The taxpayer contributed almost £10,000 to the costs of Alistair Darling buying a new London flat after the Chancellor changed the official designation of his second home.
Mr Darling has changed where he considered his “main home” to be located four times in four years.
This has allowed him to claim thousands of pounds towards the costs of his family’s home in Edinburgh – and buy a flat in London that has been furnished and mortgaged at taxpayers’ expense.
Mr Darling claimed £2,260 on his taxpayer-funded expenses to cover stamp duty when buying the flat. In 2004-05, Mr Darling, the then transport secretary, claimed that his main residence was a small flat in Lambeth – owned by Lewis Moonie, a fellow Labour MP who was later ennobled.
The 1930s flat was previously owned by Gordon Brown, who sold it to Lord Moonie in 1992.
Lord Moonie is under investigation after the “Lords for hire” scandal in January, when an undercover reporter taped him allegedly offering to discuss a piece of legislation with a local government minister for £30,000.
Mr Darling paid rent to Lord Moonie for a bedroom in the Lambeth flat – allowing him to claim that his family house in Edinburgh was his “second home”. However, after the 2005 general election, Mr Darling apparently decided to enter the London property market himself.
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