MP expense data cost paper £110,000

The Daily Telegraph paid a mole £110,000 for the expenses files which shone a light into the murky world of MPs' claims and allowances, the newspaper's assistant editor has revealed.

Andrew Pierce defended the decision to pay for the leaked documents, describing it as "money well spent in the public interest".

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We paid £110,000 to the source.

"And let me just say, so far the taxpayer has been reimbursed by MPs £500,000, and there will be more; we have got a much better Commons as a result of it; and I think the Telegraph took the decision not lightly, but we were given 24 hours to read that file - it blew our minds when we saw what was in that file."

His comments came as it was claimed that the mole, who has not been named, was angry at the Government's failure to invest in Britain's armed forces. The civilian employee broke ranks to reveal that politicians were lavishing millions of pounds of taxpayers' money on second homes and phantom mortgages.

The Daily Telegraph said the mole took action after being involved in the processing of MPs' expenses files - at the same time as serving soldiers were "moonlighting" as security guards at his office to earn extra money for body armour and other equipment.

In the book No Expenses Spared, it said the soldiers' "fury" at the way MPs were "lavishing taxpayers' money on their second homes" led to the decision to leak the data, via a middleman, to the newspaper.

The Daily Telegraph said: "The man behind the leak - who is a civilian - has broken cover to tell his story for the first time, in the hope that it will shame the Government into finally supplying the right equipment for soldiers risking their lives in Afghanistan."

A Ministry of Defence source cast doubt on the claim that serving soldiers were working at the Stationery Office's headquarters, where the job of redacting more than 1.5 million MPs' expenses receipts was carried out.

The source said there are strict rules governing second jobs for troops: they must be declared and soldiers must have the permission of their commanding officers. The MoD also said its "top priority" was to provide servicemen and women fighting in Afghanistan with "the best equipment".