Osborne to be investigated over expenses
Thursday, 2 July 2009 4:54 PM
By Ian Dunt
Shadow chancellor George Osborne is to be investigated over his expenses claims, the parliamentary standards commissioner has confirmed.
The complaint came from the chairman of the Labour party in Mr Osborne's Tatton constituency.
The commissioner, John Lyon, received a complaint that the shadow chancellor mortgaged his constituency home for more than he paid for it.
The shadow chancellor is understood to have bought a Cheshire home nearby his constituency ten months before winning the seat in 2001.
He funded the purchase through increased borrowing on his London home, which he had lived in with his wife since 1998.
But once the election was secured, Mr Osborne is alleged to have made the London home his 'second home' and claimed mortgage interest payments on his expenses.
Two years later, he made the Cheshire farmhouse his second home and has since claimed £100,000 in public money to cover interest payments on the mortgage he then took out on it.
He was then able to reduce the loan on his London home and sell it for £1.45 million.
A Tory spokesman said: "This is a political complaint by the local Labour party. George is relaxed about it and has always been very open in answering questions about his expenses.
"George has never switched designation for personal advantage. There has been absolutely no impropriety and any suggestion of such is wrong."
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