Howard denies garden cash claims

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The former Conservative leader Michael Howard has denied reports he claimed more than £17,000 for "gardening services" at his second home in Kent.

The Folkestone and Hythe MP said the report in the Daily Telegraph was not true and the claim covered both gardening and general maintenance.

Mr Howard insisted the claim was within the rules and "perfectly proper".

He told BBC Radio Kent that he felt "sad and angry" that "untruthful allegations" were being made about him.

"I don't think I have anything to be apologetic for. I think everything that I have done is perfectly proper," he said.

Mr Howard said his second home allowed him to perform his duties as an MP effectively.

I am the 31st cheapest MP out of 646 MPs in the House of Commons Michael Howard

"I furnished it out of my own pocket, I never flipped it but it has to be maintained and I have charged the maintenance to the second home allowance - that's what the second home allowance is for.

"I haven't charged the maximum under the second home allowance and according to a recent survey I am the 31st cheapest MP out of 646 MPs in the House of Commons, so I think my constituents get pretty good value for money," Mr Howard said.

Of the claim that he spent thousands of pounds on gardening services over a four-year period, he said: "That is not true, that money was not charged for gardening, it was charged for maintenance, some of which was gardening but a good deal was maintenance on my home."

"It means undoing blocked drains, it means painting, it means repairing doors, it means all the things which a property needs to be maintained."

Asked whether he believed MPs were out of touch, Mr Howard said: "Everyone has known for decades that we have a second home allowance and everyone has known what the amount is, and I didn't claim up to the maximum of that amount."

He added that there were many things that he spent that he had not claimed for.

'Jolly good price'

The Daily Telegraph also claimed the Kent MP for Dover and Deal, Gwyn Prosser, paid his brother £600 to lay flooring at his London flat, even though he lived in Swansea.

But Mr Prosser said his claim was well-spent and "the tax-payer got good value for money".

"My brother's been a builder for more than 20 years, he lives in Swansea and he works in Swansea, but he spent a long weekend in London and did a jolly good job for me for a jolly good price."

Mr Prosser added that he had been charged £200 less "than the best estimate I'd receive up in London".