MP tells unemployed neighbour 'you cost me my job' (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

MP tells unemployed neighbour 'you cost me my job'

1:06pm Monday 1st June 2009

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By Alexandra Barham »

A NEIGHBOUR of MP Anne Main has told the Review she angrily confronted him for confirming that her daughter was living in her taxpayer-funded home, drawing her deep into the folds of the scandal surrounding parliamentary expenses.

Mark Hughes, who like Mrs Main lives in Samuel Square, Pageant Close, told the Review he was approached by the Tory MP telling him that he had "cost her her job" after he confirmed to national newspaper reporters that her daughter, Claire Tonks, had been living at her second home on a full-time basis, and that he had never seen the MP in the neighbourhood.

Mr Hughes - himself jobless since being made redundant in January - said Mrs Main, whose main home is in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, spotted him speaking to journalists on Thursday, May 21, the day after Mrs Main's claims had been highlighted in the Review and the day before they featured prominently in the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Hughes told the Review: "At About 11pm we got a knock at the door - it was her (Mrs Main) and she was saying 'you know you have cost me my job don't you?'."

He replied: "I haven't cost you your job, that was your doing."

He said: "She went storming off and slammed her door.

"She was a bit upset, I imagine she'd had a very stressful day. She's a nice lady, but she got well caught out.

"What wound me up is that I got made redundant in January. It's very difficult to find a job.

"I pay £950 to rent this place, plus council tax and extra bills and this costs me £1,300 to live here - it doesn't cost her daughter anything.

"Everyone is saying the same thing, everybody is disgusted."

The Review has not had a response from Mrs Main who has not replied to phone calls or emails.

Rival politician, St Albans Labour parliamentary hopeful Roma Mills, said: "If you put yourself up to be a public figure you will be under the spotlight. You will receive praise and criticism, and you just have to live with that.

"Starting to accost people is foolish. There's little point in confronting people in that way, it doesn't achieve anything.

"If Anne Main wanted to accost anybody she should accost the editor of the Telegraph, but I'm sure he's not as readily available."

Lib Dem counterpart Sandy Walkington added: "Residents are saying to me there should be a chance to vote in an election as soon as possible, that's the only way to clear the air."

Mr Hughes, who has lived with his wife Kally at their flat in Samuel Square for two years, added that Mrs Main appeared to be making more frequent visits to her St Albans home since Friday's revelations.

"She is making a concerted effort to be seen," he said.

"If I was her I'd have been on that Friday sitting at the coffee shop in the centre of town being seen."

But local Tories have expressed unanimous support for the embattled MP. Conservatives erupted into applause as Mrs Main defended her expense claims at a meeting on Thursday night.

Spokeswoman Seema Kennedy for the St Albans Tories told the Review: “The meeting had been called by the association’s officers to give Mrs Main an opportunity to correct the press speculation of the arrangements she makes in relation to her second home in St Albans, and to answer any questions members might have.

“At the close of the meeting the chairman expressed once again her, and her officers', unequivocal support for Mrs Main and thanked her for her unstinting hard work for the people of St Albans.

“Mrs Main left the room to warm applause."

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