John Cashcow, sorry Bercow will not claim for a second home now that he is the new speaker.

The MP for Buckingham admitted flipping the designation of his taxpayer-funded second home between London and his constituency home, which enabled him to avoid capital gains tax when he sold houses in both locations in 2003.

He denied any wrongdoing but said he would pay HM Revenue & Customs £6,508 plus VAT to cover the tax he could have been asked to pay on one of the properties.

Following his election as Speaker, Mr Bercow will have a third home, Speaker’s House, one of the grandest grace and favour residences available to any public servant.

His announcement that he will no longer claim anything under the additional costs allowance (ACA) is an acknowledgement that he could not justify billing the taxpayer for one of his two private homes while living rent-free in a public building.

Mr Bercow claimed £143,455 in second home allowances between 2001 and 2008, putting in claims for the maximum amount in the past two years.

As well as his payment in lieu of capital gains tax, he has also repaid £1,470 which he claimed on his office expenses to pay for accountants to fill in his self assessment tax returns.

Mr Bercow, who has promised to clean up the Commons expenses system, dismissed suggestions that his own record made him an inappropriate choice as Speaker.

He said: “I have always behaved properly and honourably. I have complied with the law, I have claimed allowances which I am entitled to claim, and those expenses have been incurred wholly, necessarily and exclusively in discharging my obligations as a Member of Parliament.”

The universal excuse- "I have complied with the law, I have claimed allowances which I am entitled to claim, and those expenses have been incurred wholly, necessarily and exclusively in discharging my obligations as a Member of Parliament.”


Too little too late.


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