New expenses scandal

Bet you wish you had one of these, eh! It's a shiny bright Government Procurement Card - or to put it another way, a great way for our elected and unelected 'servants' to piss taxpayer's money up the wall...

If you think that the MPs expenses scandal was off the scale, then let me tell that you ain't seen nothing yet.

The cards were first introduced in 1997, the year Tony Blair entered Downing Street. They were designed to be used as a convenient way to pay for low-value work expenses such as travel tickets and office supplies, with all bills settled directly by departmental finance departments, and were initially supplied by Visa. Other companies, including American Express, now also supply them.

More than 140,000 cards have been handed out to staff, who are using them to spend more than £1 billion of public money every year. Dubbed by critics as ‘a Gold Card on the taxpayer’, thay are being widely abused because bills of less than £1,000 a month are not routinely audited. They have been used to pay for fast-food meals, drinks in the pub and even shopping trips to Tesco, with all bills sent straight to the taxpayer.

Local Government Minister Grant Shapps has sent a shiver through Whitehall by calling for every card statement, past and present, to be made available online. The mandarins fear that if they comply it could lead to the Civil Service’s equivalent of the MPs’ expenses scandal in 2009, with thousands of bogus claims being exposed.

And so they should be - not only exposed, but the abusers summarily dismissed and prosecuted!

(Full marks to the Telegraph for exposing yet another abuse of power)

New expenses scandal

Bet you wish you had one of these, eh! It's a shiny bright Government Procurement Card - or to put it another way, a great way for our elected and unelected 'servants' to piss taxpayer's money up the wall...

If you think that the MPs expenses scandal was off the scale, then let me tell that you ain't seen nothing yet.

The cards were first introduced in 1997, the year Tony Blair entered Downing Street. They were designed to be used as a convenient way to pay for low-value work expenses such as travel tickets and office supplies, with all bills settled directly by departmental finance departments, and were initially supplied by Visa. Other companies, including American Express, now also supply them.

More than 140,000 cards have been handed out to staff, who are using them to spend more than £1 billion of public money every year. Dubbed by critics as ‘a Gold Card on the taxpayer’, thay are being widely abused because bills of less than £1,000 a month are not routinely audited. They have been used to pay for fast-food meals, drinks in the pub and even shopping trips to Tesco, with all bills sent straight to the taxpayer.

Local Government Minister Grant Shapps has sent a shiver through Whitehall by calling for every card statement, past and present, to be made available online. The mandarins fear that if they comply it could lead to the Civil Service’s equivalent of the MPs’ expenses scandal in 2009, with thousands of bogus claims being exposed.

And so they should be - not only exposed, but the abusers summarily dismissed and prosecuted!

(Full marks to the Telegraph for exposing yet another abuse of power)

Alan Duncan - That's rich!

Remember this twat?


The Rt Hon Alan Duncan MP, Minister of State for the Department for International Development, will be addressing issues surrounding public financial management, transparency, accountability and value for money at an international conference organised by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy in London on 15th March.

Hang on, though! Isn't this the same Alan Duncan who was forced to repay £4,000 in expenses he shouldn't have claimed in the first place? Isn't this the same Alan Duncan who famously proclaimed that MPs were "treated like shit" and had to "live on rations"?

Isn't it a bit rich to ask this man to talk at a conference about "Trust and Accountability in Public Financial Management"?

And even more amazingly, what the fuck is he doing in the government handling International Development, possibly the most unaccountable department of all?

Alan Duncan - That's rich!

Remember this twat?


The Rt Hon Alan Duncan MP, Minister of State for the Department for International Development, will be addressing issues surrounding public financial management, transparency, accountability and value for money at an international conference organised by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy in London on 15th March.

Hang on, though! Isn't this the same Alan Duncan who was forced to repay £4,000 in expenses he shouldn't have claimed in the first place? Isn't this the same Alan Duncan who famously proclaimed that MPs were "treated like shit" and had to "live on rations"?

Isn't it a bit rich to ask this man to talk at a conference about "Trust and Accountability in Public Financial Management"?

And even more amazingly, what the fuck is he doing in the government handling International Development, possibly the most unaccountable department of all?

IPSA - I told you so

Back in April I told you that this so-called independent body was going to be a complete and utter joke, and it gives me no satisfaction to be proved right....

It seems that their poor little shrinking violet of a director, Nick Gooding, simply can't put up with the stress of our MPs disagreeing with him.

According to the Mail on Sunday "Gooding came under pressure from MPs as they struggled to adjust to the new rules". Ah, bless! What the fuck did he expect them to do when he tried to stop them claiming money?

It goes on to quote him as saying "I have left the job for the sake of my health and sanity. I was given the option of doing another three months with Ipsa but I felt I was just too drained to carry on. I have decided to take a break that I desperately need." So - no balls then. You picked a real star there, Gordon.

Apparently, an Ipsa spokesman said: "Mr Gooding was an interim appointment charged with taking Ipsa through its start-up phase. He has made arrangements to move on."

And the sooner the better! What a cunt...

IPSA - I told you so

Back in April I told you that this so-called independent body was going to be a complete and utter joke, and it gives me no satisfaction to be proved right....

It seems that their poor little shrinking violet of a director, Nick Gooding, simply can't put up with the stress of our MPs disagreeing with him.

According to the Mail on Sunday "Gooding came under pressure from MPs as they struggled to adjust to the new rules". Ah, bless! What the fuck did he expect them to do when he tried to stop them claiming money?

It goes on to quote him as saying "I have left the job for the sake of my health and sanity. I was given the option of doing another three months with Ipsa but I felt I was just too drained to carry on. I have decided to take a break that I desperately need." So - no balls then. You picked a real star there, Gordon.

Apparently, an Ipsa spokesman said: "Mr Gooding was an interim appointment charged with taking Ipsa through its start-up phase. He has made arrangements to move on."

And the sooner the better! What a cunt...

IPSA : Idiot Population Swallows Anything

Now I have been known in the past to be a little gullible - "Surely not!", I hear you all cry - but the machinations at IPSA really sent me reaching for the wine bottle...

So we are going to clean up MPs expenses are we? Well, maybe. But can someone explain to me why, since the publication of this report last week, not one of the major party leaders has said that his party will unreservedly adopt the suggestions of this 'independent' body?

Already IPSA has allowed it's recommendations to be watered down by political pressure - a prime example being it's stance on the employment of family members from zero to one.

Now we hear that the implementation of this report will be delayed until the next parliament. Well, how convenient. Let's get the votes in first, before we doctor it or chuck it out altogether!

Let's have at least one political leader stand up and be counted. If this body really is 'independent' then at least let someone have the integrity to say "As the next Prime Minister, I will implement these recommendations in full" and put an end to this faffing about...

IPSA : Idiot Population Swallows Anything

Now I have been known in the past to be a little gullible - "Surely not!", I hear you all cry - but the machinations at IPSA really sent me reaching for the wine bottle...

So we are going to clean up MPs expenses are we? Well, maybe. But can someone explain to me why, since the publication of this report last week, not one of the major party leaders has said that his party will unreservedly adopt the suggestions of this 'independent' body?

Already IPSA has allowed it's recommendations to be watered down by political pressure - a prime example being it's stance on the employment of family members from zero to one.

Now we hear that the implementation of this report will be delayed until the next parliament. Well, how convenient. Let's get the votes in first, before we doctor it or chuck it out altogether!

Let's have at least one political leader stand up and be counted. If this body really is 'independent' then at least let someone have the integrity to say "As the next Prime Minister, I will implement these recommendations in full" and put an end to this faffing about...