THE MEP Robert Kilroy-Silk has taken advantage of the Euro "gravy train" that he had pledged to expose by employing his wife and chauffeur at taxpayers’ expense.

The former television presenter, who has rarely attended parliamentary meetings in Brussels or Strasbourg, now stands accused of taking full advantage of generous perks.

He has surrounded himself with staff paid out of his £125,000 MEP’s allowance, despite being elected on a Eurosceptic platform to sweep away the Brussels establishment.

After he was elected in June 2004 he promoted Rodney Douglas, his chauffeur, to the role of MEP’s "assistant".

Douglas, whose contract was terminated in June 2005, told The Sunday Times that despite his new job description, his main role continued to be driving Kilroy-Silk’s Daimler.

The MEP, who no longer belongs to any political party, added Jan, his wife, to the European parliament’s payroll at about the same time that Douglas left.

The politician’s income fell sharply when he lost both his BBC television Kilroy show in 2004 and a Sunday newspaper column at the start of 2005.

At least six other UK MEPs employ their spouses as parliamentary assistants, which is permitted under the rules of the institution.

Kilroy-Silk, who has a £3m villa in Spain, receives a salary of £59,000 a year as an MEP and is entitled to a £32,000 office allowance. He can also claim generous travel expenses and a day-rate of £185 if he attends parliament.

Yet for a five-month period until late September there is no public record of Kilroy-Silk attending the full parliament’s voting sessions. Until two weeks ago, he had voted in only 12 of 40 sessions this year.

In his final appearance at the spring session, on April 12, he abstained from a vote which would have made MEPs’ allowances available for scrutiny on the internet.

When Kilroy-Silk entered the European parliament as a UK Independence (Ukip) party member last year, he promised to attack the Strasbourg parliament and expose "the whole edifice . . . how they go on the gravy train and spend their time in restaurants and the rest of it".

Days after, he railed in a newspaper article against the "extravagance and waste" in Brussels, which he had experienced first-hand.

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