Justice Minister Jonathan Djanogly has moved to defend his judgement following media reports that he last year hired private detectives to find out who leaked information about his parliamentary expense claims.

The former SJ Berwin partner (pictured) has released a statement confirming that he instructed corporate investigations company Morris Chase International, but that he was disappointed to see the firm's findings publicly revealed without his consent.

The Conservative MP for Huntingdon denied that his private investigators used unlawful tactics in gathering information on his behalf, but admitted that he may have "overreacted" when he decided to obtain the services of Morris Chase.

The report, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, reveals that investigators posed as journalists and interviewed a number of Djanogly's closest colleagues in a bid to identify the source of claims that he paid his au pair thousands of pounds for cleaning services and later claimed it back as expenses.

He said: "Following a series of malicious allegations made against me in newspapers last year, I felt I had to act to find out who was spreading these untrue stories. I instructed a firm of private investigators to try to find out the source of these stories because I was extremely upset that my private family life had been invaded."

He also responded to claims that Morris Chase used deceitful tactics to obtain the information, saying the investigators assured him that the inquiries were carried out in an entirely lawful manner.

He said: "I am sorry if some people judge that I made a mistake, with hindsight I can see that I may have over-reacted, but I was being subjected to very malicious, anonymous attacks on my family."

Djanogly also noted that he paid for the investigation out of his own pocket.

He said: "I paid for the cost of the investigation myself and did not claim it back on parliamentary expenses."

Around the same time as hiring the private detectives, Djanogly stood down from SJ Berwin, where he was a long-serving partner in the firm's corporate department.

The episode has heaped intense political pressure on Djanogly, who was in May appointed to the Ministry of Justice as a Parliamentary under secretary by the new coalition Government.

Djanogly is responsible for legal services and civil law, including overseeing the implementation of the Legal Services Act, which will usher in radical reform of the legal market in England and Wales.

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