A senior adviser to Boris Johnson, forced to resigned over misuse of his corporate credit card, wrongly claimed meals on the public purse on at least three occasions, Times Online has learnt.

Ian Clement, the Deputy Mayor for Government and External Relations, claimed for business meals even though at one, his supposed companion was at a funeral. At another, his supposed companion was hosting an awards ceremony.

The Times has learnt that Mr Johnson, the Mayor of London, took action when it emerged that Mr Clement, the former leader of Bexley Council, claimed £51.70 for a meal at a Chinese resturant with Merrick Cockell, the leader of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

It is understood that Mr Cockell told City Hall that he had never been to the restaurant. The Times has established that Mr Cockell hosted the London Regional Compact Awards that evening.

In a second discrepancy, Mr Clement claimed that he spent £72.50 of taxpayer funds on a lunch with Mike Freer, the leader of Barnet Council. The council said in a statment that Mr Freer was attending a funeral in Inverness on that day.

In a third, he claimed £32.50 for a lunch with Michael Rye, leader of Enfield Council. Mr Rye last night told The Times that he was not there.

Mr Clement had already admitted to a “crass mistake” and had been reprimanded by the Mayor after he used his card to buy more than £2,000 in personal items, directly violating Greater London Authority rules.

Mr Johnson initially refused to accept his resignation because Mr Clement had paid back the money for the personal items, although his credit card was withdrawn because he had used it for restaurants, supermarket shopping and upgrades to business-class flights.

He was forced to go when the discrepancies emerged over his corporate claims.

Mr Clement also claimed £12.50 for lunch with Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor’s transport adviser. Mr Ranger told The Times that he was “very surprised” to find out later that it had been put on the public purse.

Mr Clement also claimed £35.10 for a Pizza Express lunch with Justine Greening, the Tory MP. She said his actions were “completely inappropriate”.

Other questions arose over Mr Clement’s spending when his bills showed that he spent significant sums dining his former colleagues — Conservative councillors at Bexley.

There are also queries over his corporate claims during his tenure at the South East London council, with opposition councillors calling for an inquiry.

Mr Clement is the third deputy mayor to resign since Mr Johnson took office in May last year. Although he has recently enjoyed a reprieve from controversy, Mr Johnson suffered a series of resignations in his first year as Mayor of London. They included that of of Ray Lewis, his deputy mayor for youth, over allegations of inappropriate conduct and financial irregularities in his past.

Mr Johnson’s spokesman said that the string of resignations did not reflect on his leadership. He said: "How could we possibly pre-empt this kind of thing? Ian Clement had a lot of experience in local government and has a result had been under intense scrutiny."

Len Duvall, a Labour member of the London Assembly, said that Mr Clement continued to make personal purchases on his corporate credit card despite being told to stop last year.

The London Assembly's business management and administration committee is to review Mr Clement's expenses today.

Scotland Yard has received a complaint over “alleged misuse of a credit card” however there is no investigation at this stage.

Times Recommends

• Fern Britton: 'I still can't see that I was wrong'
• Extreme cooking
• Easy French: Tarte Tatin