CHELTENHAM MP Martin Horwood has received an apology from the Daily Telegraph after it got a story about his expenses claim wrong.

Mr Horwood had strongly denied a report in yesterday's Telegraph that he claimed mortgage interest of £1,500 a month.

The small panel on page 34, part of the paper's ongoing expose of MPs' expenses, said: "Claimed large monthly mortgage interest bills of around £1,500 and the rare food bill.

"In 2008 submitted an £11.03 receipt for washing-up liquid, £2.39 plasters and £1.79 for a tube of Savlon."

Mr Horwood told the Echo last week that he has only ever claimed for the rent of his one-bedroom London flat under the Additional Costs Allowance designed to recompense MPs for staying away from home.

He said yesterday of the claims in the Telegraph: "That's completely incorrect. Categorically, I have never claimed for mortgage interest or for furnishing any private property whatsoever.

"I got a telephone apology and they seemed genuinely to regret to have printed wrong material.

"In an atmosphere like this it would have been a good thing to have checked. I'm a strong supporter of freedom of information and it's right these claims have come to light, but there's a strong responsibility on journalists to get their stories right."

Having dug out his own dossier on his claims, Mr Horwood said the newspaper was correct to say he had claimed for washing-up liquid, the plasters and antiseptic cream. The entire claim came to £11.03.

He said: "That's probably my mistake. I meant to claim for necessary household expenses like washing-up liquid, which I think is reasonable.

"The plasters and Savlon are absolutely the sort of things I should have paid for out of my own pocket and that's an error.

"I'm sure if you go through anyone's claims over four years you'll find the odd mistake. "I'm happy to pay back the £5 or so if people think I should."

He added: "It's a small thing in terms of people having their moats cleared and I stand by what I said about what should happen in terms of serious abuses of the system."

The Daily Telegraph confirmed that the story was incorrect and that it had apologised to Mr Horwood and corrected its website as soon as the mistake had been pointed out.

After revelations about MPs' expenses claims for second homes, 13 have decided to quit Parliament.

Bromsgrove Conservative MP Julie Kirkbride and Labour MP for Luton South Margaret Moran stood down on Thursday and Home Office Minister Tony McNulty announced he had paid back thousands for mistakenly claimed expenses.

Ms Kirkbride's husband, Andrew Mackay MP had already announced his resignation after it emerged he was claiming for the couple's London Home and Ms Kirkbride for their house in Worcestershire.

The Speaker of the House Michael Martin also has announced he will not stand again because of criticism over his leadership of MPs over the issue.

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