MP DAVID Kidney has been forced to defend an expense claim after a national newspaper accused him of failing to pay a hotel bill.

The News of the World yesterday reported how Stafford MP David Kidney, pictured, had been threatened with bailiffs for not paying a £55 bill for a room at a bed and breakfast in the town in 2004.

The paper said Mr Kidney then tried to reclaim the room bill, along with the £197.25 bailiff demand and £142.25 for court costs.

But it failed to point out that the debt was actually cancelled before the MP's claim was processed, and that it was due to a clerical error by hotel managers, who apologised for the gaffe.

The story appeared just days after the Daily Telegraph accused the 54-year-old Labour junior energy minister of profiting from a £2,500 overpayment for council tax and water bills at his second home.

The money has since been repaid and the Commons Fees Office has admitted it was at fault.

Mr Kidney told The Sentinel he had booked a room at The Garth Hotel in Wolverhampton Road for visiting Middlesbrough mayor Ray Mallon.

The former police chief, dubbed "Robocop" for his tough stance on crime, was a guest speaker at a conference the MP had organised.

He said: "At that time there were a lot of problems with crime in that area of my constituency and I had organised a conference which the public and a number of guest speakers had been invited to.

"The special guest was Ray Mallon, the Mayor of Middlesbrough, who was well known for his zero-tolerance policing tactics. He agreed to come down to address the conference if we agreed to put him up somewhere the night before.

"I felt that £55 was quite a reasonable price to pay."

Mr Kidney said he had not been aware of the subsequent wrangling over the bill, as his secretary had handled the dispute.

He said: "When the News of the World phoned me on Saturday night I couldn't recall anything about bailiffs being involved.

"I asked my secretary to go into the office and she found some papers which showed the hotel had failed to log the bill being paid, and had mistakenly passed it on to a debt collector to follow up.

"She even found a letter from The Garth Hotel apologising for getting the debt collection company involved and admitting that the bill had been paid. But when I rang the newspaper back, they told me it was too late to change anything and the story would be published."

Mr Kidney has shown The Sentinel a copy of a letter from The Garth Hotel's resident manager, Elaine Speed, dated October 26, 2004.

It says: "I wish to confirm that you will no longer receive any more correspondence from [the debt collection company]. The account is now standing at a nil balance and is cleared completely.

"Once again I would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused."

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