An MP who spent more than £7,000 of taxpayers’ money on domestic staff for his Sussex home today showed little enthusiasm for paying it back.

Wealden MP Charles Hendry, who claimed a total of £87,729 for his constituency house over four years, said he understood why the public was “so angry” about Parliamentary expenses.

But he insisted his own claims - which also covered the costs of pest control, CCTV maintenance and window cleaning - were all “necessary”.

Details of the Tory shadow energy minister’s expenses were revealed by The Daily Telegraph, which has obtained a copy of all MPs’ claims between 2004/5 and 2007/8.

They showed he employed two domestic staff, a husband and wife, at his £750,000 farmhouse near Uckfield over three years. The pair were paid £737 a month to clean, iron clothes and provide “general support in the garden”.

However, Mr Hendry insisted his claim for £7,300 covered only “some of the costs of one person helping out in the house for half a day a week”.

He said: “I have claimed for some of the costs for that help which was necessary and which related to the house, not the garden. I have help in the home and in the garden at my constituency home. I have not claimed for the full cost of this as it seemed proper that I should bear most of these costs personally.”

Mr Hendry also claimed, in 2004, about £350 for pest control services following infestations of mice, wasps and flies, £376 for security work, including servicing a CCTV system, and £380 for electrical work. He also claimed £1,260 a month for mortgage interest and hundreds of pounds a month for other bills, including council tax, water and electricity.

In 2007, he claimed £1,300 for the installation of a new oil tank and the digging of a trench for the pipe. He also claimed regular £500 bills for fuel oil and £90 a month for window cleaning.

Records showed Mr Hendry also owns a £2.56m town house in London, which he bought without a mortgage in 2002.

Liberal Democrat Chris Bowers, who plans to stand against Mr Hendry at the next general election, said yesterday the MP’s claim for home help was “an affront to civilised society” and said it would be “an appropriate gesture” for him to repay the money.

But Mr Hendry, in contrast to many of his colleagues, who have already repaid some of their claims, indicated he planned to keep the cash unless ordered by Tory leader David Cameron to do otherwise.

He said: “I completely understand why people are so angry about this whole issue. David Cameron has set up a committee to examine all claims by Conservative MPs over the past few years. I have asked them to look specifically at the expense and allowance claims I have made.”

The Telegraph also claimed Bognor and Littlehampton MP Nick Gibb spent £8,227 on redecoration and repairs at his constituency house over four years, as well as £296 on hedge trimming in one month. The Tory MP, whose expenditure under the second homes allowance totalled £87,648 over the four-year period, claimed £1,800 a month in mortgage interest payments.