Dear House of Commons,
I’m delighted to see that a FOI request to publish the details of MPs’ expenses was successful, but I’m not so delighted to read about what they are able to claim as expenses for their second home. The John Lewis list of ‘reasonable expenses’ makes for shocking reading and I would like to draw your attention to a few absolutely unbelievable purchases available to MPs:
Coffee maker/machine - £100.00 - Excuse me?!?! If MPs want a cup of coffee but are too lazy to make one, they can bloody well pay for a coffee machine themselves.
Coffee table - £250.00 - what?! Why should MPs be given £250 for a table to rest a mug on?
Dressing table - £500.00 - oh my god, how poncy are MPs? I have survived without ever owning a dressing table and MPs can live without one too.
Food mixer - £200.00 - oh, for crying out loud. Exactly the same issue as with the coffee machine. If MPs want a stupid food mixer, let them pay for it. It should hardly come down to the taxpayer to chop up an MP’s food.
Freestanding mirror - £300.00 - jesus christ. Get a £30 mirror instead. Since when is this a necessary expenditure?
Hi-fi/stereo - £750.00 - last time I checked the Argos catalogue, you could pick up a CD/MP3 stereo for about £100.
Installation of new bathroom - £6,335.00 + Installation of new kitchen - £10,000.00 - how can anyone justify these expenditures when MPs may only be in office for five years, yet they can splash out on a new kitchen and bathroom at the taxpayers’ expense? If they want a new one, they can pay for it out of their own pocket.
Lamp table - £200.00 - oh, give me strength. IKEA, £5, done.
Recordable DVD - £270.00 - you have got to be joking. They can use a VCR if they’re that desperate to record something.
Rugs (each) - £300.00 - talk about lavish! Taxpayers funding £300 rugs?!? And notice that it says £300 each, giving no upper limit on the number of stupid rugs.
Sideboard - £795.00 - oh yes, the sideboard, a piece of furniture that no-one can live without.
Television set - £750.00 - Yet again, I refer you to the Argos catalogue. £150 for a TV/DVD combo.
WHAT A COMPLETE JOKE!!!!!! The sad truth is that many MPs behave admirably and with decency when faced with a system so open to abuse, but I’d be willing to bet a fair chunk of cash that many of them don’t.
8 responses so far ↓
Edland // March 14, 2008 at 10:30 am
Even relatively well-off people would balk at paying those prices for things!
Andrew // March 14, 2008 at 10:48 am
I’m almost speechless.
In addition to my job I also am involved with an organisation which has charitable status. When I am away on related business we travel on the cheapest economy ticket and the stay in the cheapest places in order that funds are not diverted away from the greater cause. £200 for a flaming lamp table in a second home? A recordable DVD? Tax payers money. A ******* sideboard. Outrageous.
Letters From A Tory // March 14, 2008 at 11:00 am
John Lewis is hardly the most representative store for the nation’s shopping habits, so the prices are all grossly inflated versus what actually needs to be spent.
I would have thought that a second home would just need to be functional rather than a beautiful renovated and fully kitted-out pad in central London at someone else’s expense.
Andrew // March 14, 2008 at 11:17 am
You would have thought that, I would have thought that. Sadly, the people who came up with this didn’t…I wonder who they were…
I don’t think anything in my house comes from John Lewis. And I manage to live here full time. Amazing.
Andrew // March 14, 2008 at 3:41 pm
My MP is 571st on the 2006/7 additional expenses list…come and play expenses ‘top trumps’ if yours beats that…
Letters From A Tory // March 14, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Mine beats that by a few places, but not much.
Any other readers who wish to check what their MP has been spending, visit http://www.theyworkforyou.com and search for your MP’s name, then click on ‘Expenses’.
Joseph Gibson // March 15, 2008 at 9:23 pm
It seems that Labour, the “Socialist” peoples-party, claim a lot more than the Tories from looking at a few MPs on that list, my MP (Labour sadly) is #1 for Additional costs allowance.
flats // March 17, 2008 at 7:35 pm
They lose their concience when they start to take some power, imagine, a Minister here in Spain, the country im living now, spent loads of money in a cage for his pet, he has been fired… regards
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