MPs expenses: The 10 worst offenders from the Midlands
7. Conservative MP Julie Kirkbride announced she would stand down at the next election after campaigns by angry constituents when details emerged about her so called ‘double dipping’.
The Bromsgrove MP and her husband, fellow Tory MP Andrew MacKay, designated different properties as their main homes – which meant both were funded by the taxpayer.
While MacKay, a Birmingham MP in the 1970s, named their second home as a Westminster flat and claimed £11,968 in mortgage interest payments, Kirkbride designated a flat on a converted Georgian estate in Bromsgrove, for which she claimed £13,377 in 2007-08.
Other expenses included more than £2,000 for cleaning, £501.64 for curtains, £239.95 for a bed and £400 for a mattress.
She also used public cash to help fund a £50,000 extension to accommodate her brother, who helps care for their young son.
8. Conservative MP Peter Luff, bought three toilet seats for his country house and London flat.
The Mid Worcestershire MP claimed £17,000 for furniture, linen and electric goods over four years, including three food mixers and two microwave ovens.
Mr Luff bought 10 sets of bed linen, four beds and mattresses, five tables, two ironing boards, two vacuum cleaners, five sets of towels, three kettles and spent £625 on a china dinner service in 2005.
9. Lynne Jones MP spent more than £1,100 on wallpaper for her London flat but didn’t believe it was extravagant.
The MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, claimed for 11 rolls of St Antoine wallpaper from Farrow & Ball at £63.99 a roll. She said the items were good quality ‘rather than luxurious’.
10. The most senior backbench Conservative MP, Sir Michael Spicer claimed the cost of trimming a hedge around his helipad on expenses and thousands of pounds on gardening his Worcestershire manor house in a nine-month period.
The West Worcestershire MP claimed one bill for £609 which included more than four hours to cut a hedge around his helipad and vegetable garden.
Share
