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| Commons event bookings revealed | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| MPs booked facilities in the House of Commons for everything from the launch of an art exhibition to a classic car rally, new details have revealed. | MPs booked facilities in the House of Commons for everything from the launch of an art exhibition to a classic car rally, new details have revealed. |
| David Cameron was the most hospitable of the party leaders with 16 bookings including tea with lady freemasons and hosting national smile month's launch. | David Cameron was the most hospitable of the party leaders with 16 bookings including tea with lady freemasons and hosting national smile month's launch. |
| MPs from all parties made regular use of the facilities, which include dining rooms and a terrace pavilion. | |
| The figures, from 2004 to 2009, are from the Commons banqueting office. | The figures, from 2004 to 2009, are from the Commons banqueting office. |
| The MPs can use the rooms for free but do have to pay for any food or hospitality. | |
| The majority of the events were receptions or dinners for causes which the MPs are on record as supporting or local party fundraising or community groups. | |
| 'One-off consultancy' | |
| But accusations are already starting to fly about possible conflicts of interest. | |
| Former Health Minister Patricia Hewitt used Commons banqueting facilities to host events for BT in December 2008 and February 2009. She joined the company as a non-executive director in March 2008. | |
| Communities and Local Government Secretary John Denham used a Parliamentary room for a Breakfast for AXA Derbak in June 2006, when he was a backbencher. | |
| The register of members interests published in November 2006 shows he declared a "one-off consultancy" with AXA to advise on a research project and publication on employer pension provision, for which he was paid "up to £5,000". | |
| Among the more unusual items on the list, Labour MP Richard Burden held classic car rallies on the Terrace Pavilion in 2004 and 2006. Labour MP and former education secretary Estelle Morris used the same venue, which overlooks the Thames, to host a Turner Whistler Monet Exhibition Launch. | |
| 'Dodgy' | |
| Conservative leader David Cameron hosted three receptions for the Dental Health Foundation in 2006 and 2007 and twice used the Commons to launch National Smile Month and Mouth Cancer Week. He also treated West Oxfordshire Lady Freemasons to tea in October 2008. | |
| Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg do not appear to have booked any rooms during the period covered by the report. | |
| Lib Dem transport and former environment spokesman Norman Baker, who hosted an eclectic range of events including breakfast with oil giant Shell, a Friends of the Earth reception and lunch with the Nappy Alliance, said: "Most MPs use the facilities in a reasonable way. | |
| "The ones that are dodgy is where you have a pattern of someone who has booked a room regularly and who then asks Parliamentary questions or gets a job. | |
| "There are MPs who booked rooms for lobby groups and you have to ask who these lobby group are representing. The best answer to it is transparency." |