North East MP's fury over expenses letter
By the day, more of our MPs are being sucked into the latest expenses row.
I've been talking to Wansbeck's Denis Murphy.
He's now been targetted by the least popular man in the Commons - , and he's far from happy.
Some of his expense claims from the last five years are not only being queried but it looks like he'll be asked to pay money back.
I understand he's fallen foul of .
The problem is he's claimed above the retrospective £2000 annual limit for cleaning his second home in London. Last year he claimed £2400.
But he's furious about it and intends to challenge the request.
He says he abided by the rules, and feels sore that his reputation has been sullied while MPs who flipped their addresses to avoid tax are unpunished.
Meanwhile, the Blyth MP Ronnie Campbell is the latest to pay money back.
He's repaid £1000 that was paid in error by the Fees Office for bills that were mistakenly submitted twice.
He's more philosophical, but on cleaning he's in the clear - telling me he does his own vacuuming now!
(I'm learning a lot about MPs' lives this week. Robert Goodwill, MP for Scarborough and Whitby, cleans his own toilet).
, though I've been unable to contact him, he's determined that he's been badly treated.
I've been doing some more digging into cleaning claims. (I even bought some rubber gloves as a filming prop!)
More to follow on that.
And we've got Sir Stuart Bell, Middlesbrough MP and chairman of the in on the this Sunday to chew it all over and see where the whole saga goes from here.
I'm Richard Moss, the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s Political Editor for the North East and Cumbria. Welcome to my irreverent - but hopefully insightful - northern take on reporting politics for Look North and the Politics Show.
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