The strange tale of the huge expenses bill, the pension application and the disappearing MSP . . .

Not quite. Rather than being thrown out by the electorate, Raffan resigned as an MSP in January in the middle of a row over his parliamentary expenses. And while Keith Raffan may be anonymous in London, he is notorious back in Edinburgh.

His troubles began last December, when the Scottish parliament revealed that the Liberal Democrat MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife had claimed an incredible GBP41,154.64 in travel costs as part of a GBP108,826 allowances package for one year.

His travel expenses, which were incurred mostly for mileage, meant that Raffan (who had a poor voting record on account of his ill health) had clocked up 83,477 miles in his silver Skoda - a distance equivalent to driving around the world three times. All this was supposedly done in a constituency across the Forth Road Bridge. In the face of hostile questioning, Raffan defended his claims. "My expenses for the last financial year were significantly inflated by the payment of a very considerable backlog of travel expenses covering a three-year period, " he said.

Suspicious journalists immediately lodged freedom of information requests, seeking more details. Under the FOI Act, which was to come into force in January 2005, copies of invoices for travel claims were likely to be released, in turn enabling the MSP's allowances to be crosschecked and validated. On January 7, days before a series of FOI questions were due to be answered, Raffan resigned, citing a bad back. The publication of his invoices confirmed that the large claim warranted further scrutiny. In one case, Raffan had claimed for travel in Scotland on the same day that he was in the middle of a two-day break on the Isle of Man.

Another invoice revealed that he had claimed for round trips between Edinburgh and Dunfermline, then between the capital and St Andrews, on the same day that he flew to Germany on a VIP trip. Then there were the multiple journeys to Edzell, an unspectacular Angus village that also happened to be one of the most northern, and expensive, places to visit in the Mid Scotland and Fife constituency. Local councillor Bob Myles says of Raffan's apparent addiction to his area: "I have never seen him in Edzell. I have never known him to be here, but if it is a regular occurrence it seems very strange." After watching the press dissect Raffan's record travel claims, the parliamentary authorities instructed auditors Deloitte and Touche to investigate the former MSP's allowances. His parliamentary career was ending rather badly.

More curiously, the subsequent eight months saw Raffan cut ties with friends, family and colleagues. He ignored letters, refused to return phone calls, abandoned his Edinburgh flat and left a mess in his Perth constituency office. In the words of one MSP, Raffan had "gone to ground". His 93-year-old father, for instance, hasn't heard from him in 12 months. "We haven't seen him since before Christmas, " says his step-mother from her Aberdeen home.

His former LibDem colleague Mike Rumbles has also lost track of his friend.

After writing Raffan several letters following his resignation, none of which was acknowledged, the MSP for Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine gave up. "I am disappointed that he has cut himself off from his friends, " he says. "But I also think it is sad that anyone should be in that sort of position. He is a decent man and people shouldn't think the worst of him."

The Global Aids Alliance, the Washingtonbased charity of which Raffan is a board member, has been unable to contact him for months. "We haven't seen him since last November, " says a spokeswoman. "We are primarily concerned about him." He has even distanced himself from the party, having let his LibDem membership lapse. He is, according to a party source, "no longer a member of the Scottish Liberal Democrats".

One of his few contacts seems to have been with Holyrood, if only to claim more money from the taxpayer. First up was his use of the GBP18,000 "winding up allowance" that allows an ex-MSP to pay off staff and bills. Raffan, bizarrely, used the sum to settle old invoices for biscuits, washing-up liquid and books on Scottish history.

He has also been trying to access his Holyrood pension on the grounds of ill health. In a deal being cut with the parliamentary authorities, Raffan is likely to pay back a fraction of his GBP41,000 travel bill, after which he will be entitled to claim an annual GBP15,000 pension.

