Wealthy minister taped protesting over expenses

LONDON - Alan Duncan is one of the richest MPs in the Commons, dividing his time between luxurious homes in Westminster and in the countryside.

A £64,000 ($157,000) backbencher's salary is small change for the dapper shadow Commons leader with a weakness for fine clothes and skiing holidays.

So it will come as a surprise to his more cash-strapped constituents to learn he has been caught on camera protesting that the clampdown on MPs expenses has forced politicians to live on "rations" and be treated "like shit".

It also infuriated senior colleagues, given Duncan has been charged with drawing up Tory strategy on parliamentary reform as the party tries to distance itself from the public anger over MPs' lavish claims.

Duncan hurried out a fulsome and unreserved apology for his comments. They were intended as a joke but could still cost the gaffe-prone shadow minister his political career.

Leader of the Opposition David Cameron, alerted to the controversy while on holiday, is unlikely to take a relaxed view of anything that undermines his determination to present a modern face to the electorate.

The outburst was covertly recorded by Heydon Prowse, who previously filmed himself digging a pound-shaped flower bed in Duncan's lawn in protest at his expenses claims for gardening. After the stunt, the shadow frontbencher invited Prowse to the Commons for a drink to show he bore him no hard feelings.

It is a decision he has come to regret. The latest recording by Prowse, who had a camera in his back pocket and a lens hidden in a button during the meeting, showed Duncan privately defiant about his claims.

The MP, who has promised to pay back more than £4000 of gardening expenses, said: "I spend my money on my garden and claim a tiny fraction. And I could claim the whole bloody lot, but I don't."

He also articulated a common frustration among MPs that rules on declaring second jobs and curbs on expenses could deter qualified people from the job.

He said people would no longer want to become MPs because "basically, it's being nationalised, you have to live on rations and are treated like shit".

Initially Duncan, who is out of the country, insisted his comments were a joke and said he wished he had never been so generous as to invite the filmmaker to the Commons.

Hours later, he issued an unambiguous apology.

MANO-A-MANO

ALAN DUNCAN, 54

Lives: Georgian house in Westminster / House in Rutland.

Job: Shadow Commons leader.

Childhood: Joined the Tory Party "as soon as my balls dropped".

Interests: The oil industry, skiing, fly-fishing, political intrigue.

He says: "Basically [the Commons] has been nationalised. You have to live on rations and you are treated like shit."

HEYDON PROWSE, 28

Lives: Brick Lane, East London.

Job: Film-maker and editor.

Childhood: Won a leading role in film The Secret Garden when 12.

Interests: MPs' expenses, anti-terror laws, endangered species.

He says: "We captured the general prevailing attitude in the Commons that he didn't take the whole expenses scandal particularly seriously."

- INDEPENDENT