CLARE'S SHORT OF pounds 8000 EXPENSES; Former minister blames officials.

Byline: Kevin Schofield

CLARE Short claimed thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money which she was not entitled to within months of standing down as a Cabinet minister.

The independent MP claimed the full cost of her mortgage for two and a half years, despite being entitled to charge only for the interest element.

When she was asked by the House of Commons fees office to repay more than pounds 8000, Short sent a letter back saying officials "should accept some responsibility for the situation".

Short resigned from Tony Blair's Cabinet, in which she had served as international development secretary, in May 2003 in protest over the failure to plan for the aftermath of the Iraq war.

Over the past four years, Short has submitted regular claims for decorating at her second home.

Six months after quitting the Cabinet, she remortgaged her second home in Birmingham and began submitting full payments of pounds 879 a month on her expenses.

She added this was a "mistake", as until 2003, she had an interestonly mortgage.

The over-claims were not picked up by the fees office until May, 2006, when she was asked to provide a mortgage statement. A month later she agreed to repay pounds 8436.

The controversial way in which Justice Minister Shahid Malik was able to run up the highest expenses claim of any MP was revealed last night.

Since being elected in 2005, Malik has claimed the maximum allowable for a second home.

Last year, he claimed pounds 23,083 for his London townhouse.

But the "main home" which Malik pays for out of his own pocket, in his constituency of Dewsbury, Yorkshire, is rented for less than pounds 100 per week.

In total, in three years, Malik claimed pounds 66,827 for the London property - pounds 18,173 less than the original cost of the house.

A close aide of David Cameron quit yesterday after admitting a housing expenses scam which cost the taxpayer thousands.

Suspended

Andrew MacKay became the first scalp of the allowances scandal when he resigned as the Tory leader's political adviser.

He was soon followed by Labour MP Elliot Morley, who was suspended by the party for claiming pounds 16,000 over 18 months to cover the cost of a mortgage he had already paid off. The former agriculture minister blamed "sloppy accounting" and said he repaid the cash.

MacKay, Tory MP for Bracknell, in Berkshire, had been claiming the full second-home allowance for the London house he shares with his wife Julie Kirkbride, who is also a Tory MP.

At the same time, she has been claiming back the costs of the mortgage on their family home in her Bromsgrove constituency in the west Midlands.

Between them, they have received more than pounds 280,000 over the past seven years.

MacKay admitted he had made "an error of judgment". Morley, the MP for Scunthorpe, was suspended after being hauled before the Labour chief whip.

Morley has also referred the matter himself to parliamentary sleaze watchdog John Lyon.

He faces expulsion from the Labour Party if he is unable to explain his dodgy expenses claim.

Tory MP Douglas Hogg is to repay pounds 2200 in expenses after admitting the clearing of his moat was "not positively excluded" from a claim, he said last night.

Labour MP Margaret Beckett and Lib Dem Menzies Campbell faced a public backlash over the expenses scandal when they were jeered by the audience on the BBC's Question Time last night.

CAPTION(S):

HOME A LOAN: MacKay and wife Julie Kirkbride. Right inset, Short, and below, Morley