A WORCESTERSHIRE MP could be renting his London flat from Premier League footballer Frank Lampard, in the latest bizarre twist in the tale of MPs’ expenses.

The landlord of the London flat rented by Peter Luff, who is MP for Mid-Worcestershire, shares the name of the Chelsea Football Club midfielder – although it is by no means certain they are the same person.

One ironic detail which did not escape Mr Luff, however, is the fact he himself is a Chelsea supporter.

MPs with constituencies outside London, such as Mr Luff, are allowed to claim up to £1,666.67 a month in rental allowance.

There is no suggestion Mr Luff is breaking parliamentary rules.

The rental information only came to light after a fresh media probe into MPs’ expenses, three years after the House of Commons was shaken by a scandal of dodgy claims in 2009. After a freedom of information request and a legal battle with Parliament, de-tails of 320 MPs were published on Monday night stating to whom those MPs pay their taxpayer-funded rents on their leased London properties.

The MPs claim back these rental payments on expenses, which, though legal, has revealed several MPs – none from Worcestershire – are renting from each other.

Mr Luff told your Worcester News he had no idea “whether or not it is Frank Lampard”, adding he had phoned the letting agent Galliard Residential after he became aware the details were to be made public.

“They [Galliard] tell me that they cannot disclose the identity, probably quite rightly, of the landlord, to me,” he said.

“So I will never know if it is him, as there is more than one Frank Lampard.

“However, I do not see it would make a blind bit of difference if it was him or not.”He declined to say where his flat is, but said speculative reports in The Sun newspaper saying he rented a property in Old Brompton Road were “wrong”.

Mr Luff has rented a flat in London since 2010, when the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) introduced rules saying MPs who stayed in London on parliamentary business should either rent, or check in to a hotel.