Is Blears using taxpayers money to fund her election campaign?

On April 11th, the chipmunk, Hazel Blears, Minister without Portfolio, visited the European Parliament. Should you be wondering why she did so it was apparently to "undertake meetings on the Agency Workers Directive". The visit was not she says, made in her "ministerial capacity".

So what capacity was it made under then? Could it perhaps have been made under her deputy leadership campaign capacity instead? After all, in her letter she sent out to Labour researchers in Parliament she said that she had visited Brussels to accelerate the progress of a European Directive to give protection to vulnerable workers.

I wonder who paid for the visit and the flights?