Blue movies on expenses: Jacqui Smith's husband apologises for watching porn... paid for by the taxpayer



Strained: The relationship between Ms Smith and her husband, pictured, is said to be 'very difficult'



Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's husband was forced to make a humiliating apology this afternoon for causing her embarrassment over an expenses claim which included adult films he watched.



Speaking outside the couple's home in Redditch, Worcestershire, Richard Timney told reporters: 'I am really sorry for any embarrassment I have caused Jacqui.



'I can fully understand why people might be angry and offended by this,



'Quite obviously a claim should never have been made for these films, and as you know that money is being paid back.'



Mr Timney's apology follows a statement earlier by Ms Smith who promised to pay back the money she wrongly claimed for the television package.



She had 'mistakenly' submitted the expenses claim which included five pay-per-view films, including the two adult movies which were viewed at her family home in her Redditch constituency.



The £67 bill was submitted last June as part of Ms Smith's expenses.



Ms Smith said: 'I am sorry that in claiming for my internet connection, I mistakenly claimed for a television package alongside it.



'As soon as the matter was brought to my attention, I took immediate steps to contact the relevant parliamentary authorities and rectify the situation.

'All money claimed for the television package will be paid back in full.'



Number 10 backed Ms Smith's decision to repay the expenses claim.

Downing Street said the Home Secretary had done the 'right thing' by taking steps to rectify the 'inadvertent mistake'.



A spokesman said: 'Jacqui Smith has done the right thing by taking steps to rectify this inadvertent mistake as soon as she became aware of it.



Apology: Richard Timney was forced to say sorry over the blunder in March 2009

'She is doing a great job as Home Secretary and will not let this issue detract from her determination to ensure we protect the public and make our neighbourhoods safer.'



Earlier Foreign Secretary David Miliband said that Ms Smith was an 'outstanding' Home Secretary, but refused to be drawn on the disclosures about her expenses.



Asked on BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show if it was 'final straw time' for Ms Smith, he said: 'I am never going to get into individual cases.

'What I am absolutely confident of is that Jacqui Smith is doing an outstanding job as the Home Secretary with some of the toughest responsibilities in government.'



Chief Secretary to the Treasury Yvette Cooper said she did not know the particular circumstances surrounding Ms Smith, but said there had to be 'greater transparency' regarding the expense claims of MPs.



She told the Sky News Sunday Live programme: 'It is difficult for me to comment on any individual case. All I heard...was that Jacqui Smith has apologised so I know no more than that, so it is difficult to comment on individual cases.'



She added: 'I think there is a wider issue, that there has got to be greater transparency, greater independent checks in terms of MPs' expenses across the board, that is why I think this new review that is taking place...is exactly the right way forward.



Jacqui Smith, pictured with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson last March, was forced to stand down as Home Secretary

Mr Timney, who works as Ms Smith’s Commons adviser, used part of the Minister’s second-homes allowance to pay for the blue movies he watched on a subscription television channel.

It is understood that Mr Timney had been watching explicit adult movies on channels broadcast on the Virgin Media cable TV service.

A friend said the Home Secretary knew there was 'no excuse' for the error but added: 'To say she's angry with her husband is an understatement.



Jacqui was not there when these films were watched. She's furious and mortified.'



Subscribers to the cable service can access X-rated films on the Playboy Channel, the Adult Channel and Television X for around £11 a month. It is also possible to order adult channels on a pay-per-night basis for £5.

The £67 Virgin Media bill was submitted last June as part of Ms Smith's expenses.

It included two 18-rated features, each costing £5, which were viewed on April 1 and April 6 last year.



The bill also included two viewings of the film Ocean's 13 - at £3.75 each - and an additional £3.50 to watch the film Surf's Up.



Tory MP Philip Davies said last night that if the porn-movie claims were true, the Home Secretary would have to resign.

‘Claiming that her sister’s back bedroom is her main home is one thing but this could push her over the cliff. It is surely not legitimate to use Commons’ second-home allowances to buy blue movies. If this is true, I cannot see how she can survive.’



Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik said the revelations were 'immensely embarrassing' for the Home Secretary.



He told Sky News: 'I have no issue with the genre, I do have an issue with one thing, which is he shouldn't really be claiming this back and he just obviously wasn't thinking about this.



'This is immensely embarrassing for Jacqui on a personal and domestic level, I haven't got any particular issue about what they watch in their own time, I do have an issue about the fact that he has compromised her.'



He added: 'My personal view is we should get away from the whole thing so that we can claim our travel expenses, because that is very variable depending on where you live, but the rest of it should be put on salary and then it's up to us.'



The revelation comes as The Mail on Sunday launches a petition to demand a full enquiry into MPs' expenses.

Fellow Tory MP Mark Field added: ‘The entire Commons allowance system is now indefensible. It’s one thing to make dubious claims on the location of your second home but for the husband of a Home Secretary to be claiming for pornographic TV is completely beyond the pale.

‘It’s no good Gordon Brown promising an inquiry at some point in the future. This must be reformed now.’

Ms Smith is already at the centre of huge row after The Mail on Sunday revealed that she had claimed more than £116,000 for a ‘second home’ while effectively lodging with her sister.



She claims the Additional Costs Allowance, currently a tax-free £24,006 a year, on the detached house in her West Midlands constituency where her husband and two young children live, which she bought for £300,000 five years ago.

She is able to do so because she told the Commons authorities that her ‘main home’ is a house in South London solely owned by her sister, Sara, where she stays on some weekdays.

But neighbours have challenged her claim that she spends more nights there each week than her family home in the West Midlands.

As well as adult channels on subscription, Virgin Media has an On Demand service, which allows any adult viewers to pay for and watch movies when they want.



Access is via the remote control and films purchased can be watched repeatedly within a 16-hour rental period.

On Demand movies have DVD-like controls enabling viewers to fast forward, rewind and pause pictures.

The Adult TV channels available on subscription are:



Playboy TV, described as ‘all the best of amateur video and adult entertainment television’, this costs £11 each month.

The Adult Channel, which gives viewers access to ‘full length adult films’ at £11 a month.

Television X, described as ‘the best adult entertainment’ at £11 a month.

An alternative package offers all three channels at £17 a month.

The type of material available on the adult channels include films with explicit titles such as Happy Husbands and Willing Wives, Dirty Debutantes, and Sweaty Sex. Subscription pornography channels in Britain carry an 18-certificate, and exclude the ‘hardcore’ R18 films.

Just three months ago, The Mail on Sunday revealed that Mr Timney – who is paid £40,000 of public money a year as Ms Smith’s to run her Redditch constituency office – was behind a letter-writing campaign defending the Government in her local paper.

Mr Timney had a series of letters published in the Redditch Advertiser backing Ms Smith’s identity card plans and attacking the Tories over schools, without revealing that he was married to the woman responsible for the policies.

The ACA allows MPs to claim for television subscriptions at their second home. Last year, under freedom of information requests, it emerged that Gordon Brown claimed for a Sky TV subscription and television licence.

In an unprecedented move, Commons officials have spent the last year preparing to publish over a million individual invoices and receipts relating to all MPs’ expenses claims dating back over the last four years. The publication is scheduled to take place before the summer.

The receipts have been processed under tightly-controlled conditions, with MPs’ addresses removed to protect their security.

But today’s revelations relating to Ms Smith’s ACA claims will fuel some MPs’ suspicions that leaks are now taking place ahead of publication.