One Croydon Conservative MP attracted special criticism for his huge claims for a range of personal spending, from a bed bought at Harrod’s to the cost of maintaining his lush garden in Surrey.
The Croydon Tory MPs’ cautiousness over the spending of public money ought to be even greater, given how both Richard Ottaway and Gavin Barwell were subject of an enquiry by the courts for the manner in which they accounted for their election expenses in 2010.
But according to Inside Croydon‘s loyal reader, at least one of our MPs is undeterred about putting in receipts for even the most trivial of his personal expenditure.
Our reader told us of how the Croydon MP, well-known in the area after a couple of years of state-subsidised personal promotion, had visited a local convenience store, bought a packet of crisps and asked for a receipt.
Are times so hard for our £65,738 per year MPs that they are now putting in claims – at public expense – for their packets of snacks?
Was this an item that is to be paid for out of the MP’s “campaign expenses” during the past month when he was spending his publicly funded time managing a campaign for a non-Tory Tory candidate for Croydon North?
We are sure that Gavin Barwell will let us know soon enough…
- Inside Croydon: For comment and analysis about Croydon, from inside Croydon
- Post your comments on this article below. If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, a residents’ or business association or local event, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
- Tory MP quits to open door for return of Boris (independent.co.uk)
- MPs’ expenses: top Tory in secret deal (telegraph.co.uk)