Bob Walter, the Conservative MP for north Dorset, attempted to claim £1,008 for handmade carpets he bought while on a trip to India.
Bob Walter bought the carpets to furnish his home in his constituency while on an all expenses paid visit to the country with fellow Tories. Although the fees office knocked him back for the full amount, they agreed to pay him £600.
He made the carpets claim as part of £85,000 in second homes allowance he has claimed in four years for his home in Dorset after switching his second home designation from a property in London.
The total claimed on his Additional Costs Allowance (ACA) includes £16,790 in removal bills, solicitors' fees, stamp duty and estate agency commission when he moved five miles from his home in Gillingham to his new £395,000 home in Shaftesbury in 2004.
In addition to a £1200 monthly mortgage interest bill for his Shaftesbury home, Mr Walter also claimed for gardening, pot plants, cleaning, gas, electricity and water supplies.
His claims under the Incidental Expenses Provision (IEP), which is designed to cover office costs, included receipts for two Marks & Spencer's Choc Sundaes, an "Exquisite Sundae" from Morrisons and a Creme Egg bar costing 47p, along with other purchases during November and December 2007, which he said had been consumed by "unpaid post graduate interns who work on my staff".
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