'Flipping' Labour MP claimed £65,000

Monday, November 23, 2009

After Tory MP David Curry resigned as chairman of the parliamentary standards and privileges committee amid allegations that he claimed expenses on a property that he used for an extra-marital affair, Labour MP Andrew Dismore – also on the committee – is to be questioned over claims that he 'flipped' properties as his second home to claim £65,000.

Dismore – who has vocalised his lack of support for reforms to the expenses system and is considered to back leniency for MPs who broke the rules on allowances – had designated a flat in Notting Hill, west London, as his second home, claiming £34,000 in parliamentary allowances. His partner Linda Julian works there as a homeopath. But Dismore then flipped the designation for another flat a few miles away in his constituency of Hendon, north London and claimed £31,000.

Dismore also put in invoices for "consultancy work" and "casework management" carried out by Julian and paid her £75 to "prepare for the installation of broadband". And he paid his constituency Labour Party around £36,000 from his expenses to cover the costs of office services, even though public money is not meant to be used for the benefit of any political organisation.

Sir Alistair Graham, who was replaced by Sir Christopher Kelly as chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said Dismore should consider his position.

"If the reforms are going to have any effect, members of this committee are going to have to be squeaky clean," Graham said. "Its longest-standing member having question marks over his own claims does not fit with this. I think the only sensible thing for him to do is follow Mr Curry and stand down."

Claiming that the Hendon flat was cheaper to run, Dismore told the Daily Telegraph that he needed both homes to do his job well and "give a full day's service to constituents".

Pointing out that he stopped claiming allowances for the second home in April, he said: "It was my intention when I bought the Hendon flat for it to be my main home. After about 18 months it became clear to me that with increasing parliamentary demands on my time, I was spending more time in London than in Hendon."

Of the money paid to his partner, Dismore said: "Prior to becoming a homeopath, for nearly 20 years she worked as a computer professional, latterly as a project manager for a City bank, designing systems for them. She is thus well qualified to assist me."

And of his practice of paying Hendon Labour party from his expenses, he reckoned the money didn't cover its expenditure on office costs for him, meaning "cross subsidy worked the other way". The paper reported that Dismore had since changed his office costs system to "create greater transparency" by submitting individual receipts to the fees office.

• Health minister Ann Keen faces a parliamentary inquiry after receiving £12,000 in expenses for an office at home, despite having three other official workplaces, the Times has reported. Keen, a former parliamentary aide to Gordon Brown, received monthly cash payments of £250 for at least four years in an arrangement with the House of Commons authorities that did not require her to submit itemised receipts.