Lib Dems in the spotlight
By politics.co.uk staff
Britain’s third party has finally come under the expenses spotlight, with the Telegraph citing seemingly excessive claims by former leader Sir Menzies Campbell.
Sir Menzies spent £10,000 redecorating his flat with a top designer, including claims for cushions and a flat-screen television.
Among other items of expenditure, he is understood to have claimed for food when parliament was not sitting, spending £1,718 on laundry over four years and £4,700 on parking.
“I have rented a one-room studio flat at Dolphin Square for approximately 20 years, during which time I have had no substantial claims for maintenance,” he said.
“After 20 years my flat was in need of renovation as carpets, bed, television set and other items were in need of replacement.”
He said he used family friend Amy Schellenberg to design the flat because she represented value for money.
There are also serious allegations again Lib Dem MP Andrew George, who allegedly claimed mortgage interest and furniture on a flat for his daughter.
Mr George denies his daughter stayed in the flat but the Telegraph said the daughter used the flat where £847 a month was claimed for mortgage interest on the riverside property in Rotherhithe.
“Because we have Post Office insurance on our main home in Cornwall, we were not allowed to have our name on another policy at another address,” he explained.
“We therefore asked our daughter if she would be the named person as she occasionally keeps an eye on the flat for us.”
Party leader Nick Clegg exceeded his second home allowance by £100, according to the newspaper, and he has already agreed to pay back a phone bill which included overseas calls to Colombia and Vietnam.
Expenses campaigners Norman Baker, who is also the party’s transport spokesman, claimed for hundreds of pounds of food at his flat in London under the Additional Costs Allowance while parliament was in recess.
Lembit Opik, upon receiving a £40 court summons for non-payment of his council tax, claimed it on expenses. He too will repay the money.
Mr Clegg launched a strongly worded threat against anyone in his party misusing expenses.
“I will come down like a ton of bricks on any MP who has sought to defraud the taxpayer, profit for personal gain in the property market,” he said.
“So far, to my knowledge, not a single Liberal Democrat MP has committed the biggest abuse which has emerged in the revelations over the last few days, and that is flipping from one home to the other to avoid capital gains tax and to make a big personal profit.”
A spokesperson for home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne has confirmed he was already paid back a £119 claim for a trouser press.
