by Alan Watkins

awatkins@thekmgroup.co.uk

Medway MP and government transport minister Paul Clark claimed £1,200 a month to rent a flat in London even though he lives in Gillingham.
He told the Medway Messenger he had also spent £600 two years ago on the garden of a London property.
Mr Clark is planning to fully reveal his spending between 2004 and 2008 before July, saying: “I have nothing to hide – genuinely, I haven’t.”
Last week, the MP put on his personal website a long explanation of his spending after his London flat claims were published in the Daily Telegraph.
He said: “Some people have suggested that there should be no accommodation provision for MPs working in London. I think this is absurd.
“... This job does not have regular hours and does not have just one centre of operation. I am not claiming MPs are the only ones who work in such circumstances but ... I often find people are surprised to discover the vast extent of the work undertaken by their elected representatives.”
He added: I joined Gillingham Labour Party in 1974 – not to become an MP and get my hands on expenses, but because I believed in the people of Gillingham and Rainham – my friends, my neighbours, my kind of people.

"I believed that we deserved better; I wanted to change the poor deal we had been dealt in the Medway Towns over decades by County Hall and in Westminster.

“I know for some, whatever I say will not be acceptable ... however, I hope people will recognise I am trying to genuinely answer as many questions as possible now; to take steps to publicise more details about the past four years as quickly as possible and to find a way forward in respect of future claims.”

He also talks on his website of his “anger, frustration, and disappointment” at the failure of the Westminster expenses system to keep pace with public standards.
“Some of the claims have caused me anger and considerable shock,” he said.

In a statement to the Medway Messenger, Mr Clark wrote: “I have made it clear that I believe the British public have been severely let down by the activities of some Members of Parliament.
“However, most MPs entered Parliament to contribute to their communities and the country, not for what they could get out of the system. “
He has now called for reform, to be dealt with 'independently and as quickly as possible’.
Speaking on Wednesday, he added: “I have been getting on with my job as Member of Parliament for Gillingham and Rainham and as a Transport Minister.
“I have been discussing with Lloyds about their announcement of 210 jobs to go at Chatham Maritime and checking that there is help and support for those affected.
“I have helped local residents today access social services, to secure a crisis grant and follow through on the Mortgage Rescue Scheme set up by Gordon Brown’s government.
“And as a Minister, amongst other things, I have responded to two Commons debates - one on the rail industry and the continued commitment of this government to invest in greater capacity and the contrast between this recession and those of the 1980s and 1990s when Tory governments slashed public investment in the railways.
“The second debate was on private parking companies and the measures open to motorists to combat those companies who are 'unreasonable’.
“So I have been getting on with the work that the electorate of Gillingham and Rainham sent me to the Commons to do - to represent and help them”.

Expenses breakdown

Mr Clark claimed a total of £137,510 last year.
It was broken down to:
- £19,901 running his Watling Street, Gillingham office
- £84,890 on salaries for 3.5 staff
- £6,893 communications allowance
- £22,204 second-home allowance for a flat near Westminster
- £3,652 travel
- There were no claims for furniture.
- Office-running costs include rent, business rates, electric bills, water, office and computer supplies and telephone and communication bills.