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Politicians living near Keens don't claim for second home
Peter Dominiczak3 Apr 2009
HUSBAND and wife London MPs Alan and Ann Keen, who have together claimed £213,000 of taxpayers' money for a second home in the capital, came under renewed fire today.
The health minister and her husband, nicknamed "Mr and Mrs Expenses", have claimed for the second property since 2001 despite having a house in Brentford, only a 23-minute commute from Westminster.
Last week, it was revealed that Mrs Keen, MP for Brentford and Isleworth, claimed the most expenses of any British MP, charging £167,306, including £18,338 for the couple's £500,000 second home on the South Bank.
Mr Keen, who represents Feltham and Heston, claimed £19,855 for the same second home. But now the Standard has learned that three other MPs, including a Secretary of State and a minister, commute to Westminster from London homes only minutes from the Keens' constituency property.
Home Office minister and MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth Phil Woolas lives one street away from the Keens' Brentford home, making their journeys into Westminster almost identical.
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn lives less than two miles away in Chiswick. It takes the MP for Leeds Central approximately 20 minutes to get to the House of Commons by car, compared with 23 minutes for the Keens.
Shadow universities secretary David Willetts, who represents Havant, lives less than three miles from the Keens, again around 20 minutes from Westminster. However, the Keens have not broken any Commons rules.
Politicians and neighbours today condemned their expenses payments. Liberal Democrat MP for Brent East, Sarah Teather, said: "This is yet another example of the reason we need to change the system. The public won't wear MPs claiming £24,000 in taxpayers' money for a second home when they could easily commute.
"Parliament can't withstand these scandals week after week. We just need to urgently reform the system."
Constituents branded Mrs Keen's expenses claims "disgusting" and said voters in the area were turning against her.
Neighbour Ben Speirs, 25, said: "What she is doing is absolutely disgusting. The amount she is claiming at our expense is ludicrous, particularly with the financial situation the way it is. Three other MPs live nearby and seem to think it is close enough to Westminster, yet she is taking liberties claiming for her South Bank home.
"People in her constituency are scrimping and saving while she is claiming their money. She has lost a lot of local voters."
Duncan Davidson, 55, has lived opposite Mrs Keen's Brentford home for 20 years. He said: "The commute from her house to Westminster is an absolute doddle and three other MPs obviously find it easy. I've seen Alan around a couple of times, but I haven't seen Ann for quite a while. I don't think she wants to show her face. There are a lot of people who think what she is doing is completely out of order and the worst thing is, she has been doing it for years."
Neighbours said that ongoing renovations to the Keens' home had suddenly stopped in the last few weeks as the expenses row exploded again.
The Keens have claimed nearly £1.7million over seven years in total expenses and allowances including for a second home, office staff, travel, correspondence and other office costs.
MPs have defended the second home allowance by claiming they need somewhere to stay overnight close to Westminster, rather than having to travel back to their constituencies.
Reader views (26)
This is a conflict of interest that fuels the cash grab culture of our elected representatives and our commercial banking system. This culture of greed and selfishness is pervasive today. (I can say that I have been caught in this and sit with a 80% mortgage on a 4 x multiple of joint income. I will struggle to remortgage when the time comes.)
MPs make the laws which govern the financial systems in this country and they have an expenses system which allows them to take advantage of these laws. By relaxing oversight they found themselves with rising property values. If you buy a "second home" and have it paid for through expenses - especially as a couple - you are gaining an asset against which you are not taxed. You are also not paying for it in the first place. The market continues to rise causing the property value to increase meaning that you are creating capital when you have made no personal contribution and perhaps even a profit on the expenses.
Oh and if all this gets a bit complex to keep on top of, employ your son/brother/daughter/sister/cousin to work out the expenses for you.
- Jon, london,England, 06/04/2009 10:01
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Socialism at it's best.
- A. Flatroofer, Radnor County., 05/04/2009 22:10
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Families on "low incomes" and Pensioners in particular MUST really LOVE this New Labour lot!
