Who cares where they live. What matters is do they do a good job and are they honest. Judge them on the facts.Fact: They had to repay money they claimed to which they were not entitled.Fact: In 2007-2008 Keen had previously hit the headlines having the highest expenses claim of any MP excluding transport costs (which disproportionately affect MPs from remote constituencies), claiming a total of £167,306 for the financial year. In total the Keens have claimed almost £1.7million in expenses over seven yearsFact:On 28 January 2009, Keen voted against a Conservative motion in Parliament opposing expansion of Heathrow Airport and urging the government to review a decision to add a third runway. Keen had claimed to be opposed to expansion at Heathrow for many years; her website stated in 2007 that "one of her most successful campaigns was against the Third Runway at Heathrow." Friends of the Earth said she had "betrayed her constituents."Fact:Keen and her MP husband Alan Keen used their combined second homes allowances to buy an apartment in an up-market development at Waterloo on the South Bank of the River Thames, claiming £175,000 over five years. The Waterloo apartment is nine miles from their constituency home in Brentford, a 30-minute drive from Westminster.MPs who reside near the Keens in Brentford, such as Home Office Minister Phil Woolas who lives in the next street, are able to commute from there to Westminster. The couple claimed for both the interest payments on the Waterloo flat and the cost of re-mortgaging their Brentford home. The Fees Office agreed with the couple's argument that this was claimable because it was used to raise equity for the flat. The mortgage also included the cost of "compulsory" life insurance attached to the mortgages, a practice which is now banned.
Robert Ayres ● 5592d