KALI’S pounds 2,200 CLAIM; New furniture for London home, 18 months Looking before standing down, was necessary to ensure MP Mountford ‘could return to Westminster’
Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), Dec 11, 2009
Byline: SAM CASEY
Kout ALI Mountford billed the taxpayer for more than pounds 2,200-worth of furniture – the month after she revealed she would be standing down as Colne Valley MP. Ms Mountford claimed pounds 2,239 for two sofas and a coffee table from Barker and Stonehouse under the parliamentary additional costs allowance, which is what MPs may claim for use of a second home.
She bought the items in December and in January revealed to the Examiner that she would not contest her seat at the next General Election because of ill health.
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Ms Mountford then submitted the claim in February.
The next General Election has to be held no later than June 2010.
Ian Leedham, Ms Mountford’s husband and office manager, said she would pay for the items herself when she leaves parliament – at their new, reduced value at that time.
He added the MP could have claimed for renting the London flat instead of for the furniture. As a result of claiming for the furniture, the couple had to foot the bill for rent themselves, because of the cap on what an MP can claim.
“We could have claimed for either the furniture or rent,” he said.
“On reflection, given the fuss around expenses, we should probably have paid for the furniture ourselves and claimed for rent.
“The taxpayer would have paid the same either way. It just happened one claim went in before another.” The published claims also show the Fees Office sent Ms Mountford a letter after receiving her claim for the sofas and table, because the receipt showed the items had been bought in Birstall and delivered to her Huddersfield home, not her London flat.
She said: “Many MPs buy furniture locally. It is very difficult to explain to the chief whip why you are missing a vote because you are waiting for delivery.
1 “Also, I never go shopping in London, I don’t have the time to spot bargains and everything was bought in sales in Yorkshire.”
In November, Ms Mountford also claimed for a pounds 562 Comet LCD TV and stand.
She said: “From 1997 until that date I had a portable TV and it gave up the ghost. I did not have a spare TV at home that was working. If I had one I would have moved it, as I had in the past.”
There was also a pounds 572 claim for a two-night stay in the Marriott Hotel in London in April. Ms Mountford said: “I had just given up my old flat which was too far away from the Commons for someone with my disability. It was the only one available that had wheelchair access and the right facilities at the time I needed it, including Premier Inn. I tried them all at very short notice.” Ms Mountford is angry that a claim for a specially adapted bed has been published
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