ONE of the region’s MPs received a chilling death threat after admitting his daughter lived in a London flat he bought on the taxpayer.

The anonymous caller threatened to attack Phil Willis, Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, and told his assistant: “Somebody should stab him in the belly for all the money he has claimed.”

Police were called to his Commons office and will advise both Mr Willis and his daughter Rachel - the star of TV adverts for internet service provider AOL - on whether to curb their movements.

The death threat is the starkest illustration yet of the public fury over the deepening expenses scandal, which has triggered calls for an immediate election to cleanse parliament.

Mr Willis said: “It’s deeply upsetting, especially as I don’t believe I have done anything wrong.

“Both myself and my daughter will have to look at security and may have to look at how we move about. The police told me that a number of MPs have received unpleasant mail, but that mine was the first threat of this sort.”

The call was received a few hours after the Daily Telegraph reported that Mr Willis had bought a flat next door to his original home - which is now occupied by 30-year-old Rachel.

The revelation drew allegations that Mr Willis had spent spent thousands of pounds of public funds on mortgage interest payments, redecoration and furnishings for a flat now benefiting his daughter.

But the MP, who is standing down at the next election, hit back furiously, denying any abuse of the ‘Additional Costs Allowance’ (ACA), which allows MPs to run a second home.

And he matched Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg’s pledge to return to the taxpayer any profit made on the eventual sale of either property - what he dubbed “flats one and two”.

Nevertheless, Mr Willis, a former head teacher at Ormesby School, in Middlesbrough, confirmed that his daughter was currently living in one of the two flats.

However, he suggested it was only a temporary arrangement until the property market bounced back, allowing him to sell it on.

Mr Willis said: “I have never hidden the fact that my daughter spends a considerable amount of time there, but I happened to have an empty flat waiting to be sold.

“If giving one of your family a bed to sleep in is no regarded as a serious offence, then we really are in a very bad state of affairs.”

The Telegraph reported that, since 2004, Mr Willis’ claims for the first flat were £12,653 for mortgage interest payments, £1,275 for a new electrical system, £1,036 for drain clearing and £2,150 bill for decoration.

Then, in April 2007, he bought the neighbouring basement flat for £215,000, and designated it as his second home, claiming £2,713.68 in stamp duty and legal fees. His mortgage interest claims more than doubled to £806.65.

Mr Willis claimed for a £1,700 decoration bill and £1,188.65 for a bathroom suite at his new home - while his daughter became the sole occupant of the first flat, having previously stayed there intermittently.

The MP also acknowledged his attempt to claim for two televisions in 2006-07. The fees office struck out one claim - arguing he did not need a set in both his bedroom and lounge.

Mr Willis earns a parliamentary salary of £78,805, the MPs’ pay of £64,766, plus a further £14,039 as chairman of the innovation, universities, science and skills committee.

* Ex-minister Chris Mullin, the Sunderland South MP, watches a 30-year-old black-and-white television at his London flat - charging the taxpayer just £45 for the licence.

Mr Mullin told the Telegraph that he saw no reason to buy a newer model, because the old TV still worked and, anyway, he only watched the news.

However, he did put through a £265 bill on his second home allowance to have a TV aerial installed at his flat in Kennington, because the signal was so poor.