One from the Squat archive Hunt the MP Wanted: MPs Alan and Ann Keen - on the hunt for Mr and Mrs Expenses | News | London Evening Standard

Wanted: MPs Alan and Ann Keen - on the hunt for Mr and Mrs Expenses | News | London Evening Standard


It is Monday evening and I am sitting in the living room of the home of Ann and Alan Keen, drinking a cold beer around their fireplace.

From the downstairs basement, I can hear Ann's piano being played, while upstairs in the master bedroom, Alan's "Holiday Express Classic Train Set" is being put through its paces.

There is, of course, no sign of the controversial married couple dubbed "Mr and Mrs Expenses", even though this £375,000 house in Ann's west London Brentford constituency is officially listed by the Commons Fees Office as their "main home". 

As has been widely reported, their primary residence has been a deserted building site for over a year now, lying unfurnished and empty until two weeks ago when a dozen squatters moved in. 

The Keens say that the house is being renovated but there has been a dispute with the builder so work has halted.They dispute claims that it is derelict. However, sections of floors are missing, there is no running water, and the squatters say they have to take it in turns to sleep on a mattress in a room caked with layers of dust, the only one that is barely habitable.