Morning:
12°c
Liberal Democrat baroness rented out her second home
Nicholas Cecil, Chief Political Correspondent03.06.09
A Liberal Democrat frontbencher billed the taxpayer for a second home in central London and then rented it out to an MP after being made a peer.
Baroness Tonge claimed £650 to £850 a month in mortgage interest and utility bills, according to The Daily Telegraph, when she was MP for Richmond Park. She also billed the taxpayer up to £200 a month for food.
Her constituency is just nine miles from Westminster and her successor Susan Kramer, and neighbouring Twickenham Lib-Dem MP Vince Cable, do not claim the allowance.
After stepping down at the 2005 election, she reportedly rented out the flat to a Lib-Dem colleague, MP for Bristol West Stephen Williams.
Shadow universities spokesman Mr Williams is said to have paid her £1,200 a month between 2005 and October 2007, when the rent rose to £1,500. Lady Tonge, Lib-Dem health spokesman in the Lords, is believed to no longer pay a mortgage on the flat while living in an £810,000 property in Richmond.
She said: "The hours in 1997 were very different from now. I took a flat because of all-night and late-night sittings. In 2005, I offered my flat to one of the new MPs. I charged a rent which covered the interest but not the service charge. I have not made any profit whatsoever." Meanwhile, armed forces minister Bob Ainsworth insisted he had been within "the spirit and the letter" of rules after it was reported he was paid nearly £6,000 for work on his second home and asked the taxpayer to pay for a £1,000 television and a £2,225 sofa. The latter two claims were cut.
The Coventry North East MP is said to have submitted £8,025 in invoices in July 2005 for work including fitting oak beams, "hacking" off Artex and removing a wall. He insisted he only billed the taxpayer £5,925 for repair and redecoration work, while paying for capital improvements himself.
Tory Harwich MP Douglas Carswell, who tabled the Commons motion which led to the toppling of Speaker Michael Martin, was reported to have claimed £655 for a love seat.
