THE MPs expenses scandal claimed another victim tonight when Tory Sir Peter Viggers announced he would quit at the next election over a massive taxpayer-funded gardening bill.

Sir Peter, the MP for Gosport, was told to retire or be thrown out of the party by leader David Cameron after his claims - including one for a £1,645 floating duck island for his pond - were published by The Daily Telegraph.

Tory sources said Sir Peter, the third Tory MP to say he will step down over expenses claims, would also repay a sum - believed to be in five figures.

A senior Tory source said Mr Cameron was "absolutely furious" about Sir Peter's expenses and presented him with an ultimatum: do not stand again or be stripped of the party whip.

The former minister joins Douglas Hogg and Anthony Steen, who announced his decision to quit earlier this evening, in leaving Westminster over similar claims.

Meanwhile Tory whip Bill Wiggin blamed an administrative error for "11,000 in claims for mortgage interest on the wrong home - insisting he had not benefited financially.

The newspaper said he had declared his constituency home as his second home but claimed mortgage payments that matched his London property.

In a statement, Mr Wiggin said: "For a period I filled in the accompanying forms incorrectly, but this mistake made no difference at all to the claim.

It was purely an administrative error, and it was of absolutely no financial advantage to me. I claimed the correct amount to the last penny.

"Anybody checking these documents could - and can - see that it was an error. As it was, nobody spotted the error until 2006 when I immediately started filling in the forms correctly."

Totnes MP Mr Steen, who claimed more than £80,000 from the taxpayer over four years for work at his £1m Devon mansion, said he did not want to distract the party from its fight against Labour.

"The real issue in Britain today is who can fix the country. The real debate - the real choice - is Brown or Cameron," he said in a statement.

"The real focus for all Conservatives should be on winning the next election. For that reason, and because I dont want to distract from the real story here, I have decided not to stand at the next election."

Mr Hogg announced last week that he would step down following controversy over the inclusion of a bill for the cleaning of his moat in submissions to the Fees Office.