Our John Prescott seems to have made ever such a mess of his housing finances. Following on from his not paying the right amount of Council Tax, then yesterday’s ruminations that he’s not paying enough income tax upon benefits in kind, now it appears that he’s been claiming allowances which he might not have been allowed to.

The fresh questions for Mr Prescott centre on the "additional cost allowance" he has claimed as an MP.

Since
these were made public in 2001-02 they have totalled £57,000 of
taxpayers’ money, although the true total may be substantially higher
as Mr Prescott is thought likely to have claimed money back since 1997.

The payments, which can cover council tax and mortgage interest repayments, can be claimed by MPs for second homes only.

In
Mr Prescott’s case, they appear to have been claimed for his home in
his Hull constituency, as he does not have a mortgage on his Admiralty
House flat, where costs are met by the Government.

Treating
the Hull home as a "secondary residence", however, conflicts with
statements previously made in public by ministers and officials in Mr
Prescott’s Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). They have
clearly stated that Admiralty House was his secondary residence and
that this is why the Government – rather than Mr Prescott – paid
council tax on it. Last July, for example, Jim Fitzpatrick, a junior
minister in the ODPM, said in a parliamentary answer: "The Deputy Prime
Minister occupies Admiralty House as his official residence assigned to
him by the Prime Minister. It is occupied as a second home used solely
for the purpose of carrying out his job."

All most amusing, no?