Leicester MP Keith Vaz amongst 'expenses' accuses

May 10 2009 by Paul Bradley, Sunday Mercury

Commons guidelines say that MPs should “avoid purchases which could be seen as extravagant or luxurious”.

A spokesman for Mr Vaz, who is the chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, denied he had done anything wrong.

He said: “Stanmore is not central London.

“Like many MPs he has a flat in central London that is close to the House of Commons.

“Mr Vaz’s claims have always been in accordance with the spirit and rules of the Green Book.

“If they were not within the rules the claims would not have been paid.”

Information on high profile MPs’ expenses were leaked to the Daily Telegraph earlier this week.

The latest revelations about Mr Vaz and fellow MPs Ben Bradshaw, Phil Hope and Barbara Follett come after the paper published details of 13 Cabinet ministers’ expenses.

The Commons authorities have complained to the Metropolitan Police, who confirmed they were considering a request for an investigation into the leak.

Full details of all MPs’ expenses dating back four years, running to 2.4 million receipts, were due to be published in July after the Commons authorities lost a Freedom of Information battle.

Among those already embarrassed by their expenses claims is Home Secretary and Redditch MP Jacqui Smith, whose husband paid for three porn films using taxpayers’ money.