Fabian Hamilton Labour MP - Overclaimed on mortgage.

Another day another shifty thieft of public money by an MP ....Mr Hamilton, who represents Leeds North East, attempted to justify his arrangement by saying that he spent the majority of his time in the house owned by his mother, a retired judge, until her death in 2005.

The designation of the London house as his 'main' residence allowed him to claim thousands of pounds for his family home in Leeds.

He spent thousands of pounds decorating and furnishing the “second home” where his wife and children lived in Leeds, before “flipping” his designation to a new London flat, which he then also did up at the taxpayer’s expense.

In 2004, the MP admitted over-claiming on his expenses by nearly £3,000, charging for the full cost of his mortgage as well as the interest-only element to which he was entitled. The £300 a month error came to light only when the Commons fees office asked him to produce his mortgage statement.
Challenged by The Daily Telegraph, the backbench MP said he had made a genuine mistake, but could not be certain whether or not he had also over-claimed for previous years.

Mr Hamilton eventually made up the repayment by submitting receipts totalling £1,950.14, while agreeing that his following month’s claim could be docked by £900.22 to cover the remaining amount.

The MP went on to “flip” his home in 2006, when he bought a new flat in Maida Vale, north west London, taking his mortgage interest payments to £1,062.53 a month.

Shortly before the move, he fitted out his constituency home with a £4,400 boiler, before claiming the cost of installing a £5,000 kitchen at his new London flat.

Later that year, in another exchange with the fees office over a missing claim, Mr Hamilton wrote requesting he be paid immediately so that his family would not become “destitute”.
On his official website, Mr Hamilton said that he wanted to expose the “widespread misunderstanding concerning MPs’ expenses” by detailing his own claims.

He owned up to spending £23,083 in 2007-08 – the maximum allowed under the rules – saying that this was for “mortgage interest and upkeep costs on a flat in London for use whilst I am in Parliament”.

However, the MP did not mention the regular claims made for decoration, repairs and furnishings at the two properties, including the purchase of two televisions, an £800 bed, new windows, wardrobes, and a DVD player....

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