NORTH Essex MP Douglas Carswell has handed in all his second home allowance receipts for the past three years to the Gazette.

The Harwich Tory member has already been exposed in the Telegraph for claiming £32,000 to furnish his rented house in Thorpe, including £655 for an armchair, known as a “love seat”.

Now he has been forced to answer more questions, with a breakdown of his second home expenses revealing he claimed for more than £7,000 of food over three years – and £32 for a Toni and Guy hairdryer.

Mr Carswell said: “It is public money and the public has a right to know.

“I want to put the information out there and let people make up their own minds.

“I was the first MP to give an item-by-item breakdown on my website and I am the first MP in Essex to give details of all my receipts for the three years before that.”

Defending his food claim, Mr Carswell said: “MPs are allowed to claim as much as about £400 a month for food. I only claim for it when I use my second home.

“It is a tricky question whether it is ethical to claim for food. On one hand, we are told to run a second home and are given an allowance for that, but on the other hand, we have to eat wherever we are.

“It is a point I accept, and when I published my expenses I did not try to hide this.”

Mr Carswell’s total second home claims rose from £10,659 in 2005/06 to £22,243 in 2007/08.

He pointed out although MPs were allowed to claim as much as £700 for a television, he chose only to buy a very modest £69.99 set.

He added: “If anyone looks at my receipts, they will just see someone who is running a second home. The question is whether people would rather I spent the money on an unfurnished home and a small number of modest items to furnish it, or if I spend the money on building up a mini property empire.

“If the worst things to have come out of this are that I bought an armchair with a silly name and a hairdryer, then I’m happy to put my hand up to that.

“I have never spent a pound of public money on a home I own, or for a mortgage.

“I have always claimed for unfurnished, rented accommodation and utility bills.

“I was thrifty in my purchases – I simply needed to equip an unequipped home.”

Mr Carswell added he refuted suggestions in the Daily Telegraph he lived in a £1million flat in London.

He said: “I was renting an apartment at the top of an office block. That must have been the value of the whole property. The rent on the flat was £1,450 a month.

“When I transferred my designated second home to Thorpe it actually cost the taxpayer less – £1,250 a month.”

THIS IS WHAT HE SPENT
July 1, 2005 - April 1, 2006 Food £2,325 Rent £6,985 Council Tax £298 Other costs £1051* Total: £10,659 *Other costs included: £221 on household items, including four cotton pillowcases, sheets, duvet covers, sheets and a bathmat £582 for kitchenware and cutlery.

April 1, 2006 - April 1, 2007 Food £2,860 Rent £14,739.08 Council tax £900 Utilities (inc gas, electricity and TV licence) £453 Total: £18,953

APRIL 1, 2007 - FEB 1, 2008 Food £2,288 Rent £10,000 Council tax £2,279 Maintenance £429 Phone and communications £517 Utilities £1,416 Cleaning £439 Others £4,873.98* Total: £22,243.05 * Other costs included: £630 for Maximus “love seat” armchair £630 for a sofa £399 for a Bosch fridge freezer £69 for a 14-inch Matsui TV/DVD £32.97 for a Toni and Guy hairdryer £480 for a bed Four chairs – £49 each £199 for a Miele vacuum cleaner 74p for a washing line.