Most of them were already millionaires, but here’s what they allegedly tried to ‘loot’ from the taxpayer before the MPs’ expenses scandal broke in 2008/09:
David Cameron, Prime Minister: £82,450 over four years on a mortgage for his £750,000 home in Oxfordshire (he already owns a £2m property in London), claimed for his TV licence, and £4980 on cleaning, and £680 on cutting back a wisteria plant
George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer: claimed £100,000 over six years in mortgage payments, ‘flipped’ his second home and allegedly avoided £54,000 in Capital Gains Tax,
Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury: took advantage of a loophole to avoid paying capital gains tax on the sale of the south London property for £300,000 in June 2007 (having claimed over £37,000 on the flat), claimed £2,113 for a new boiler, £2,094 for a sofa and two chairs, and £332 for a new washing machine.
Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister: £2,600 on a new kitchen, £5,857.63 on decorating and £760 for the repair of a garden path.
William Hague, Foreign Secretary: claimed £61,995 in taxpayers’ cash to help pay for a £1million second home in London – while pocketing around £800,000 a year from part-time jobs
Chris Huhne, Energy and Climate Change Secretary: claimed for a £119 Corby trouser press, delivered to his London home despite his second home being in Hampshire, and a £5,066 bill in 2006 for external repainting including preservatives for fences and garden items.
Ken Clarke, Justice Secretary: a £1,024 cleaning bill, and a £1,079 insurance bill (neither with receipts), and over £52,000 in second home expense claims over four years
Oliver Letwin, Minister of State, Cabinet Office: Over £2,000 in repairs to his tennis court; claimed hundreds of pounds to have an Aga cooker serviced regularly.
Eric Pickles, Communities and Local Government Secretary: billed the public purse for up to £200 a month for cleaning, and £280 for his monthly grocery bill. Claimed for a second home despite only living 37 miles from Parliament
Andrew Lansley, Health Secretary: changed his designated second home in order to claim more expenses; and sold it once it had been refurnished and renovated at taxpayer expense
Francis Maude, Cabinet Office Secretary: claimed almost £35,000 in mortgage interest payments on a London flat that he bought, close to a house he already owned and then rented out.
Michael Gove, Education Secretary: ‘flipped’ his second home, after he spent more than £7,000 on furnishing a London property over five months in 2006, before switching his allowance to a Surrey property and claiming more than £13,000 in moving costs. He is also reported to have claimed £500 for one overnight stay at a hotel.
Sir George Young, Leader of the Commons: claimed £127,159 in second home expenses on his London flat between 2001 and 2008, claimed £699 on a washer-dryer and £449 on a dishwasher.
