MP expenses leak middleman 'proud'

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Henry Gewanter, a UK-based US PR consultant brought in to help get the data to the media, said he did not know the identity of the whistleblower and would not say where they worked to protect them from repercussions.

He refused to say whether any money had changed hands in the deal eventually agreed with The Daily Telegraph but insisted: "Nobody involved in this did it for money."

He told BBC2's Newsnight: "Being on your show tonight, I get £50 and cab fare home. That is the extent of the payments I actually will be seeing from this."

Pressed if anyone else had received money, he said: "There were a number of conditions that we needed to impose on whichever newspaper got the story.

"Clearly the confidential details of the specifics with the Telegraph and indeed other discussions I had with other newspapers must remain confidential.

"I will say though that there were conditions which involved protecting the sources and that included the possibility of legal defence."

He said he knew immediately that the information was "dynamite" and that he had been very surprised when it proved difficult to get it published by a newspaper.

One unnamed publication refused to agree a condition to carry details of MPs from all parties, he said, accusing it of "wanting to use it to destroy one party".