor beams attached to his eight-bedroom, turreted constituency home in Hull.

He declared this property as his second home as he lived in a grace-and-favour residence in Admiralty House - where he conducted his affair with his diary secretary Tracey Temple.

Mr Prescott claimed £4,800 for food in 2004/05 and 2006/07.

He put in a food bill for £3,200 for each of 2005/06 and 2007/08, but the amount paid out in the earlier year was cut back by Parliament being dissolved for the general election.

In December 2004, a plumber charged £210.79 to "refix WC seat" and for repairs to pipework and taps. Another bill was for £22.50 to "replace linkage between siphon and handle to WC".

The MP for Hull East appears to have had another problem with a lavatory at the constituency home, where he lives with his wife Pauline, about two years later. He claimed £112.52 for a repair bill which included "refit WC seat".

Other bills include £6,772.27 for repairs such as replacing sash windows and £312 to "supply and fix mock Tudor boards to apex of front gable", £2,076.83 for redecorating, partly for a downstairs lavatory, £658 for drain repairs, £580 for a saffron-coloured carpet and £2,479 for rewiring an extension/office area.

The taxpayer also paid £1,187 for the exterior of his house to be repainted in 2004/05, and £609.92 for white goods including an LG washing machine.

As deputy prime minister, Mr Prescott also had the use of the Dorneywood country residence. He paid a "peppercorn" rent for a two-bedroom flat in Clapham, owned by the RMT union.

After losing his grace-and-favour residence in 2007/08, Mr Prescott changed his "second home" to a flat on Albert Embankment that he purchased with a mortgage of £667,737.

He subsequently claimed £19,225 in mortgage interest payments, an expense he had not been charging on his Hull property.

Mr Prescott said: "Every expense was entirely consistent within the rules of the House of Commons."