MPs claimed for window cleaners, plants and luxury showers on their expenses, the first receipt-by-receipt disclosure of their second-home allowance has revealed.

After a legal battle that cost the taxpayer an estimated £500,000, the Commons authorities released three boxes of receipts yesterday for 14 MPs, including Gordon Brown and David Cameron, covering 2001-06. The details of all the others are expected to be revealed in the autumn.

They show that the Blairs spent more than £10,000 on a new kitchen for their house in Sedgefield, more than twice as much as Gordon Brown spent on his kitchen at his London flat.

It also reveals that Tony and Cherie Blair were warned in 2005 that they had fallen £147.11 behind on their water bills for Myrobella House, and bailiffs could be sent in if they did not pay up. A letter from Northumbrian Water says: “We appreciate that you may be experiencing some financial difficulties . . . If you are experiencing difficulties please contact us to discuss payment.”

Mr Blair also charged £515 for a new Siemens dishwasher, plus installation in May 2005.

Peter Mandelson spent £3,000 on a new shower for his Hartlepool home in 2003. Barbara Follett, the Stevenage MP and wife of Ken Follett, the millionaire novelist, claimed more than £1,600 for window cleaning at her London home, with the cleaners visiting on 18 occasions at £94 a time during 2003-04.

Margaret Beckett, the former Foreign Secretary, had a £600 claim disallowed in 2006 for plants for her garden.

She also claimed £4,753 for refurbishment of her constituency home in 2006, including the replacement of the living room floorboards with a concrete floor after dry rot was discovered, converting a bedroom into a study, replacing locks and repairing a leaking roof.

Before going ahead with the works, she contacted the Commons authorities to get clearance that they would be covered by her allowances. She was told they would.

She also claimed £674.85 to replace a carpet infested by dry rot spores and £441 to repaint the living room, noting on her claim that this was “after 20 years”.

They showed that Mr Brown’s expenses appear to be managed by his wife, Sarah.

Mr Brown’s claims include a Sky TV subscription and television licence, utility and council tax bills and charges for service, insurance and ground rent on an unspecified property.

Mr Brown, then Chancellor, also submitted quarterly bills of £723 for cleaning services and £650 for food in 2005-06, as well as bills totalling about £4,500 for refurbishment work on his kitchen in 2005 and £1,396 for painting and decorating in 2006.

In 2005 the Commons Validation Officer wrote to Mr Brown to ask for an up-to-date mortgage statement to permit him to claim back interest, only to receive the reply, signed “SB” — Sarah Brown — that “there is no mortgage/no mortgage interest claimed”.

A form from 2005 reveals that John Prescott put in the full £3,200 bill for food, only to have it reduced to £2,882.40 because, according to a note by officials, he was claiming when Parliament was dissolved for the general election. Mr Cameron had his mortgage payments reduced at the same time.

Barring one small claim for a telephone bill, Mr Cameron’s expenses consist only of claims for mortgage interest on his second home.

Mark Oaten, the Liberal Dememocrats’ home affairs spokesman, who quit over a sex scandal, claimed £145 for a new bed and £99 for a mattress in January 2006.

Certain sensitive details on the original documents, including the address of Mr Brown’s constituency home and Mr Cameron’s mortgage account number, have been blanked out of the photocopies that were made public.

Under the terms of the court ruling, details may be withheld from the public where there are “specific security concerns”.

But they give a snapshot of the sort of items for which the MPs claimed allowances, under the Additional Costs Allowance (ACA), which Commons rules state should “reimburse Members for necessary costs incurred when staying overnight away from their main home for the purpose of performing parliamentary duties”.

The totals claimed were already public knowledge, but this release gives more detail than before on the precise items MPs paid for with the ACA, worth a maximum of £22,110 a year to MPs for constituencies outside Central London.

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