Expenses row MP survives meeting

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Mr Djanogly claimed it was "time to move on"

Tory MP Jonathan Djanogly claims to have got the backing of his Huntingdon constituency party at a meeting to discuss concerns about his expenses.

Mr Djanogly said he told the meeting claims he spent about £13,000 a year on an au pair were exaggerated.

Constituency association chairman Martin Stephenson said the meeting had been called to "clear the air" and there was no question of deselection.

The MP has agreed to repay £25,000 in expenses claims made since 2004.

Mr Djanogly, shadow solicitor general, told the 90-minute meeting attended by about 200 people in his Cambridgeshire constituency: "I stayed within the law and broke no rules when I made the claims for expenses."

'Unified'

Mr Stephenson said the constituency executive committee had called the meeting to allow Mr Djanogly to explain his expenses and the reports in the press.

"Written questions were submitted and many were very searching, as members needed answers.

"But they were not all on expenses - some were on issues that the next Conservative government would take up.

"It was necessary to clear the air and for us to get on with the job of electing a new government, but most of the questions were on the allowances issue," Mr Stephenson admitted.

Mr Djanogly's predecessor as Huntingdon MP, former Prime Minister Sir John Major, is reported by The Daily Mail to have privately condemned Mr Djanogly's actions as "greedy" and "inappropriate".

Mr Stephenson said he believed the rumours of this had been spread by one person and he had personally never heard Sir John make a personal attack on Mr Djanogly.

"The meeting ended with a standing ovation and about 95% of the audience of about 200 people were on their feet.

"There is no reason to think that we will not be going into the next election with Jonathan Djanogly as our MP," he said.

'Valid claims'

The Daily Telegraph also alleged, over a four year period, Mr Djanogly claimed up to £640 a month to pay a number of students to clean his second home in his constituency.

The paper said one of those students had advertised herself as an au pair and that she lived in his main London home for most of the week.

It said this raised questions whether public money was being used to subsidise child care costs.

But Mr Djanogly, who has two children, said the woman in question only worked as a cleaner.

He said she lived rent free in his London home from Monday to Thursday, doing no work, and in his constituency home from Friday to Sunday while working there.

He said she had replied to a job advert placed by his wife on a cleaners' website and he was not aware she had subsequently placed an ad on an au pairing site after she had started working for him in October 2007.

The MP said he had not claimed for the student's board and lodging from his parliamentary allowance.

"However, I did claim an average of £65 per week in respect of the cleaning work that the cleaner undertook in my constituency home," he said.

"This was entirely commensurate with the cleaning work that they undertook and a valid claim."