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John Bercow's extravagant Expenses Bill in last months as Speaker revealed
20 replies
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Terry_Dactil
Forumite 733 posts
Shocking weee weee taker. I wonder who else spends outlandish sums of tax payers money on taxis, Sky TV, trips abroad and lots of parties? :mad:
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/john-bercows-extravagant-bill-in-last-months-as-speaker-revealed/ar-BBYWI2W?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=mailsignout
Former Commons speaker John Bercow splashed out £1,000 on a taxi for a 130-mile journey that could have cost as little as £67 by train.
Mr Bercow also enjoyed a £7,000 jaunt around the US during the end of his tenure, also paid by taxpayers was a £118-a-month subscription to Sky for Speaker's House, the apartment within the Palace of Westminster where Mr Bercow resided with his family. :eek:
The former Conservative MP also left the public with a £12,000 bill for leaving parties.
It included an invoice of £3,168 for a "retirement" party for Speaker's chaplain Rose Hudson-Wilkin. And £2,376 on a retirement party for the Commons invitations secretary in February and a month later another £3,187 for a formal farewell to Clerk of the House, David Natzler.
In May, the Speaker's official account spent £3,696 on giving the principal clerk of the Table Office a send-off.
Before he left the Commons chair on October 31, Mr Bercow used his official account to settle a £234 drinks bill at a reception for the Panel of Chairs - MPs who help him oversee Parliamentary debates - and £560 on lunch for his counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/john-bercows-extravagant-bill-in-last-months-as-speaker-revealed/ar-BBYWI2W?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=mailsignout
Former Commons speaker John Bercow splashed out £1,000 on a taxi for a 130-mile journey that could have cost as little as £67 by train.
Mr Bercow also enjoyed a £7,000 jaunt around the US during the end of his tenure, also paid by taxpayers was a £118-a-month subscription to Sky for Speaker's House, the apartment within the Palace of Westminster where Mr Bercow resided with his family. :eek:
The former Conservative MP also left the public with a £12,000 bill for leaving parties.
It included an invoice of £3,168 for a "retirement" party for Speaker's chaplain Rose Hudson-Wilkin. And £2,376 on a retirement party for the Commons invitations secretary in February and a month later another £3,187 for a formal farewell to Clerk of the House, David Natzler.
In May, the Speaker's official account spent £3,696 on giving the principal clerk of the Table Office a send-off.
Before he left the Commons chair on October 31, Mr Bercow used his official account to settle a £234 drinks bill at a reception for the Panel of Chairs - MPs who help him oversee Parliamentary debates - and £560 on lunch for his counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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Replies
Its the nature of the speakers office that they perform functions of the house, it is clearly why the speakers office has a higher limit on expenses than every other MP, this will include entertaining.
Where did he go in a taxi for £1,000?
I have been at work when they have paid for a taxi to drive approx. 100 miles for about £80.
Though they used airport taxi for this and booked in advance.
Don't taxi do better rates when doing long distances?
All facts to fill in any gaps in detail will have to be obtained from more reliable sources
Nottingham, to deliver a speech.
He was advised that, on that occasion due to heightened security concerns for MPs' safety, it was safer for him to use a taxi rather than the train. The taxi took him and an aide to Nottingham Trent Uni, waited while he delivered the speech then took them back to London.
That’s poor planning. Sure they could have got a better deal.
Do you know what the speech was about?
Ie cancel the speech if costing tax payers £1,000
That leaves £941.50 to cover the costs of their driver and profit. A 130 mile journey might take say four hours, so that's an hourly rate of £235 for driving a taxi. If the taxi driver worked full-time hours on that rate they would be earning £520k per year.
Where do I sign up?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51109296
I would have thought a government car could have been used, there must have been at least one minister who wasn't using theirs that evening. Unless, of course, that wouldn't be allowed because the Speaker's engagements aren't government business.
I've done a similar length taxi trip for work and that also cost £80. It was also arranged with no notice after a scheduled train was cancelled.