MP filed furniture expenses claims too late

MP GREG Barker had a claim for £2,770 worth of furniture rejected – because he did not submit the paperwork to the House of Commons Fees Office in time.

The multi-millionaire Tory MP for Bexhill and Battle tried to claim back a receipt for £1,101 from John Lewis for a coffee table, two desk chairs, a chest of drawers, two glass working tops and two steel trestles.

He also tried to claim £134 for blinds from the same shop.

A third claim for £1,539.25 spent at Want Don't Want Limited was for a two-seat leather sofa and two black leather armchairs.

But the Fees Office rejected all of them.

He told the Courier: "I bought the furniture for my constituency office at the end of March and by the time we put the paperwork through we had passed the cut off point for that financial year.

"So in fact your headline should actually read MP furnishes constituency office from his own pocket.

"All the furniture was for my constituency office in Bexhill, which we previously didn't have and meant all the casework had to be done up in London.

"We re-carpeted, re-painted and put in new blinds.

"I don't think it's lavish, it's the same type of furniture used in the Commons office in London. These items did not come from Harrods or from some luxury online shop.

"The constituency office underwent a significant upgrade and offers a really important service to local people."

Mr Barker was more successful in other claims for the furnishing of said office.

A set of office chairs from Argos cost £269.97, two shredders totalled to £216.37, and new carpets cost the taxpayer £1,725.

Oak filing cabinets, desk units, a leather armchair, a lumber chair, office plants and crockery and a Braun filter coffee maker and Argos microwave and coffee maker cost an added £1,711.48.

A dishwasher safe Simon Drew porcelain mug cost £5.99.

The revelations about Mr Barker's spending of public money on furniture comes after the Courier revealed last week how his annual mobile phone bill had exceeded £7,300.

He said: "When I first got a Blackberry the technology was very new and it was incredibly expensive. The cost has come down significantly since then.

"Had I known at the beginning how much it would be, I would not have done it.

"When I got to the end of that contract I changed it and now my mobile phone bill is around £1,000 a year.

"And that is because, as my office will tell you to their dismay, I'm in contact with them pretty much 24-7."

On the expenses saga as a whole, Mr Barker said: "I support a tightening of the rules and we really do need this. It is proper we have the scrutiny."