Pensioners effectively have to beg New Labour for enough money "just to survive" and get the equivalent of pennies extra per week yet . . . He's a couple of New Labour officials who have pocketed "nearly £1.7million over 7 years" AND that's on top of their huge salaries, pensions and other perks!
New Labour? . . . OUT! OUT! OUT!
- Fraser, Telford Park, 05/04/2009 13:32
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All those MP's who are stealing by finding, Yes that's what I call it. Because they found a rotten rule which allows them to thieve Tax Payers money. They should be charged for stealing. And get prison they know they have been doing wrong. And then have the audacity to use hide behind words to make their case. Shame on them. Don't put them back into parliement when the vote comes. They have no morals and should not be in parliement. Prison is where they belong.
- Ebin Donk, angus scotland, 03/04/2009 21:11
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Whatever colour flag they 'serve' under every barrel has an untold number of rotten apples; some more than others
and the barrel marked politicians is more rotten than most.
time is well nigh to toss this stinking content overboard,
reclaiming that rightly due and start afresh with a new and revitalised regime and much needed fresh fruit.
- M.O'Brien, london.uk, 03/04/2009 17:47
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For all the Great Leader's moral compass it still allows him to claim £17,000 for his second home. I thought we provided him with a London flat and a modest country cottage.
- Dave, London England, 03/04/2009 17:42
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I commute into Waterloo from Twickenham and regularly see my local MP - Vince Cable - on the train. The same train that Vince catches can also get you into Waterloo from Brentford or Isleworth. Maybe these Keen people should get off the gravy train and on the 8.00 from Brentford to Waterloo.
- Paul Murray, London, England, 03/04/2009 17:40
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No wonder Ann Keen didn't vote against the Heathrow extra runway. The noise from planes flying over her constituency doesn't bother her because she has a free second home to live in elsewhere.
- Liz, London, 03/04/2009 15:48
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There seems to be rule for "them" and another for "us" the public. Well there has to be a general election in the next year or so. I wonder if the public will vote for those MPs who are claiming big expenses. Are they worth it? Used to commute via the Picadilly Line and 3/4 to 1 hour to central London was my time in the morning.But that was at 7.30am.
- Jim, London, 03/04/2009 15:45
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"The Keens are principally the reason why a good many of Hounslow's council seats have gone from Labour to independent and Tory."
Well said. But not to wrory - they won't be about much longer
- Robert, Chiswick, UK, 03/04/2009 15:42
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I guess the rules were made on the basis that members were both honorable and could be trusted. Now, from the Speaker downwards, we can see that many are neither.
- Colin, London, 03/04/2009 14:30
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I used to live in Brentford and I had to walked to the tube station which took 15 minutes and then caught the Piccadilly line into central London to work. In all it took under a hour. These pair of parasites could have used several other routes into town. Even if they used taxi's everyday, it still would be much cheaper.
Even it were not against the rules, they know they are screwing the taxpayers.
Glad I have emigrated
- Asw, HK, 03/04/2009 13:44
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She has claimed nearly £170,000, the cost of another home?!!
Yet some of us cannot even get a mortgage.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 03/04/2009 13:32
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'However, the Keens have not broken any Commons rules.'
More shame on whoever drafted the rules, then: but to claim two sets of expenses on one property is plain fraud. Any other employee who tried this would be sacked, and possibly prosecuted.
An opportunity has been missed to build a lodging for MP's on that roundabout by Waterloo, a short walk across the bridge, which was derelict for ten years or so: this would have taken the whole grubby issue out of contention.
- Mdj E10, london uk, 03/04/2009 12:59
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The House of Commons is not representative of society - it is representative of the paid political class, many of whom have never held a job in the real world at any stage in their lives, and most couldn't get a job cutting string.
We started paying MPs in 1911 to ensure that no one was barred by income from the House. That was a noble motive. However, like most welfare policy, it is ripe for review and reform. The generous system of salaries and allowances has ensured that people with a vocation tend to avoid politics, and those who seek a career – with all the cynical manipulation of the electorate it entails – are drawn to it like maggots to rotting flesh.
