The Expenses Scandal: Some of the worst offenders

Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness, Michelle Gildernew, Pat Doherty and Conor Murphy - each claimed £21,000 in the last financial year and a total of £437,405 in second home expenses. They also paid £3,600 a month in rent for a flat which a local estate agent estimated should cost just £1,400, even though they never attended any sessions in Parliament.

Margaret Moran - spent £22,500 of taxpayers' money on treating the dry rot at her husband's seaside home.

Barbara Follett – claimed £25,000 for security patrols outside her home in Soho, London.

Francis Maude - claimed almost £35,000 over two years for a mortgage on a London flat located just a few minutes’ walk from a house he already owned and rented out.

Hazel Blears – avoided paying any capital gains tax on £45,000 profit made from the sale of property that was not classified as a “main residence”, thereby avoiding a bill of £18,000.

Gordon Brown - paid his brother Andrew, an executive at EDF Energy, £6,577 for cleaning at his flat over 26 months on the understanding that they shared a cleaner. The total claimed in four years by Brown was £73,056.

Alan Duncan – received £4,000 for gardening costs, including overhauling a ride-on lawnmower. He also spent £1400 a month on the mortgage interest on his home in Rutland.

Peter Mandelson – billed taxpayers almost £3,000 for renovations at his constituency home in Hartlepool, less than a week after announcing he would stand down as an MP. It was later sold, making a profit of £136,000.

Oliver Letwin - claimed more than £80,000 of expenses for a cottage in Somerset close to his Dorset constituency, since 2004. He also charged the taxpayer over £2000 to repair a pipe under his tennis court.

Michael Martin – spent £1.7million of taxpayers’ money on refurbishing his house. A further £4000 was spent by his wife on taxis to “buy food for receptions.”