'Pay these expenses or my wife will divorce me'

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham joked he could be divorced unless the Commons authorities paid him thousands of pounds they had ruled improper.

The leaked files reveal that he was embroiled in a secret eight-month battle with the Commons fees office over £16,000 worth of renovations and work on a London flat he was buying. The claims, which included a new kitchen, had been repeatedly rejected.

Mr Burnham, who is married to Marie-France van Heel, wrote three notes asking for the money to be paid, including one at Christmas 2005 in which he pleaded: "Otherwise I might be in line for divorce!" His persistence paid off, with the fees office backing down and agreeing that taxpayers would foot the bills.

The minister's claims included £19.95 for a bath robe from Ikea, which was rejected by officials. His spokesman said it was a "genuine oversight".

His expenses became more controversial when he moved out of a rented flat in Dolphin Square and bought a flat in Lambeth for £215,000 in September 2005. He submitted expenses of £16,644 for obtaining and renovating the property, including £1,845 for the kitchen, legal fees of £822 and £2,150 for stamp duty.In June 2006, when Mr Burnham was promoted to Treasury minister, with a brief that included bearing down on wasteful public spending, the fees office threw out a claim for mortgage interest on both the Lambeth flat and his constituency home, because the rules only allowed one second home to be claimed for.

Expenses plea: the handwritten note claiming "I might be in line for divorce!!"

On 15 June the officials rejected another claim, this time because he had claimed for the full Lambeth mortgage bill, instead of just the portion covering interest, as allowed under the rules.

Mr Burnham, whose salary is £141,866, claimed £58 for utilities, £765 for mortgage interest and £83 for council tax and rates. In a statement to the Telegraph he said: "I wish to make clear in the strongest possible terms I resent any suggestion that I knowingly misused public funds as the public record shows that, in the last five years, I have under-claimed by about £40,000."

Renovations: Andy Burnham's wife Marie-France van Heel"