caffeine hero

John Prescott – “Every expense was entirely consistent within the rules of the House of Commons on claiming expenses at the time.”

A spokesman for Mr [Shaun] Woodward – “Mr Woodward’s allowance claims are published every year and they are within the rules and guidelines.”

Caroline Flint – “At each stage I sought advice from the House of Commons, and never sought to make personal gains from public funds.”

Douglas Alexander – “Following the fire which rendered my home uninhabitable and destroyed contents… I sought the advice of the House of Commons fees office to obtain their guidance as to what it was appropriate to claim in these circumstances, given my continuing need for accommodation to allow me to undertake my work as an MP.”

Margaret Beckett – “… gardening bills were submitted by mistake because sometimes things are done in a rush, at the last minute, when you’re busy.”

Andy Burnham – “I believes this demonstrates quite clearly that I have always sought to work within the rules and the spirit of the parliamentary Green Book, and, during my time in Parliament, have not made claims for expenditure that is either extravagant or luxurious.”

Geoff Hoon – “I was told by the House of Commons fees office that this was entirely within the rules and that previous ministers in my position had made similar claims.”

Alistair Darling – “The claims were made within House of Commons rules which were designed to reflect the fact that MPs have to meet the cost of living in two places.”

A spokesman for David Miliband – “At every stage, David Miliband followed the procedures and rules as laid out by the parliamentary authorities.”

A spokesman for Miss [Hazel] Blears – “All Hazel Blears’ claims for allowances are in line with the rules, and have been approved by the fees office. To do her job as MP for Salford, she has to have accommodation in London to be near the House of Commons. This accommodation includes a bed with a mattress, blankets and pillows, and a television.” John Mann – “Capital gains tax is going to come back and haunt some people, there is no question. I tell you what – any Labour MP who isn’t paying capital gains tax should not be a Labour MP. Tax avoidance in the Labour Party is unacceptable, whatever the system. People need to be honest with themselves and honest with the country. If capital gains tax needs paying, pay it.” She announces that she would be paying £13332 to HM Revenue and Customs to cover capital gains tax on a London flat she sold.

Lord Mandelson – “The work done was necessary maintenance. All claims made were reasonable and submitted consistent with Parliamentary rules.”

Jack Straw (in writing) – “Sorry for that … accountancy does not appear to be my strongest suit”.

Barbara Follett – “As all of [my claims], bar one, have been accepted and cleared by the House of Commons Fees Office under the rules laid out in the Green Book, I have no further comment to make on them.

The item not accepted by the Fees Office was claimed in error and is, to the best of my knowledge, one of the only two occasions in the last twelve years when my expenses claims have been queried by them.”

A spokesman for Mr [Keith] Vaz – “Stanmore is not central London. Like many MPs, he has a flat in central London that is close to the House of Commons.”

She added that Mr Vaz had changed the designation of his second home “for personal reasons”, and that his London flat “was not available for his use between May 2007 and May 2008″. “Mr Vaz’s claims have always been in accordance with the spirit and rules of the Green Book,” she said. “If they were not within the rules the claims would not have been paid.”

Phil Hope said that he had to have “somewhere to live in London in order to carry out my duties in Parliament and for which these costs have been incurred. I have acted with the full approval of the fees office to whom those claims were submitted and have acted entirely within the rules laid down by Parliament.” Then on the 15th May, he announced that he would write a cheque for the money he received to refurbish a two-bedroom flat in south London.

A spokesman for Greg Barker – “All claims made since 2001 have been entirely legitimate and within the rules and approved by the fees office. His main home, against which he has never claimed expenses, remains in the constituency.”

Vera Baird – “I used my allowances claim to furnish and maintain my house. I did not take issue with the fees office for rejecting claims, I was grateful for their guidance on how the rules should be interpreted.”

Margaret Moran failed to comment.

Harriet Harman – “MPs make the claim under the system and under the system it’s for the House of Commons fees office to decide whether it comes within the rules.”

John Gummer – “I have only ever claimed the relevant proportion of the costs of necessary maintenance and repairs of an old rural property (and the claims for ‘gardening’ relate in significant part to maintenance and repairs too).”

Stephen Byers – “All of the expenses I have received are within the rules and have been approved by the House of Commons authorities.”

John Reid – was unavailable for comment.

Tom Watson – “All claims were made under the rules set out by the House of Commons authorities. I fully understand why the public expects the system to be reformed. I voted for this last week and only hope that reforms can go even further as quickly as possible.”

David Willetts – “… the Commons authorities were right to reject his claims for a shed base and dog pen.”

Chris Grayling – “A second home enables me to meet those commitments. I have always been entirely open to my constituents about this.”

Francis Maude – “My understanding of the rules at the time was that it was possible to claim for mortgage interest payments in these circumstances as proper expenses of having a second home.

“The fees office informed me the rules had changed and I fully accepted their judgement. Therefore, no claim was made.”

George Osborne, explaining why he claimed more than £400 for the cost of a chauffeur to take him from Cheshire, where he has his constituency home, to London – “[I had attended] a constituency function in the evening and had to be in London very early the next morning”.

Oliver Letwin – “I was served a statutory notice by the water company to repair the leaking pipe, which runs underneath the tennis court and garden. No improvements were made to the tennis court or garden.”

Alan Duncan – “Everything I have claimed has been legitimate and approved by the fees office.” Later – “The whole House of Commons, I think, has to apologise for the mess that has arisen. These allowances cannot continue like this.” David Cameron then ordered him to repay more than £5000 in gardening costs.

Andrew Lansley, – “the work carried out on his cottage was required to maintain the exterior of the property and was within the rules”. It might have been, but it didn’t stop David Cameron telling him to repay £2600 claimed for home improvements.

Michael Gove – “The items were bought from a mainstream retailer and when I was informed that they fell outside the range of allowable items I accepted that ruling without complaint.” On 15th May, The Telegraph reported that after being ordered to do so by David Cameron, Michael Gove, the shadow schools secretary will repay £7,000 in furniture expenses.

Michael Martin – “But working to the rules and the rules alone isn’t what is expected of any honourable Member. It is important that the spirit of what is right must be brought in now.”

David Heathcote-Amory – “I confirm that I claimed for gardening costs for my second home, and these were paid by the fees office.”

Michael Spicer – “It would have been more accurate if I had defined this item as ‘maintenance’ rather than gardening.”

Stewart Jackson – “The £304.10 was a one-off claim. However, I accept that this claim could be construed as excessive and I therefore apologise and I will make arrangements to repay this sum.”

Douglas Hogg – the man who thought the taxpayers should pay for cleaning his moat: “Turning to my own ACA claims; they were the subject of prior consultation with the fees office and I therefore hope and believe that they comply with both the letter and the spirit of the rules.”

Michael Ancram – “None of the items can be considered extravagant or luxurious. They are all strictly maintenance expenses which were required to maintain the house which was always my second home. The swimming pool boiler maintenance was an error, which will be repaired.”

Kenneth Clarke – “I claim for my London home because I only own it in order to carry out my duties as an MP. My Nottingham home is a much bigger house and I could have made much larger claims on the taxpayer on the Nottingham house over the years.”

Bob Marshall Andrews – “technically this expenditure should probably have been split” between his second home and office expenses.”

… to be continued.