Full breakdown of expense claims: Tony Blair | Peter Mandelson | Ann Keen | Margaret Beckett

In an imposing residential block with its own swimming pool, gym complex and 24-hour concierge is a flat that has earned some notoriety in Westminster.

To date, Ann Keen, the health minister, and her husband Alan, who is also an MP, have used two mortgages and more than £100,000 of public funds to help pay for it.

The flat on the south bank of the Thames is just a short stroll from the Houses of Parliament and was bought by the Keens — dubbed “Mr and Mrs Expenses” by Westminister wags — for £500,000.

The couple funded its purchase in May 2002 with a mortgage on the flat and an additional loan on their family home in Brentford, west London. They then claimed the interest payments for both mortgages back on parliamentary expenses.

Details of the unusual purchase arrangements — which appear to have been sanctioned by House of Commons officials — are disclosed in documents released after a three-year freedom of information battle by The Sunday Times. Michael Martin, the House of Commons Speaker, notched up legal bills of £200,000 in trying to block the publication of the breakdown of expenses of 14 MPs, but admitted defeat last week.

The documents lay bare a lax, confused and poorly recorded expenses system. The documents and inquiries by The Sunday Times have established that:

— The Keens insured each other’s lives for £430,000 — and claimed the premiums on expenses.

— Margaret Beckett, the former foreign secretary, claimed more than £6,500 in allowances for gardening at her constituency home in Derby, including bills for pruning shrubs, trimming the hedges and for dismantling and rebuilding a rockery.

— Barbara Follett, the equalities minister, used her expenses to pay bills — including those for window cleaning — addressed to her husband Ken Follett, the millionaire author.

— John Prescott, the former deputy prime minister, offered to start paying council tax after

The Sunday Times revealed in 2005 that he was not required to pay the tax on any of his three properties.

When some details of MPs’ expenses were first published in October 2004, the politicians fiercely defended the system, despite claims that it was open to abuse. Martin Bell, the former independent MP, said: “The current regime would not last five minutes in any commercial organisation.”

Despite criticism over the system there were few changes. One of the most controversial aspects of the payouts was the £23,083 annual housing allowance, which many MPs used to buy second homes in London.

None of the MPs has broken any rules, but lack of rigour in the system is exemplified by the Keens’ claims. According to the documents in 2002, the Keens simply popped two sheets of A4 in an envelope each month to the Commons’ expenses department, claiming £1,643.50 each.

The couple apparently did not even provide the most cursory information to justify these claims. When politely asked for more detail by parliamentary officials, they revealed that they were using the allowances for two mortgages that were related to the £500,000 flat in the development opposite the Festival Hall.

One of the mortgages was on their west London home, but the couple argued that it was being used to raise equity for the London flat and they should be able to claim it on expenses. Commons officials appear to have sanctioned this unusual arrangement.

In addition, the couple claimed that “compulsory insurance” was required for the mortgages, although life insurance is not usually obligatory. They submitted the monthly £867.57 insurance premiums with their expenses claims.

Officials do not appear to have been impressed with a claim for life insurance, particularly as both MPs would have had cover under their parliamentary pensions. The following year new rules were imposed banning the use of expenses for life insurance premiums.

The use of the allowance to pay off mortgages has been a boon for many MPs. According to the documents, David Cameron, the Tory leader, was claiming £1,742 a month in mortgage payments in 2006; George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, was claiming £1,560; and William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, £1,200.

There seem to be few checks on whether mortgage payments fairly reflected the initial purchase price of the property. Tony Blair claimed on a £90,000 mortgage for his constituency property. However, his wife said in her recent autobiography it had cost only about £30,000, although a similar amount was spent on refurbishment. It is not clear why the mortgage is larger than the purchase price of the house.

Some MPs, such as Beckett, were able to claim more than £19,000 a year in housing costs even without a mortgage on the property. Beckett’s expense claims reveal some of the money was used to pay for tending the garden at her Derby home.

According to the documents, public funds were used to pay for more than 120 visits by a gardener between 2001 and 2006. The work included the provision of plants for hanging baskets, cutting back apple trees and tending the climbing rose over the front of the house.

Follett has claimed more than £18,000 a year for a flat in central London. The household bills on the Soho property — owned by her husband — are among the highest released, including nearly £4,000 of telephone bills, more than £8,000 for security and £4,819 for utilities over two years.

She spent a further £1,600 on window cleaning, with invoices showing that cleaners visited every three weeks during 2003-4, charging £94 a time.

Many of the bills are addressed to her husband but are still paid for out of public funds. Follett declares the London flat as her second home. Her main residence, a £3m home in Stevenage, is within commuting distance of parliament.

Prescott spent more than £6,700 for works on his constituency house in Hull, including the fitting of “mock Tudor” boards to the front.

According to the documents, Prescott contacted Commons officials in December after a Sunday Times article revealed that he was not paying any council tax out of his own pocket. He said he was now willing to pay the council tax on his grace and favour apartment and wanted to clarify the rules.

The controversial housing allowances system is now under review. It will be significantly reformed or scrapped.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said the Keens’ claims were within the rules.

— Additional reporting: Graham Hind and Georgia Warren

Times Recommends

• How I lost the gift of joy for a while
• Why Ann Widdecombe has got it wrong
• Alas, it’s the end of the road for petrolheads