Twenty more outer-London MPs profit from the McNulty wheeze

At least 20 other MPs have been caught in the 'McNulty Triangle' by claiming allowances for running second homes within easy commuting distance of the House of Commons.

The 'name and shame' list of MPs with outer-London seats who have claimed thousands of pounds in allowances has provoked outrage among their colleagues, particularly those with inner-city London seats who are barred under the rules from making similar claims.

The list of 20 shows that Tony McNulty is nowhere near the worst expenses claimer, coming a mere 16th in the list. McNulty, the MP for Harrow East, has claimed £52,598 in additional cost allowances on his parents' house in Harrow, even though he lives with his wife Christine Gilbert in Hammersmith.

Although McNulty appears not to have broken any rules, the revelation could end his promising career as Gordon Brown's main line of defence over soaring unemployment. A clip of McNulty being confronted by an unemployed former Woolworths employee faced with eviction from her family home because she cannot afford the mortgage was screened on Newsnight last night. Now every time McNulty tries to explain what the Government is doing to reduce unemployment, the £52,000 claim will rightly be raised.

Top of the league of outer-London MPs who have claimed additional cost allowances is Harry Cohen, a leftie Labour MP for Leyton and Wanstead, who has claimed £104,701 since 2002.

In second place comes Tory MP Andrew Rosindell, the MP for Romford, who has claimed £104,699, followed by the already disgraced Derek Conway, Tory MP for Old Bexley & Sidcup, on £104,651. Conway had the whip withdrawn after fiddling £200,000 worth of staffing expenses on behalf of his family and he will step down at the next election.

Mike Gapes, the Labour chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee and MP for Ilford South, has claimed £104,650 while the widely respected Labour left-wing deputy leadership candidate and campaigner against the BNP, Jon Cruddas, MP for Dagenham, has been paid £103,117 in allowances for having to find accommodation near the Commons.

Also in the list are the husband and wife team who have been dubbed Mr and Mrs Expenses - Alan Keen, Labour MP for Feltham & Heston, and health minister Ann Keen, a former nurse who is Labour MP for Brentford & Isleworth, each of whom has claimed £87,325.

There are others on the list, with claims of between £30,000 and £90,000. All are - presumably - acting within the rules which allow MPs to claim for the additional cost of having to go to the Commons as well as run a constituency.

But their claims would look a lot more understandable if the sitting hours of the Commons hadn’t been reformed in recent years. The fact is MPs no longer have to spend late nights at Westminster, voting beyond midnight. There are just two nights - Monday and Tuesday - where they may be required to vote until 10pm. Most other nights they get off early, and many rush off for the weekend on a Thursday.

Greg Hands, the Tory MP for Hammersmith and Fulham, where McNulty really does live, has lodged a complaint with John Lyon, the parliamentary standards commissioner, saying McNulty was in breach of the rules since he did not appear to have stayed overnight regularly in the property in his Harrow constituency. There is even talk that the police could be called in, although the Met won't want to touch it with a bargepole, especially after the Damian Green debacle last autumn.

Gordon Brown has written to Sir Christopher Kelly, chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, asking for his inquiry to examine whether MPs should be allowed to hold second jobs - a stab at the Tories, which is seen as a diversionary tactic. Kelly won't report back before the next election. Whatever action is taken to clean out the stables, it won't remove the stink at Westminster until these claims are stopped.

THE MOLE: EXPENSES ROW

LAST UPDATED 9:22 AM, MARCH 24, 2009