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Allowances make a mockery of ordinary people, says banker who bought Hoon house
Aline Nassif and Rashid Razaq6 Apr 2009
A BANKER who bought one of the London homes at the centre of the Geoff Hoon expenses scandal today criticised the minister for acting "immorally" and "making a mockery" of ordinary people.
David Johnston, who faces redundancy at the end of this month and may have to forfeit the terrace house, criticised Mr Hoon and other "disingenuous" MPs who abuse their second homes allowance.
Mr Johnston, 40, head of capital markets for Icelandic investment bank Straumur, bought Mr Hoon's former property in Lambeth for £465,000 in August 2006.
The sale made Mr Hoon a £325,000 profit. It came after he had claimed £90,000 in secondary home allowance on his constituency home in Derby over the previous five years.
But it has also emerged that he was making £18,200 a year in rent on the London property at the same time because the defence secretary was living in a grace and favour home in central London amid security fears following the start of the Iraq war.
Records today show that he has now claimed more than £70,000 in housing expenses while amassing a £1.7 million property portfolio.
Mr Hoon and his wife, Elaine, own a family home near his Derby constituency valued at £640,000, a new London home in Southwark valued at £650,000 and a third property in Suffolk estimated to be worth £400,000.
Mr Johnston is backing Tory leader David Cameron's calls to scrap their second homes allowance.
Mr Johnston said: "With the job of a minister should come some honour where these discretionary matters are concerned, but as long as there is a loophole, then it will be exploited. If Mr Hoon was given a grace and favour apartment it should not have been appropriate to claim for a house he was already self-financing. Mr Hoon, like other MPs, is basically saying 'I can move around my main residence to suit the rules' which is a little disingenuous."
He called for an urgent overhaul of MPs' expenses. He said: "I have nothing personal against Mr Hoon, but the rules have to change so that people like him cannot build up their personal private wealth or property portfolios at the taxpayer's expense.
"I work for a bank, and I'm not expecting sympathy, but I will be losing my job at the end of this month and if I don't get employed before the end of the year I will have to sell the house.
"MPs living in London and claiming second allowances on their constituency residences are making a mockery of people's dire financial situations."
Mr Hoon's spokeswoman refused to comment on the claims.
