Ousted Tory MP blew £9k on iPads and computers just before losing his seat

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Ex-Tory MP Ian Liddell-Grainger spent tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayer’s cash on computers in the last Parliament – including £9,000 months before losing his seat

An ousted Tory MP blew £9,000 of taxpayers’ cash on computer equipment just months before losing his seat – a year after spending more than £9,000 on similar kit.

Former Bridgewater MP Ian Liddell-Grainger bought two iPads, a desktop computer worth £5,000 and a shredder worth £600 on expenses in March 2024. In total, the hardware cost taxpayers £8,980.89.

A further £300 was claimed for assistance in retrieving data from a broken laptop.

In 2023, he’d spent £9,446 on two iPads, two laptops, two desktop PCs a laser printer and a paper folding machine.

And in 2022, he spent £5,506 on various computers, laptops and iPad equipment.

Between 2019 and 2022, he spent £21,432 on unspecified items from a company called Edward Martin Computer Solutions Ltd, bringing his total IT spend for the last Parliament to an eye-watering £45,364.

Departing MPs have four months to return or pay for any equipment they purchased on expenses – and any returned or reimbursed items would have been published in November’s figures, which were published this week.

A spokesperson for expenses watchdog IPSA said they had found “no indication that former MP Ian Liddell-Grainger has chosen to retain any IT equipment”, but could not explain why no returns had been declared.

Mr Liddell-Grainger’s seat was abolished in the election. He contested the newly-created Tiverton and Minehead seat, but lost to Lib Dem Rachel Gilmour.