I was shocked to read that Andrew Dismore intends to restand in Hendon in the general election in May 2015.

Mr Dismore lost his seat following shocking abuse of the Parliamentary expense system and yet Labour have reselected him to stand once again for election next year.

Mr Dismore claimed £34,000 for his ‘second home’, a flat in Notting Hill, which not only housed his girlfriend’s homeopathy surgery but is actually less than eight miles from his then constituency residence. How anyone can be allowed a second home so close to the constituency home is beyond me. To make matters worse, he then ‘flipped’ his second home as he decided his Notting Hill flat had become his main residence and then claimed a further £31,000 – simply outrageous. When Mr Dismore was an MP he also claimed £2,144 for petrol costs, this equates to 5,360 miles that is nearly 487 driven trips between his constituency and Parliament. Parliament only sat for 145 days the year he claimed.

By the time Mr Dismore left office, when he was voted out by constituents appalled by his abuse of the system, he had claimed over £30,000 in travel expenses, far more than any other North London MP.

Ironically, Mr Dismore was one of several MPs who opposed reforms to the expense system – now we know why.

I do not know what Labour are thinking in reselecting Mr Dismore as the Hendon Parliamentary candidate. Clearly Mr Milliband does not yet understand the strength of feeling and anger felt by the public over the abuse of the expense system. This betrayal will not be forgotten by the Hendon electorate.

Benjamin Littlestone

Farm Road, Edgware