Francis Maude claimed almost £35,000 in two years for mortgage interest payments on a London flat when he owned a house just a few hundred yards away.
The shadow minister for the Cabinet Office owned the house outright but in 2006 took out a £345,000 mortgage on the flat about one minute’s walk away. He then rented out the house and began claiming mortgage interest payments on the flat which is in a grade II listed building with a gym and 24-hour concierge.
Labour ministers Alistair Darling and Hazel Blears have previously claimed for second homes in the same building.
Mr Maude also claimed, and was paid, £387.50 for the cost of moving his effects down the road from the house to the flat.
He claimed £18,112.50 in mortgage interest payments for the year 2006-07, £1,790 for council tax, £2,237 for a service charge and £820 for cleaning.
A further £9,801.78 was claimed for mortgage interest payments from April 1 to Aug 31, 2007.
The senior Tory MP then submitted a claim for the mortgage interest payments for the remainder of the 2007-08 financial year, which came to £13,070.96.
In a note to the House of Commons fees office he said he knew there was not enough left in his ACA account to cover the payments.
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