Anthony Steen MP

Anthony Steen claimed £87,000 from the taxpayer as part of his parliamentary expenses on a country mansion with 500 trees offers this grovelling apology.

Steen: "I have done nothing criminal. That's the most awful thing. And do you know what this is about? Jealousy. I've got a very, very large house. Some people say it looks like Balmoral, it's the photographs. It looks like Balmoral. It's a Merchants house of the nineteenth century, it's not particularly attractive, it just does me nicely. It's got room to plant a few trees".

Of course, he blames it on the Labour Government.

Steen: "This was no fault on my part. We have a wretched Government here which has completely mucked up the system and caused the resignation of me and many others, because it was this Government that introduced the Freedom of Information Act and it is this Government that insisted on the things which caught me on the wrong foot. "What right does the public have to interfere with my private life? None!"

He has announced he will step down at the next election.

Steen: The pressure came from the constituents. I took soundings and they were absolutely beside themselves with anger.

He later apologised "unreservedly" for the comments.

Steen: "I apologise unreservedly for some of the comments that I made in the interview on the World at One, recorded last night. I was so deeply upset with the situation which resulted in me overreacting. I am sorry that in the heat of the moment I said inappropriate things that weren’t as measured as I would have liked about the Freedom of Information Act, which I entirely support. I may also have given a misleading impression of the agreement I reached with David Cameron in our conversation yesterday. I will have nothing further to say about this matter."

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