How Labour's cunning election chief claimed £40k of YOUR money to rent house next door to one he owned - Kelvin MacKenzie

Although there was nothing illegal about his sleight of hand, the whole thing stinks and certainly worked against the spirit of expenses rules.

This is how his little scheme worked; the veteran MP, who was first elected in 2005, bought a newbuild home in his Wolverhampton constituency for £159,950 in 2006.

He lived there for six years, claiming expenses for his mortgage interest of £547 a month. Then in July 2012, he moved out because of a change in Parliamentary rules were changed to bar MPs from claiming for mortgage interest.

However, he had a cunning plan. He decided to let out his house and moved next door where he started claiming the £625 a month on expenses as his constituency home. His own place was advertised for £700 a month by a letting agent in 2015.

His odd idea was first highlighted in an article in the Sunday Times in 2015. By then he had run up £21,000 in rent being paid by the taxpayer. At the time he simply said he was doing nothing wrong and had to rent out his place as his home was in negative territory.

Despite the hullabaloo, he decided to tough out the bad publicity and continued to claim from the state for another two years, claiming £40,250 in expenses. Finally, he decided took the pain and sold the house, making a £12,000 loss.

You shouldn’t weep for Mr McFadden as Wolverhampton wasn’t his primary home. While owning in the Black Country he bought for £799,950 a place in North London which today is worth £1,750,000.

So, let’s get this right. The former Blairite who Labour’s election campaign (and the public face of many of their promises) is run by a man who used taxpayer’s money to subsidise a property portfolio, owning two houses while living in a third.

As Tory MP Gary Sambrook, MP for Birmingham Southfield, rightly says; ‘’ A total contravention of the spirit of the rules.’’

His view is endorsed by Sir Alastair Graham, a former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, who also believes Mr McFadden’s living arrangements went against the spirit of expenses rules.

Sir Alastair told The Telegraph; ‘’ All MPs have a strong personal responsibility to ensure they keep to the minimum the amount they need to claim from public funds.’’

Isn’t that the point? Why didn’t McFadden simply carry on living and paying the mortgage ( from his own bank account) for those years rather than deciding to send the bill to the taxpayer. After all he didn’t need to live in Wolverhampton, many MPs don’t reside in their own constituencies not least of all because they receive an earful from locals every-time they go down to the shops.

Mr McFadden is not a small wheel in the Labour machine. He and his wife are two of the most influential figures in Sir Keir Starmer’s top team and would play a big role in a future Labour government.

If Mr McFadden is the best of the crop, it’s hard to work out what the worst look like.