The disgraced former leader of Essex County Council has been caught clocking into the House of Lords for just 20 minutes a day so he can claim a £300 allowance.

Lord Hanningfield, who was jailed for expenses fraud in 2011, has regularly claimed the £300 daily attendance allowance, according to an investigation by the Daily Mirror.

The paper claims the peer did this on 11 of 19 days on which it monitored him in July.

Lord Hanningfield, whose actions have not broken any rules, suggested it was normal practice and that fellow peers did the same thing.

It is also said that the peer claimed £51,300 between April 2012 and July 2013 despite not making any speeches in the Lords.

He told the Daily Mirror: “By the time I have people at home to help, time I have people in the House of Lords to help me, I spend something like £150 a day on expenses, so I don't really make any profit."

"I have to live, don't I? I don't do anything else. How do you think I am going to eat, how am I going to pay my electricity bills?

He added: "I can name 50 that do it. I see the same people go in and out as I do. I don't want to be persecuted."