Don Foster MP expenses claims

bath | community | news report Sunday May 31, 2009 13:45 by Penelope

POLITICAL BIAS BY THE BATH CHRONICLE-DON FOSTER AND HIS £1000 BED

In last weeks Bath Chronicle Mr Paul Wiltshire, Deputy Editor, reported that Don Foster MP claimed £800 a month mortgage interest, £100pw on food plus additional expenses for a kitchen which was refitted two years ago, and a bathroom refurbished with a new shower three years ago on his one bedroom ex council flat in Pimlico.

“Mr Foster is clearly very worried about his home improvements… I’ve seen those bills but, under slightly convoluted and vaguely surreal data protection rules, I can’t yet tell you how much the work cost… The bathroom-kitchen refurb cost what you’d expect such work to cost - especially when you take into consideration that the bath which the shower replaced was on the verge of collapse…The dodgiest item I could find was a kettle and since it produced a fine cup of coffee, I won’t quibble.… All, however, will be made officially public in the next couple of months - unless the Daily Telegraph gets there first.”

I am surprised Paul Wiltshire cannot provide these figures due to “surreal data protection rules” as the Daily Telegraph has already looked into Dons expenses claims as its website discloses “Don Foster MP in 2005, claimed £3,450 for refurbishing his bathroom. In 2006, claimed £1,000 for bed and mattress.”

Can Don explain to the taxpaying victims of Bath why he would need to claim on his one bedroom ex council flat, which has barely enough room to swing a politician in, a staggering £3,450 to replace a bath with shower plus a further £1000 for a single bed and mattress? Goodness knows how much the kitchen refurbishment cost the taxpayer in 2007.