Greg Hands MP's expense claims include payments of over £30,000 to fellow Tories

1.57.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 30th Jun 2009

H&F Lib Dems have reviewed expense claims made by local Conservative MP Greg Hands between 2005 and 2008, which have recently been published by the House of Commons, albeit heavily blacked out.

As an Inner London MP Mr Hands is not entitled to claim for a second home allowance. He nevertheless claimed £121,357 in expenses during 2007/08.

These include:

• £7,500.00 claimed for payments to current Conservative Hammersmith & Fulham Borough Councillor Greg Smith for 'consultancy' services (in addition to staff who are employed directly by the House of Commons).

• £8,026.77 claimed for payments to Hammersmith & Fulham Conservatives, by way of contributions to office costs and charges for 'secretarial support'.

• £4,800 claimed for payment to a company called Fulham Investment and Property Company Ltd for staff accommodation.

Because of blacking out, it is not clear who owns this company, or how this relates to office charges invoiced to Mr Hands by Hammersmith Conservatives.

• £16,408.67 claimed for payments to Metloc Printers Ltd, which is principally owned and run by newly elected Conservative Essex County Councillor Victoria Metcalfe.

Of the Metloc expenses, £4,064.43 was invoiced to Hammersmith and Fulham Conservatives, and £88.13 of this was for a 'failed delivery'.

Separately, Mr Hands mobile phone bill show a significant rise in 2007-2008.

Mobile phone claims were initially £54.05 per month (including rental and a managed service package). However, in 2007/08, Mr Hands made claims for additional calls not covered by his package. Surprisingly, some of the highest claims coincide with Parliamentary recesses:

February 2008 (Half-term recess): £258.30

January 2008: £ 51.37

December 2007 (Christmas recess): £348.11

November 2007: £ 82.53

October 2007 (Half-term recess): £103.92

September 2007 (Summer recess): £229.99

August 2007 (Summer recess): £ 83.97

July 2007: £ 9.21

June 2007: £ 53.42

May 2007 (Whitsun recess): £ 69.95

April 2007 (Easter recess): £ 86.35.

The itemised bills for the mobile (and the BT line which averages between £100 and 200 per quarter) have not been published, so it has not been possible to confirm how much of these charges related to Parliamentary duties.

A link to MPs' expenses claims may be found on the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8106044.stm