“IT’S grim out there” – that’s the verdict of one Tory MP who has faced the wrath of voters and gone out canvassing amid the expenses scandal.

Desmond Swayne, New Forest West MP, said the public’s anger was entirely justified but admitted it made knocking on doors a miserable experience.

This weekend saw many MPs return to their constituencies for the first time since the revelations about their taxpayer-funded expenses emerged.

Mr Swayne, who publishes full details of his expenses on his website, met voters in Barton-on-Sea and will be out canvassing again today.

“I had to force myself but you’ve got to go out and take it,” he said. “It’s been grim, really grim. There aren’t that many people who are really unpleasant but it tends to colour your whole day.

“I think that’s because, deep down, we all know that we all supported this system instead of doing something about it.”

Yesterday, his colleague New Forest East MP Julian Lewis was named in the Sunday Telegraph for trying to claim £6,000 for a wooden floor with acoustic underlay.

Mr Swayne said MPs were “living in fear” because it was impossible to defend yourself in the current climate.

“I’m just looking through my expenses. I’m always in the bottom 10 in terms of amount but there are many items that you could pick out and say: ‘What about this?’ “Any accusation in the current climate is tantamount to guilt. And it doesn’t seem to matter whether you have created a mortgage out of nothing or if you’ve bought a packet of biscuits.”

Sir John Butterfill, Conservative MP for Bournemouth West, will not be back in the area until next weekend but said that Conor Burns, the man bidding to win the seat for the Tories at the next election, had found canvassing difficult.

“He says that the mood on the doorsteps is pretty unpleasant and it’s not even anything to do with him,” he said.

Bob Walter, Conservative MP for North Dorset, said few people raised the issue with him at the weekend. “I’ve been out canvassing for the county council elections,” he said.

“A couple of people have raised it on the doorstep but it’s not been as bad as I thought it might be, given the amount of coverage in the press. But that may be because I haven’t been subject to any of the Telegraph exposes and I think, if you look at my expenses, they’re pretty modest.”