Most of his loose ends have been tied up by his long-suffering assistant, Dorothy Guyan, who has occupied Raffan's constituency office since his departure in January. Eight months after his resignation, she still maintains his taxpayer-funded office and follows any orders he issues down the phone. As one LibDem insider says: "It's full of his records and files. He could have closed the office much quicker but he didn't. He just left her there alone."

It is this confluence of events - a former MSP who has bolted from Scotland while being under investigation by Holyrood - that leads us to this row of properties in plush central London. Holland Park Mews, a pad for rich Arabs and even richer celebrities, is also the place Keith Raffan currently calls home. His residence, number 15, is easily the shabbiest of all the flats in the street. Paint peels from the window ledge, weeds grow undisturbed outside his garage and Raffan's curtains are closed. What appears to be cardboard has been taped at the top of his front door.

Raffan's flat, ragged and messy, is akin to the life he left behind in Edinburgh. Knocks on the door have no effect. He comes and goes, says one neighbour. "He drives a Skoda, " says another, with barely concealed disgust.

In the context of his past careers, this low profile seems out of character. Born in Aberdeen in 1949, Raffan studied at Corpus Christi at Cambridge before working for the Conservatives, his first party, as a researcher in the late 1960s. This led to him becoming chairman of the vocal Pressure for Social and Economic Toryism group (otherwise known as Pest) before a spell at the Daily Express as a sketch writer and diarist.

His political career took off in 1983, when he became Conservative MP for Delyn in North Wales, a seat he held until 1992, when the anti-Thatcherite Tory joined the LibDems. There, he made friends, influenced key people and became the party's MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife in 1999.

Raffan, whose name is invariably prefaced by the adjective "flamboyant", earned a reputation for being one of his party's most rebellious MSPs. He was the only LibDem who didn't vote to elect Donald Dewar as First Minister and one of the few to have argued against coalition with Labour. He may have been "a handful", in the words of one MSP, but there was no mistaking his talent. "He is a very intelligent person and, without doubt, one of the best public speakers in the parliament, " according to one Labour MSP.

A second trip to London to try to secure an interview with the elusive former MSP proves as disappointing as the first. Or almost. Just as I've given up hope of meeting him, a silver Skoda pulls up beside Raffan's flat. It is him.

Looking healthy, tanned and amused, he offers a handshake before saying. "Of course, I'm not going to say anything."

Still shaking his hand, I ask: "How are you?"

Trying to let go, he replies: "Not saying anything."

"When will the expenses row be sorted out?"

"I'm absolutely not going to say anything.

Anyway, I'm off for a few days. Bye, " he says, before scrambling up his stairs.

"Don't you think you owe the Scottish taxpayer an explanation?" The door slams, and I am left standing next to Raffan's Skoda which, suitably, has an A-Z road map of Great Britain resting on the back seat.

Raffan's neighbours are more willing to talk, with a consensus emerging that the former MSP is not the mews' favourite resident. One says that the woman living across from Raffan has been asked by the former MSP to stop playing the piano; another that he had "exploded" when a group of residents started a barbecue. Then there is the anecdote about Raffan complaining about a neighbour's staircase because it's not in keeping with the street's "historical" character. The nicest comment is that he is "quite an odd fellow" who is "highly strung".

All agree that "the guy over the road" has spent much more time in his London flat this year than any other, much to their regret. One chap says he is on the verge of organising a petition to complain about Raffan. They are also shocked to learn that he has quit Holyrood.

Despite his reluctance to talk, D-day is approaching for Keith Raffan. The parliament's corporate body, which is considering Deloitte and Touche's draft report into his expenses, has demanded an interview with him in London, a sit-down that could take place this weekend. Holyrood officials are also picking up their belongings at the former MSP's Perth office, eight months after he quit.

It would take a heart of stone not to feel a degree of sympathy for a man who cannot bring himself to answer the door, return calls or make contact with friends and family; who is plagued by ill health and seems only to have a Skoda for company.

He embodies the maxim about all political careers ending in failure, perhaps crushingly so.