Keens ordered to pay back expenses

Mr Keen, who represents Feltham and Heston, and Mrs Keen, who represents Brentford and Isleworth, were dubbed dubbed 'Mr and Mrs Expenses' earlier this year after it was revealed by the Chronicle that they had claimed £40,000 for central London flat while their 'main home' in Brentford was left empty and boarded up.

Health minister Mrs Keen faced further criticism for charging taxpayers for private health treatment for one of her staff, while last month a nurses union was forced to relocate from an office in the same building as her constituency office after three attacks on the premises.

The over-claim on the service charge was spotted by House of Commons officials who attached a hand-written note to Alan Keen's expenses file saying: "Overclaimed £353.41. Spoke to Mr Keen. They will sort the overclaim out." The money was duly deducted from the following month's claim.

Neither of the Keens claimed under the new personal additional accommodation expenditure - which replaced the second home allowance - between April and September this year and, as both their constituencies are in Greater London, neither would be able to claim for more than one home if re-elected next year.

In a joint statement the Keens said: "We have advocated, strongly supported, and voted for the introduction of Freedom of Information legislation. We are pleased that the point has been reached when full details of MPs' expenses are being published on a regular basis for everyone to see and trust that it will bring an end to the frequent misreporting of information.

"It is possible that occasional mistakes can be made in completing individual claims quickly during the year but at the end of each fiscal year we always produce a reconciliation of the total annual figures fully supported by invoices and bank statements."