Mr Foster "crossed the line", said the watchdog

Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Sir Philip Mawer criticised Worcester MP Michael Foster over �3,818 spent on an annual report to constituents.

He said expenses claims could be made for such reports but Mr Foster "crossed the line" into party campaigning.

The Commons standards committee does not think Mr Foster broke the rules.

Sir Philip upheld a complaint from Tory MP Peter Luff about Mr Foster's report.

He pointed to three photo captions which highlighted "initiatives of the Labour government".

Pay back demand

Sir Philip also accused Mr Foster of trying to get around the rules on MPs' use of free stamps and stationary when he wrote to tell people on a mailing list that his office address had changed.

The free postage is not meant to be used for circulars of any kind and Mr Foster later used his expenses allowance to pay for the letters.

Sir Philip said the rules needed changing to make them clearer and more accessible.

He said the Commons authorities were planning to ask for the money Mr Foster claimed in expenses to be given back.

But the cross-party Commons Standards and Privileges Committee, chaired by Conservative Sir George Young, said: "We accept that Mr Foster did not set out to break the rules.

"The three sentences in this report referring to 'the Labour government' do not appear to be outside the range of Members' current practice.

"In these circumstances, we are not prepared to find Mr Foster in breach of the Code in this respect, nor do we consider that he should be required to repay the cost of his annual report."