PM's ally claims for two houses

AS ONE of Gordon Brown's trusted whips, he carries the grand official title of "Treasurer of HM Household". Now it appears that Labour MP Tommy McAvoy has been ensuring that his own household is looked after as well.

Expense files published this week show that McAvoy is regularly claiming for the costs of two homes, one in London and the other in the east of Glasgow.

McAvoy charges £20,000 a year for running his second home in London, but the politician – who earns £100,000 a year as a whip – has also been charging taxpayers hundreds of pounds a year for phone and power bills at his main home in Glasgow.

MPs are usually barred from charging for their registered 'first' home, but McAvoy was allowed to charge for his property in Rutherglen because, he says, he uses it as an office – even though his constituency office is based less than two miles away in Cambuslang.

McAvoy insisted last night that he had never charged for 'home' costs. He said that he had used his home as a second office ever since being elected in 1987 "in order to be able to work weekends and nights".

Consequently, he charges the Commons Fees Office for the portion of his phone and power bills which, he says, are built up on constituency business. For the one year when receipts for his home 'office' are clearly marked, 2004-05, McAvoy claimed back £1,361 on bills incurred at his home. In the same year, he also spent more than £3,000 refurbishing his constituency office nearby, while spending a further £20,751 on his home in London.

The arrangement was given the blessing of the Fees Office but is thought to be highly unusual. Another Scottish MP, Lib Dem Malcolm Bruce, was also found to have been charging for his own home 'office' alongside his constituency, but he claimed this was because, as an MP in a large rural constituency, it sometimes made sense to work at home.

But McAvoy's small, urban Rutherglen constituency means his office is close to his home.

McAvoy is also shown to have claimed for more than £7,000 since 2004. Like many other MPs, McAvoy simply billed for regular sums of £250, without needing to provide receipts.

As well as acting as Treasurer of the HM Household, McAvoy was selected by Gordon Brown earlier this year to sit on a cross-party select committee to advise on reforms to the expenses system.

He is also renowned for having accomplished the feat of being one of the very few Labour MPs to have served in the Government for Labour's entire 12-year stint in office.

The register of family interests at the House of Commons shows that McAvoy employs his wife, Eleanor, as a part-time senior secretary. The records released last week do not show how much she is paid. McAvoy's expenses show that he has regularly claimed more than £80,000 a year in staffing allowances.

McAvoy's register of interests also shows he is the director of a local pub, the County Inn, and owns the land on which it is situated.

He said last night : "I have run a home office since being elected in 1987 in order to be able to work weekends and nights." He added: "No 'home' bills are charged to the taxpayer."

The MP added that some of his petty cash claims had been spent on his home office. "Over the years I utilised the petty cash allowance for all office expenditure. This includes ink cartridges, paper, all kinds of stationery, surgery lets, newspapers, books, magazines, cleaning materials, IT peripherals, tea, coffee, biscuits and small one-off items."