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Gordon Brown, David Cameron and George Osborne were among a string of senior MPs who have used taxpayers' money to promote themselves with "vanity" DVDs, photos and CDs.
Shadow chancellor Mr Osborne claimed £47 for two copies of a DVD of a speech he made in the Commons. The speech, ironically, was on how to give the public "value for money".
Mr Osborne's use of the annual £10,000 Communications Allowance - which was ridiculed by Tory leader MrCameron as a means to "tell our constituents what a wonderful job we are doing" - was mirrored by other MPs.
The Prime Minister claimed £176.25 on his Communications Allowance in January last year for a CD of photographs of himself. The bill was simply described as for "photographic work".
Mr Cameron also claimed £564 for photos of himself on his redesigned website. His office insisted the bulk of the work was to make the site easier to use for "people with restricted visibility".
Other bills for Mr Cameron include more than £1,500 in regular payments to Reaper Enterprises, who designed the website and adverts in publications in Witney, Oxfordshire.
Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband claimed £35.36 for recordings of himself in Commons debates and images.
Children's Secretary Ed Balls claimed £7.99 on a book entitled "Reasons to be Cheerful", as well as £300 on 500 posters of himself.
The Communications Allowance allows MPs to claim costs towards informing constituents about the work they do.
Boris put in claims for 'awesome' website
Boris Johnson was refused a £500 expense claim for a payment to a man who runs a pro-Boris website when he was MP for Henley-on-Thames and running for Mayor of London.
Commons officials refused to approve the bill for Simon Stacpoole, who runs the Boriswatch.com site - which describes Mr Johnson as "the mutt's nads" and praises him as "awesome".
And while Mr Johnson may have pledged to promote London tap water as Mayor, when he was an MP he charged the taxpayer for £130 worth of Abbeywell mineral water - and £150 worth of Diet Coke.
In his election manifesto, he said: "As a first step we will be banning the supply of bottled water immediately in City Hall."
Mr Stacpoole was paid £1,000 in November 2007 to build a new website for the MP.
But today's receipts appear to show that his 19 December claim for a £500 bill was denied by a Commons official, who wrote "not to be paid, letter to be sent".
Mr Johnson also claimed £6.29 every year in Lakeland lite milk "jiggers" for his tea and coffee.
Reader views (2)
Hang on, Boris wants US to pay for his own publicity? Even Ken didn't have the chutzpah for such blatant misuse of public money, what's going on?
- Robert Hancy, Bow, 18/06/2009 15:15
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So we the taxpayer were asked by Boris to pay for his own propoganda?
This is one of the most disgusting claims to have surfaced, Boris Johnson earns half a million a year, claimed from the taxpayer almost a hundred THOUSAND pounds in household expenses including mortgage payments, and, not content with that, we're supposed to pay for his acolytes to praise him to the skies?
This is Tory sleaze writ large, almost beyond belief. Those of us who predicted sleaze and graft when this joke was elected derive very little pleasure from being proven right so soon. A year into the job and Boris has his snout in the trough alongside MPs who have done the decent thing and resigned.
- Ben Potter, London, 18/06/2009 15:04
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