It took a three-year legal battle by The Sunday Times to bring the new revelations about MP's expenses to light.

The House of Commons authorities were determined to not to reveal such information as the threats to send in bailiffs if Tony Blair did not pay his water bill and details of his £10,000 kitchen make-over.

About 450 documents were released under freedom of information laws after the Commons authorities gave up their £200,000 legal bid to keep them secret. On Monday the Members Estimate Committee, chaired by Speaker Michael Martin, decided not to appeal against a High Court ruling that they should be released.

The Sunday Times submitted a Freedom of Information request for details of Tony Blair and and former Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett’s expenses in January 2005, details of which were published earlier this month.

This week receipts and invoices of a number of top MP’s claims under the Additional Cost Allowance have also been released, covering the expense of running a second home while living away from their constituencies on parliamentary business.

Certain sensitive details on the original documents - including the address of Gordon Brown’s constituency home and David Cameron’s mortgage account number - have been blanked out of the photocopies which were made public. Under the terms of the court ruling, details may be withheld from the public where there are "specific security concerns".

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: "It’s clear that this [additional cost allowance] pays for far more than just a base in London - MPs use it to fund a lifestyle far more comfortable than their constituents enjoy.

"Taxpayers should not be made to pay for Gordon Brown’s Sky TV subscription or Tony Blair’s £10,000 kitchen.

"Given the economic climate and the fact that everyone’s feeling poorer, it’s high time MPs reined in the amounts they spend. It is costly for taxpayers and harmful to the standing of Parliament for them to use expenses to live the high life."

The Commons authorities opposed their release on the grounds that it would inevitably result in the private addresses of the MPs becoming public, putting their security at risk, but last week the High Court backed an Information Tribunal ruling that they must be handed over.

The documents cover a range of years between 2001 and 2006, which were specified in the original requests under the Freedom of Information Act, and do not provide a full set of expenses covering the entire period.

But they give a snapshot of the sort of items for which the MPs claimed allowances under 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 Friday's release gives more detail than ever 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.

Other MPs whose claims were published included shadow chancellor George Osborne, ex-cabinet minister and now European Commissioner Peter Mandelson, former Tory leader William Hague and ex-Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell.

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