Taking us to the cleaners

Among the items listed in the MPs expenses released yesterday was the news that LibDem MP Mark Oaten claimed £244 on a new bunk-bed and mattress from a discount furniture store off Wandsworth Road. Clearly a bargain - rather less than Gordon Brown claimed to have Sky TV with all the trimmings, let alone the £723 the PM required for “cleaning services”- but why did he need the new sleeping facility? Was it during the period when his wife has cold-shouldering him after he embarrassed her in the News of the World? Or had his old bed become, er, discoloured?