Details of MPs expenses revealed

Details of the expenses of six leading members of parliament were revealed on Friday and showed that former prime minister Tony Blair claimed 116 pounds for his TV licence.

The details were released after a three-year battle by the BBC to make the claims known under freedom of information rules.

Michael Martin, the speaker of the House of Commons, had tried to keep the expenses secret.

The information was released by Martin to the BBC after the House of Commons authorities decided not to appeal against the Information Commissioner's ruling that they were wrong to withhold the details any longer.

The figures showed that Blair claimed 15,490 pounds in 2003/04, including mortgage interest payments.

The then chancellor of the exchequer and now Prime Minister Gordon Brown filed expenses of 14,303 pounds that also included cleaning costs, mortgage interest payments and council tax bills for a second home.

There is no indication that any of the politicians whose expenses were revealed broke parliamentary rules with their claims.

The furore over MPs claims and expenses has been bubbling for months, with the parliamentary speaker in the spotlight, especially over the fact that his wife claimed 4,000 pounds worth of taxi rides for personal shopping trips.

Conservative MP Derek Conway found himself at the centre of a storm of outrage when it was revealed that he had paid his children salaries for "research" out of the public purse when there was no evidence they did anything.

In the details revealed on Friday, the MP who expensed the most was former Conservative leader Michael Howard, who claimed for 20,347 pounds, including mortgage interest payments, utility bills, council tax, phone bills, cleaning and food.

John Prescott, Labour's former deputy prime minister, expensed 4,000 pounds for food - among total claims for 20,057 pounds - almost as much as he was permitted. Under the rules, MPs can expense up to 400 pounds a month on groceries.

Charles Kennedy, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, claimed expenses of 12,869 pounds, the least of the six.

The chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, which has called for more transparency in MPs expenses, said Friday's revelations were a step in the right direction.

"This is the first step towards real parliamentary transparency, but there is still a long way to go," said Matthew Elliott.

"Even without the full details there are already serious questions to be asked. Why are ministers on generous salaries who live in free homes allowed to charge council tax and food bills to the taxpayer?"