Shadow minister cleared of breaking expenses rules

Shadow prisons minister Alan Duncan was cleared today of wrongly claiming tens of thousands of pounds in mortgage interest payments on his second home.

The Commons Standards and Privileges Committee said there was nothing in the Tory MP's mortgage arrangements that breached Commons rules.

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David Cameron removed Duncan from his Shadow Cabinet role as Shadow Leader of the House over the summer after Mr Duncan's claim that MPs were being forced to live "on rations".

The Rutland and Melton MP was covertly filmed by campaigner Heydon Prowse. Asked why people would no longer want to become MPs, Mr Duncan said: "Basically, it's being nationalised, you have to live on rations and are treated like s***."

It is understood that Mr Duncan was forced to pay back more than £5,000 by Mr Cameron for claims for gardening at his constituency home over three years.