WELFARE cuts cheerleader Iain Duncan Smith had his own MP benefits cut off amid questions about his expenses, records released yesterday reveal.

The Work and Pensions Secretary had his official credit suspended after failing to account for more than £1,000 in taxpayer’s cash he spent.

The disclosure by Parliament’s spending watchdog is more damaging given Mr Duncan Smith’s recent suggestion that benefit claimants should be given pre-paid cards to stop the misuse of public money.

News of his own expenses shenanigans saw him branded a “hypocrite” by Disabled People Against Cuts — but it didn’t stop him announcing plans to dodge inconvenient child poverty figures.

Mr Duncan Smith’s card was blocked after running up a £1,057.28 credit card debt, according to a response to a freedom of information request by the Press Association.

The cards are issued to all MPs by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) to pay for costs such as accommodation and travel.

MPs then have to prove the spending was for parliamentary duties by the end of the month. If they do not, the spending is classed by Ipsa as debt.

The millionaire Tory minister was one of 19 MPs to have had their cards suspended since the beginning of the year because they had not paid off the debt.

Disabled People Against Cuts branded him a “hypocrite” and said that it was another example of his “feckless and unaccountable spending of our money.”

The group pointed out that loaded Mr Smith, who lives for free in one of his father-in-law’s mansions, has previously claimed expenses for laundry and underpants.

Spokeswoman Linda Burnip added: “Our question is should someone with such untrustworthy credentials really be allowed to remain a government minister and have any say in the running of our country?”

Mr Duncan Smith and another 18 MPs who had credit card debt have now paid the outstanding amounts.

An Ipsa spokesman said: “An MP may owe an amount to Ipsa for many different reasons, and the fact that an amount is owed does not, in itself, indicate any misuse.”

Meanwhile, Mr Duncan Smith used the Heathrow expansion row yesterday as cover to scrap a target to abolish child poverty by 2020.

He dropped the internationally accepted measures of child poverty based on parental income, saying the Tories would set their own based on the “the root causes of child poverty.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “This announcement marks the return of the ‘Nasty Party.’

“Abandoning the child poverty targets, instead of delivering fair pay and a decent welfare safety net, is a desperate act from a government that knows its policies will push at least a million more children into poverty.”