BARBARA FOLLETT, the Labour minister and wife of millionaire novelist Ken Follett, has claimed more than £120,000 in MPs’ allowances to pay for a London home, while owning a buy-to-let flat in the capital.

Follett last year claimed £22,107 in expenses for a central London flat bought by her husband seven years ago. But it was confirmed last week that she owns another flat near the houses of parliament that she could have used instead.

The MP also has the use of the family home in Hertfordshire, less than a 30-minute rail commute from London. The use of public funds to effectively subsidise an extra London home for the Folletts - who are together worth more than £15m - has prompted new calls for a review of the controversial housing allowance.

Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “This is extraordinary. It’s wrong that Barbara Follett should be claiming this money for another home when she already has a flat she could be using for parliamentary duties.”

A spokesman for Follett would not comment on why the cost to the public purse of the central London flat was so high. He said it was not practical for her to live in the other flat, which she could claim expenses on if she lived there.

“Everything she has claimed is in accordance with the rules,” said the spokesman. “The southeast London flat is her own personal investment.”

Follett’s housing expenses claims - which total £120,098 since 2001 - do not include any mortgage interest repayments. MPs are entitled to claim for insurance, utility bills, furnishings, security costs and maintenance.

Barbara Follett became an MP in 1997, after acting as an image consultant for the front bench. Even now she is paid to act as a “communications consultant” to her husband, who is estimated to have sold 100m copies of his novels.

The Folletts - sometimes referred to by Labourites as “Barbie and Ken” - were a golden couple of new Labour, acting as enthusiastic fundraisers and holding parties at their house on Cheyne Walk, Chelsea.

The couple reportedly fell out with the Blairs, after they arrived at a private party at the Folletts’ house, to be met by a throng of photographers.

The relationship further deteriorated in 2000 after Ken Follett described Labour spin doctors as “the rent boys” of politics, but when Gordon Brown became prime minister Barbara Follett was made pensions minister. Ken Follett made two donations to Harriet Harman’s deputy leadership campaign.

The other properties owned by the Folletts include a country house in Hertfordshire, a holiday home in Antigua and a property in Cape Town. Follett has declared in the MPs’ register of interests that she is letting her London flat.

Follett is among a number of MPs who have used the allowance to help fund extensive property portfolios. Among MPs who let properties is Douglas Hogg, the Conservative MP and former agriculture minister, who owns three properties in London which he lets.

He claimed the full amount available – £22,110 – in housing allowances last year, but has previously said he does not claim any expenses for his London properties.

Celia Barlow, the Labour MP for Hove, owns a maisonette and a one-bedroom flat in London, which are let, and claims £22,110 accommodation costs. MPs can have the choice to claim the housing allowance on a London property or on their constituency home.

The Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, who has campaigned for greater transparency in MPs’ expenses, said the rules on housing allowances should be tightened. “I don’t think that an MP should be profiting from capital gains increase. They should either rent, or stay in a hotel or return the uplift on property value to the taxpayer.

“There should be more auditing and spot checks. The issue is that if you have a house in London, it is difficult to see how you can justify getting the taxpayer to pay for a second one.”

MPs are resisting demands from Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, to oblige MPs to detail how they manage to claim more than £20,000 on properties when they have no mortgages.

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