MP Clare Short: I’ve done nothing wrong
This meant the amount she was allowed to reclaim from the taxpayer fell. But Ms Short continued to claim the same amount, which meant she received more than she was entitled to.
She told The Birmingham Mail it was an honest mistake – and she repaid the money as soon as she realised what had happened, long before the controversy over MPs’ expenses erupted.
She said: “I wasn’t on top of the system as far as my mortgage was concerned.
“Nobody should hire me as an accountant. But I’m straight as a die.”
Ms Short said she had always given the House of Commons fees office full details of her mortgage arrangements, and she believed they should have spotted the error sooner.
But she added: “They did spot it eventually, and this is a case where the system worked.”
Ms Short said she was not “on the fiddle”. She said: “There is no cheating here.”
She added: “I have a small three-bedroom house. It is not a posh house.”
Referring to her resignation from Tony Blair’s cabinet in 2003, she said: “I walked away from the Cabinet, from a £140,000 salary.”
Ms Short said she believed that in her case, the media was looking for an opportunity to “smear” an MP even if there was no reason to do so.
She said she had also asked the Commons authorities to look into a report that she submitted a bill for £599.14 for decorating and renovation twice.
“I don’t know how it’s possible to submit the same receipt twice. I have asked them to look into it.”
