FORMER Cheshire MP Martin Bell has launched a rare attack on his successor by querying why the taxpayer pays for him to live in a £445,000 farmhouse.
The former independent MP for Tatton warned that shadow chancellor George Osborne “has got questions to answer about his mortgage” as an inquiry by a sleaze watchdog gets under way.
Mr Bell, who is still considering a fresh bid to return to Westminster next year, also suggested the current Tatton MP escaped possible censure by his own party because he is a “big hitter”.
Mr Osborne is under fire over allegations he took out a taxpayer-funded mortgage on his constituency home which was nearly £5,000 more than its purchase price.
He bought the farmhouse, on the edge of Tatton, for £445,000, ten months before winning the seat in June, 2001.
His mortgage interest claims since then – almost £1,900 a month – are close to the maximum allowed.
In an interview with a Labour website, Mr Bell said: “I am very careful what I say about George Osborne, because we served the same constituency, and the only thing I criticised him on publicly was his vote on the Iraq war.
“But when I was MP for Tatton, I had a little cottage in Great Budworth, which was obviously my second home. I could have charged £12,000 for it, but the rent was £7,000, so I charged £7,000. So it seems to me George has got questions to answer about his mortgage.”
