4. Steamy nights in a posh London hotel room for Labour MP Khalid Mahmood and then lover Elaina Cohen, failed to impress the public, who footed his £175-a-night bill.
The 47-year-old insisted he had done nothing wrong by staying in a five-star Kensington hotel. He said that the bills were ‘approved’ by the Fees Office and that no-one had asked or expected him to return the money.
But the Perry Barr MP later made a £1,700 donation to charity.
5. Conservative frontbencher and Sutton Coldfield MP Andrew Mitchell claimed more than £12,000 for cleaning, redecorating and furnishing his constituency home and garden.
Mr Mitchell, who is in charge of party policies to reduce world poverty, spent hundreds of pounds of public money on an armchair, table, linen sheets, pillow cases and a duvet filled with goose feathers.
There was also a claim for £9,000 for garden work, which Mr Mitchell said was for maintenance. The 53 year-old’s expenses records show Mr Mitchell had asked to be paid £2,000 a month from his MPs’ additional costs allowance “until it is exhausted.”
6. Food and drink proved an expensive habit for Labour MP for West Bromwich Tom Watson, who claimed for the maximum £4,800 allowed per year.
On more than on occasion the 42-year-old exceeded the maximum amount permitted for food and had his claims reduced.
He also had expenses cut after buying a set of dining chairs that again, exceeded the limit set by the Common’s fees office.
Mr Watson shared a Westminster flat with colleague Iain Wright and had claimed for arrangement fees and stamp duty land tax. They later purchased the freehold of the property.
Since then both men have each claimed about £800 a month in interest on the mortgage of the flat, along with other household bills. Mr Watson resigned as a junior Cabinet Officer minister this month to spend more time with his family.
