KHOODEELAAR! evidential note on the grubby, immoral and pro-criminality conduct by Crossrail Bill-peddler Alistair Darling
TEXTS below from the MAIL ON SUNDAY web site London 0030 GMT London Monday 6 April 2009:
Second home expenses row: Now Chancellor Alistair Darling is in the frame
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 11:45 PM on 05th April 2009
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Under scrutiny: Chancellor Alistair Darling
Alistair Darling has claimed thousands of pounds in expenses on his family home despite owning a London flat which he rents out - and living in a grace-and-favour apartment in Downing Street.
The Chancellor - the man in charge of the nation's finances - has repeatedly changed the designation of his 'main home' over recent years, the Daily Mail has learned.
The switches enabled him to charge the taxpayer thousands of pounds towards both his £1.2million Edinburgh townhouse and a new London apartment.
In addition, he has been pocketing cash from rent.
Mr Darling is the latest Cabinet minister to be dragged into the outcry over MPs' expenses.
All of those involved insist they have done nothing wrong and say their claims were approved by the Commons authorities.
But there is a growing clamour for an immediate overhaul of the system of pay and perks in Westminster.
Campaigners claimed ministers who enjoyed grace-and-favour accommodation were building 'property empires' at the expense of the taxpayer.
Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon came under fire yesterday for using taxpayers' money to run his constituency home while living rent-free in a Whitehall apartment and hiring out his London flat.
Tory leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg both insisted ministers who enjoy grace-and-favour homes should be banned from claiming expenses for a second property.
As public disquiet over expenses grew:
Further leaked details of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's claims suggested she charged taxpayers for a £104.56 patio heater and a £369.99 flat-screen TV;
It was disclosed that MPs are claiming stamp-duty charges of more than £10,000 on expenses;
A married back-bench MP couple were revealed to be costing the taxpayer more than £570,000 a year in salaries and expenses;
An MP admitted using his expenses to help buy a £520,000 retirement home near the Suffolk coast;
Gordon Brown prompted anger by suggesting he has more important issues than MPs' expenses on his mind.
The Chancellor's financial arrangements have come under scrutiny after he claimed £9,837 in second-home allowances last year despite living in Downing Street.
As well as enjoying rent-free accommodation in Number 11, Mr Darling started declaring income from tenants in a London flat he owns soon after he became Chancellor in 2007.
Spacious: The Darling family home in Edinburgh
In previous years, he had listed a room in a shared London flat as his main residence and made second-home claims on the large Edinburgh house he shares with his wife, Margaret.
Between 2003 and 2005, Mr Darling registered the London room as his main residence instead of the family home.
Using the same system exploited by Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, this allowed him to claim more on the larger second house - up to £24,006 a year under the additional costs allowance - to cover mortgage interest, council tax, decoration and utility bills.
In 2003 Mr Darling took lowcost lodgings with Labour MP Lewis Moonie, now Lord Moonie and one of the Labour peers at the centre of the 'cash for amendments' scandal.
Mr Darling had a single room in a South London flat.
Commons rules required all ministers to designate their London homes as their main residence until 2004, after which they were instructed to list their 'main home'.
Between 2001 and early 2004, when he had no choice but to declare Edinburgh as his 'second home', he claimed a total of £45,954 towards the house.
However, the Chancellor continued to list the room in Lord Moonie's flat, and subsequently a room in another flat, as his main residence after the rule change gave him the choice.
He finally designated Edinburgh as his main home in September 2005, at which point sources say he bought a 'small flat' in London.
Cramped: Mr Darling had a room in this South London block
This was then designated as his second home - allowing him to claim £20,675 in ACA in 2006/7.
After becoming Chancellor in the summer of 2007, and moving into Downing Street, Mr Darling is understood to have switched back again to claim on Edinburgh as his second home.
The Chancellor then rented out the London flat and began declaring income from it on the register of MPs' interests.
He is understood to pay council tax on his Downing Street flat, and is taxed on it as a benefit in kind.
Since taking high office, he has also enjoyed the use of Dorneywood, the Buckinghamshire house traditionally given to Chancellors of the Exchequer.
He also co-owns a family retreat - a croft in the outer Hebrides. While aides insist Mr Darling is 'fastidious' about his expenses claims, they declined to comment further until MPs' receipts are published in full this summer.
But the Chancellor yesterday admitted the spate of accusations against ministers was 'damaging'.
'I think we do need to get an outside examination of this and so there are recommendations coming from people who've got no axe to grind,' he told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme.
The Prime Minister, attending an EU/US summit in Prague, insisted he was focusing on issues such as the economy and terrorism.
'All these other issues are being dealt with by the Committee on Standards in Public Life,' he added.
Mr Brown has asked the committee to speed up an inquiry into the system of MPs' allowances.
Sources say they expect it to recommend that the second home allowance is scrapped before the next General Election and replaced with either a daily Commons attendance allowance or a pay rise.
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