David Cameron spent £66,000 on TV coaching by Obama's body language expert during election campaign

By Jason Groves and Tamara Cohen
Last updated at 2:36 AM on 3rd December 2010

David Cameron spent more than £66,000 flying in Barack Obama’s body language expert to help prepare for the televised election debates, it emerged yesterday.

Figures published by the Electoral Commission reveal that the Tories spent twice as much as Labour during the election.

The Conservatives’ campaign cost £16.7million, while Labour spent £8million. The Liberal Democrats spent £4.8million

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Coached: David Cameron called in an expert to prepare him for the TV election debates

David Cameron was prepared for his TV debates by President Obama's body language expert who flew over four times to advise the Tory leader

Detailed receipts show the Tories spent £66,333 hiring the Washington firm SKDKnickerbocker to prepare Mr Cameron for the debates, in which he was widely considered to have been bested by Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg.

Consultant Anita Dunn, who advised President Obama on body language, was part of the team flown to London four times to prepare Mr Cameron.

Labour also spent thousands hiring Washington consultants in a bid to make Gordon Brown more presentable during the debates.

The party spent £54,154 flying in Michael Sheehan, who has also advised President Obama. Mr Sheehan billed Labour £791.50 for a three-night stay in a luxury London hotel.

The Conservatives spent the most money in almost all areas of the campaign. They even spent almost £37,000 filming an ad warning of the dangers of a hung Parliament.

The Tories also spent more than £10,000 on a photographic retoucher at around the time of the infamous ‘retouched’ poster campaign featuring Mr Cameron. And £447 went on masks of Gordon Brown and Tony Blair for election stunts. Other eye-catching spending included more than £60,000 to Google. The firm was paid to provide links to the Tories whenever certain terms were searched for.

Labour also spent thousands on stunts, including £2,115.00 on hiring Lodge Park Technology College in Corby, for an event in which Mr Brown was filmed being serenaded by an Elvis impersonator as he walked around the room shaking hands. The party also owes the taxpayer £35,000 for unpaid government car invoices.

Labour’s election warchest was less than half the sum it spent at the 2005 election – underlining the extent to which donors deserted Mr Brown. The latest figures also seem to point to a change in election tactics.

In 2005, parties spent £990,293 on political broadcasts. This jumped to just under £1.5million this year. But advertising spending dipped from £15.5million to just over £9million. Market research and canvassing spending also dropped.

Films, gloves and a 15p staple remover

Film buff: Mr Prescott claimed for two movies

John Prescott claimed expenses for two films in his hotel room five days before the election, it emerged last night.

The £15 bill was submitted by the former Deputy Prime Minister and paid by the Labour Party for his stay at the four-star Derbyshire Hotel in Derby on May 1.

Mr Prescott’s party election expenses were revealed by the Electoral Commission as new figures published in Westminster revealed many MPs are still submitting claims for Parliamentary expenses for even the most minor items.

Millionaire former Labour minister Michael Meacher requested 15p for a staple remover while Gloria de Piero, a fellow Labour MP, claimed £1 for a pair of rubber gloves from discount store Netto.

Scottish National Party MP Pete Wishart billed the taxpayer 40 pence for a one-mile trip in his car. Tory MPs Harriet Baldwin and Angie Bray each claimed £11.75 for videos of their maiden Commons speeches.

Figures released yesterday revealed

MPs claimed £3.1 million in expenses between the election in May and the end of August.

They were revealed as MPs from all parties lined up in the Commons to condemn the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, which was set up in the wake of the expenses scandal.

They passed a motion ordering Ipsa to bring in reforms by April next year or face a major shake-up – or even abolition.

Tory MP Adam Afriyie said MPs were now ‘ensnared in a vice-like grip which is designed to bring them into disrepute with every single receipt that’s produced for every single personal item’.

Labour’s Michael Connarty said Ipsa was ‘incompetent’ and bent on ‘punishing’ MPs.