Mr Brown, who in the most obscene twist of all delivered a talk on morality in St Paul's, has sought to blow the whistle. He wants the second home allowance in its present form abolished. Of course he does. After all, most of his people have been in long enough to have paid for their second homes by now, and to many of them the existence of that and other allowances will in any case be an irrelevance from the morning after the next election.
- Kate, London, 03/04/2009 12:50
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This is my money and yours - We do not work our butts off, to subsidise their money grabbing - words fail me!!! They're are on the same level as Fred the Shred. It is because of the antics of this pair and some other MPs that have brought the political establishment into disgrace.
- Jeremy E, London, 03/04/2009 12:45
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These freeloaders are but the tip of the expenses iceberg.
Every weekend it is drip-drip-drip of MORE revelations about unscrupulous MP's grabbing everything they can get their sticky paws on.
Now you will understand WHY the Speaker of the House, Gorbals Mick, has been so adamant that the finer details of MP's expenses will not be made public.
It does appear as though MP's have a God-given right to help themselves to as much taxpayer's cash as they wish - and to hell with Joe Public.
Absolutely scandalous - it would only happen in the UK.
Third World UK.
Bankrupt UK.
No wonder, with MP's grabbing £93,000,000 in the past year by way of expenses.
- Reuben Camara, Morecambe/Lancaster, 03/04/2009 12:37
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Oink bloody Oink!
Champagne socialism at its very best!
- Keith Lonsdale, Doncaster, 03/04/2009 12:23
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They could rent a room as servicemen are required to do if they are posted to the MOD in London - on the basis of an allowance for which they have to account of course. And staying with relatives is strictly NOT allowed.
- Peter Haldane, London, 03/04/2009 12:16
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These two have been thought locally over several years to be a couple of freeloading leeches who give their party a bad name. This was long before the recent explosion of publicity given to MPs' expense claims in general. The Keens are principally the reason why a good many of Hounslow's council seats have gone from Labour to independent and Tory.
- Ruth, Hounslow, 03/04/2009 11:53
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I think we should get our money back or how about donating the properties to charities so that they can be used for the homeless, victims who have been abused etc.??? People who really need them as I don't see us getting our money back!
- Aria, South London, 03/04/2009 11:49
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Why do we need to pay for a second home. Even if we paid the costs for them to 'commute' then that would save thousands. After all an annual season ticket from zone 6 only costs c.£1400 pa.
The rest of us have to commute so can they.
- Jl, London, 03/04/2009 11:44
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Since MPs buy these homes and furnish them on expenses, they do not actually belong to them, but to the organisation which pays the bill i.e. the taxpayer.
It is time all of these 2nd homes were sold or given to councils, and MPs forced to use hotels like the rest of us who travel away from home during the week.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland, 03/04/2009 11:44
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45 minutes maybe ... but that's significantly shorter than my commute to work and many workers, a lot of whom commute in from the suburbs or even further. Joe Public can't claim travel expenses for going into the office even though that could cost thousands a year, so why is it ok for MPs? Let's not forget claims for everyday living expenses - food, heating, bath plugs 
- how lovely to have the tax payer pay your living expenses and keep your salary 100% for self-pampering.
Fact is, it's completely unjustifiable.
- John, London, 03/04/2009 11:39
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Your point that nearby MP's don't claim teh allowance is a fair one, but let's be realistic about those times. Chiswik to the Houses of Parliament might be possible in 20 minutes at 3.30am in an F1 car with the streets cleared of traffic, but at rush hour on any normal day you'd expect 45 minutes easily.
- Michael, london, 03/04/2009 11:08
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Perhaps a sensible solution would be for the Government to own the house, therefore preventing opportunism by MP's merely seeking to buy a second home at the expense of the public purse.
- Gary, London, 03/04/2009 10:54
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