By, Jessica Elgot
1 min read
ByJessica Elgot, Jessica Elgot
The Shadow Solicitor General, MP Jonathan Djanogly has allegedly claimed more than £13,000 to pay a Polish au pair to look after his children.
Mr Djanogly, the Tory MP for Huntingdon, who is a member of New London Synagogue, claimed the £640 a month to pay the woman, identified only as Miss G, to clean his second home, but later admitted it had been her only source of income and that she did sometimes look after his children, the Daily Telegraph said today.
Miss G's details were found on the au pair advertising site called newaupair.com, where she advertised for a position in London.
Last month Mr Djanogly,son of the millionaire businessman Sir Harry Djanogly, was asked specifically by the Telegraph whether any domestic staff paid from his expenses had ever acted as an au pair or nanny for his children, who are now aged 12 and 13 and at boarding school. He replied: “I do not employ a child minder or nanny.”
Mr Djanogly has responded to the Telegraph's claims that the money was used to pay for childcare, insisting the woman had been employed only as a cleaner, working at the weekends. He said that the average claims had been around £260 a month, not the £400 reported by the newspaper.
Mr Djanogly denied that he had ever heard of the newaupair.com website and said that Ms G had responded to an advert placed by his wife on a website for cleaners. He added: “Ms G has now signed a written statement that she was employed by us from October 2007 to November 2008 only as a cleaner at our constituency home in Huntingdon."
Mr Djanogly, a partner in a major London law firm, has already agreed to pay back more than £25,000 in expenses claims. He is a former pupil of the Jewish public school, Carmel College, and made his first political appearance giving a talk on politics at Limmud. Last year he hosted a Jewish Child’s fundraising day in the House of Commons, raising more than £3,000.
