Duck house MP Peter Viggers will not pay up

By GLEN OWEN FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
Updated:

Call to account: Sir Peter Viggers

Call to account: Sir Peter Viggers

The ‘duck house’ MP has refused an order to repay more than £40,000 in overclaimed Commons expenses.

Tory Sir Peter Viggers, who was forced to resign his seat after the scandalous claim was revealed, has been told to return the money by expenses auditor Sir Thomas Legg.

And in a further development, The Mail on Sunday has established that Sir Peter made an astonishing £350,000 profit when he sold the property where the duck house was due to be installed.

The 71-year-old MP sold the Georgian property in his Gosport constituency in Hampshire – the costs of which were met by the taxpayer – for £800,000 last year after buying it for £450,000 in 2001.

But he will not say whether he has paid capital gains tax on the sum.

The bill from Sir Thomas is believed to be one of the highest repayment demands contained in the ‘audit letters’ sent to all 646 MPs last week.

Sir Peter caused uproar in the summer when it was revealed that he tried to recoup the £1,645 cost of the 5ft floating duck house – designed to resemble an 18th Century building in Sweden. 

It was the most eye-catching claim relating to Hollam House in Titchfield, Hampshire.

He billed the Commons Fees Office for a total of £32,000 for the cost of gardening at his mansion over a three-year period, including £500 for manure, and also asked for £18,000 for the cost of redecorating the Conservative Party office in Gosport.

Tory Party leader David Cameron gave him an ultimatum – quit or be fired. Sir Peter will stand down at the next General Election. 

In the duck house: The floating structure - designed to resemble an 18th Century building in Sweden - cost £1,645

In the duck house: The floating structure - designed to resemble an 18th Century building in Sweden - cost £1,645

As his ‘second home’ for Commons purposes, he could claim back mortgage interest and other maintenance costs.

If it was regarded as a second home by the taxman, Sir Peter should have paid a capital gains tax bill of more than £60,000 – unless he ‘flipped’ the designation so that it counted as a first home for tax purposes.

He also owns a £1million chateau in France, where the duck house is now believed to be.

Last week, he refused to comment and his wife said: ‘He does not want to say anything.’

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