Skipton MP David Curry was today ordered to hand back £28,000 in expenses he claimed for a second home where he hardly ever stayed.

Tory MP Mr Curry, also former head of the Commons standards watchdog, received allowances for the property in Yorkshire despite spending the night there only “very rarely” between 2005 and 2009, an investigation found.

The Standards and Privileges Committee concluded he had breached rules by failing to change the designations of homes during a period when he had separated from his wife in 2004.

Mr Curry, who stepped down as chairman of the committee last November after criticism of his expenses, has been told to make an apology to the House as well as repaying the money.

Standards Commissioner John Lyon rejected Mr Curry’s argument that he often used the house in Yorkshire as a daytime base to carry out work in his Skipton and Ripon constituency.

He described the breach as “serious”, and suggested that the MP should repay all the expenses he claimed for the property between July, 2005, and March, 2009, some £38,000.

The committee reduced the sum, insisting Mr Curry had not been trying to profit from the arrangement.

The committee said: “We believe that this reflects careless behaviour on Mr Curry’s part and that there was no intention on his part either to deceive or to derive an improper personal benefit.”

Mr Curry admitted he moved out of the marital home in Essex after an affair. When he was reconciled with his wife, the couple needed to spend time together and he stopped staying in Yorkshire overnight.

In a statement, Mr Curry apologised for the rule breaches and said he would hand back the money.

Mr Curry was also rebuked and told to apologise for failing properly to declare his £35,000-a-year second job as chairman of pressure group Dairy UK.

The committee found he had “seriously breached” rules by refusing to provide the Registrar of Members’ Interests with a copy of an agreement setting out his role.