Ministers on defensive as they face barrage of questions over expenses claims

Mandelson accuses Daily Telegraph of 'classic smear tactics' as cabinet colleagues maintain they stuck to parliamentary rules

• Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 8 May 2009 22.15 BST

Called to account: Gordon Brown was again forced to the back foot when it was revealed he had given £6,577 to his brother as his contribution towards a cleaner they shared. Photograph: John Giles/AP

Gordon Brown and several of his cabinet ministers todayattempted to defend their conduct after details of their expenses claims were leaked, causing further embarrassment for the government on what has become a touchstone issue.

As No 10 admitted in private that it was a grim day for the government, ministers argued that they had followed the rules and done nothing wrong. Lord Mandelson, who was revealed to have spent thousands of pounds on repairs to his constituency home after announcing he would resign as an MP in 2004, acted as the government's attack dog in chief.

The business secretary accused the "Tory-supporting" Daily Telegraph of using "classic smear tactics" to create the appearance of wrongdoing without proof. "Rather than spraying machine gun bullets across the cabinet in the way they have done, if the Telegraph really did have evidence of wrongdoing, they would have gone in and targeted that individual and they haven't done so," Mandelson said.

Ministers who found themselves with questions to answer were:

• Gordon Brown, who was first to directly respond after it emerged he had paid his brother Andrew £6,577 over 26 months between 2004 and 2006 for cleaning at his London flat. Downing Street said the prime minister had done nothing wrong since the brothers, who lived close to each other in Westminster, shared a cleaner. No 10 insisted Brown had simply reimbursed his brother for his share of the cost.

Downing St released a copy of the cleaner's original two-page contract with the brothers from October 1996. This showed the cleaner was also contracted to work at Sarah Brown's flat before she married the future prime minister. By 2004, the period covered by the expenses claims, Sarah and Gordon Brown were living together.

Brown made the claims under the additional costs allowance, used to subsidise MPs' second homes, after designating his Westminster flat as his second home.

The Telegraph reported that he designated his Scottish home his second residence, allowing him to charge expenses on it on 17 September 2006, 10 days after Tony Blair said he would stand down within a year.

The prime minister acknowledged yesterday that the system had to be changed. "I've said it doesn't work, it's got to be changed. We voted for change and that change has got to come quickly."

• Jack Straw, the justice secretary, admitted claiming the full council tax payment on his home in his Blackburn constituency despite receiving a 50% discount from his local authority. Straw discovered the mistake and paid back the money last summer weeks after the high court ordered that MPs release details of their expenses.

Straw wrote to the Commons fees office: "Sorry about that ... accountancy does not appear to be my strongest suit!" The justice secretary admitted it was the imminent publication of the details which prompted him to check his previous claims. "One factor in concentrating my mind was the fact that these figures were going to be disclosed," he told Radio 4's The World at One. "I would like to think that I would have done it anyway."

Straw was indignant when it was suggested MPs were on the fiddle. "Well, number one, it's not true," he said. "Overwhelmingly, MPs don't go into politics to make money, and they don't make money. And they do have to have a second home if you represent a constituency which is a long way from Westminster."

• Hazel Blears, the communities secretary, made claims on three properties in one year. In March 2004 she claimed her second home was in her Salford constituency, allowing her to make claims for furniture and mortgate interest payments; under the rules at the time, she had to declare her London home as their main residence.

This rule was changed in 2004. So, in April 2004, Blears designated a flat in Kennington, south London, as her second home, allowing her to claim £850 a month for the mortgage. Blears sold the flat in August 2004 and started claiming for a mortgage on another flat, bought for £300,000 in December of that year. In the intervening period Blears claimed for staying at the Zetter Hotel in Clerkenwell, voted one of the world's "50 coolest hotels" by Condé Nast.

When asked about her claims in her Salford constituency, she said: "I have only ever had one small one-bedroom flat in London. I live here in Salford, but to be an MP, I have to have somewhere to live in London." Days after criticising the government's "lamentable" failure to communicate its message, Blears declined to answer further detailed questions. "Thank you," was all she would say.

• Andy Burnham, the culture secretary, was involved in an eight-month battle with the Commons fees office over a £16,500 claim towards the costs of the purchase and renovation of a London flat.

The authorities refused the payment three times before eventually agreeing to pay. At one point an exasperated Burnham joked with the authorities that he "might be in line for a divorce" if the payments were not made. Burnham said : "I reject absolutely any suggestion that I have not used public funds properly since I entered parliament."

• Geoff Hoon, the transport secretary, designated his Derbyshire home his second residence, allowing him to claim expenses, while living in a government grace and favour home as defence secretary and leader of the Commons.

Within months of losing his grace and favour apartment in 2006, Hoon bought a house in London. He then designated this his second home, allowing him to make claims on this property.

• Alistair Darling changed the designation on his properties four times in four years, allowing him to claim towards the costs of his Edinburgh home and a London flat. He claimed in 2004-05 that his main residence was a bedroom he rented in a Lambeth flat owned by Lord Moonie who had bought it from Gordon Brown in 1992. This meant Darling designated his Edinburgh home as his second residence, allowing him to make claims on it. Like Blears, Darling had no choice in the matter. Until 2004, ministers had to designate their London properties their main residences.

When the rules were relaxed, Darling bought a flat near the Oval cricket ground for £226,000. He designated this his second home, claiming stamp duty of £2,260 and £1,238 in legal fees. He claimed £2,074 for furniture in his first month.

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