I've often wondered why Charles Clarke, the rotund MP for Norwich South, is so very large. Very few MPs seem to be on the obese side of overwight (aside from the obvious Eric Pickles), due to the fact that being an MP is a job that requires you to be constantly on the go.
Well according to his expenses, he spends the maximum £400 per month allowance (which is paid without receipts) on food alone.
Well, now I know.
He was, according to various local media, "unavailable for comment". To be honest, it would have been rude for him to talk with his mouth full anyway !
3 comments:
In her blog, one of our MPs, Lynne Featherstone, has pointed out that food expenses could be for interns. I suspect also they could be claimed for guests with whom one is discussing Parliamentary business and the like.
I really am so bored by this expenses issue. First, it seems to me to have been stupid to have got this far, better surely to have a lump sum made available for those who have legitimate second house requirements arising from being MPs and not all this time wasted on minute claims details. Second, in the greater scheme of things, it really isn't that much, it's peanuts given the amounts that have been screwed out of us by our real bosses, the City boys. Third, the journalism has been moronic, ok, I know UK journalism usually is, but wouldn't it be nice if we had journalists who actually looked beyond the immediate and checked the story behind it - like food expenses not necessarily being for personal consumption? Fourth, I really really wish it would lead to people taking democracy seriously, but I rather fear it will lead to them dismissing it and seeking something else, which we just had a hint of in some of the MEPs this thing helped get elected.
His heart is on the warpath. That and dyspepsia.
No - the food claims could not (or at least should not) be for guests as you are not allowed to claim food for guests. The £400 allowance for food per month is for those MPs who claim the ACA (additional cost allowance) which is the second home allowance. Beats me why anyone should have their food paid for at all. We are already very lucky as the canteens are subsidised and the food very reasonable and you can eat healthily.
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