LEOMINSTER MP Bill Wiggin has spent the morning defending himself against accusations of “phantom” mortgage claims made in the Daily Telegraph today (Thursday).

Mr Wiggin says the allegations are made more “embarrassing and unpleasant” by the fact that he told the Hereford Times on Monday that he was sure his expenses would stand up to scrutiny. The MP was confident enough to call a public meeting in Leominster specifically for constituents to quiz him on his claims.

That meeting, at the Rankin Club, Corn Square, Leominster, at 4pm next Wednesday (May 27) is still going ahead.

Enjoying the support of Conservative leader David Cameron, Mr Wiggin accepts that the accusations will have “upset” many of his constituents and supporters alike, but he maintains that the situation arose out of an administrative error with him filling out mortgage interest claim forms wrongly. A mistake he says should have been pointed out to him sooner.

“I have not claimed any money that I should not have, but regret that I wrote down the wrong details on the internal form,” said Mr Wiggin.

WIGGIN IN THE SPOTLIGHT THE ACCUSATION - He claimed mortgage interest on his Leominster constituency home near Ledbury - even though he never had a mortgage there.

HE SAYS: It is all an administrative error, he had intended to claim the interest on the mortgage for his London home but, for a time, filled in the forms incorrectly to say the constituency address was his second home.

HOW MUCH DID HE RECEIVE? More than £11,000. The sums claimed match exactly those paid for the London house.

THE DEFENCE: The mistake was picked up in 2006 and mortgage deeds clarifying the situation were sent to the House of Commons authorities. He immediately started filling in the forms correctly.

HE SAYS: “I have claimed the interest that I paid exactly and the statements and the forms all match. Yes, I made a mistake by putting the wrong address on my internal forms and that is my fault. but it is not true that I have claimed public money on a mortgage that does not exist. It exists and I still pay it.”

THE OUTLINE CASE AGAINST: According to the Daily Telegraph Mr Wiggin changed the address on which he claimed an Additional Costs Allowance from his London home to the constituency home which he bought outright in 2004. The mortgage claim subsequently increased and Mr Wiggin continued to claim home loan payments for the constituency house over the next two years.

The Daily Telegraph says it has seen forms on which how Mr Wiggin put the address of his constituency home on 23 consecutive monthly claims in the box clearly marked “address of second home”.