Do the Wintertons owe the taxpayer £40,000?

There seems to be a revolving tombola of Tory sleaze at the moment - one day it's Spelman, then it's Dover...Chichester....Conway...and today, the Wintertons.

In February the story broke about them claiming £21K a year on parliamentary expenses to pay rent to a family trust of which they are the trustees and their children are the beneficiaries. This was after they had paid the mortgage from parliamentary expenses in the first place!

Sir John Lyons, the Parliamentary standards commissioner has now spoken:

Sir Nicholas and Ann Winterton unwittingly broke MPs' expenses rules when claiming for a second home, the Parliamentary standards watchdog said.

Commissioner John Lyon criticised the husband and wife Tory MPs for not keeping up with rule changes in 2006.

The Wintertons say they did nothing wrong by using expenses for a flat, even though they had paid the mortgage.

But the Standards and Privileges Committee says the arrangement should not have continued as long as it did.

So, the Wintertons have been claiming rent for just short of two years too long. So I reckon they owe the taxpayer something in the order of £40,000.