Thursday 16 August 2012

MPs Continue To Mock Taxpayers



Last year the Tory MP Nick Boles (pictured above) called for pensioners to lose their winter fuel payments and free bus travel.

Also, on a personal level, Mr Boles entered into a civil partnership with Shay Meshulam.

An eventful year for Mr Boles by all accounts.

Tucked away in the House of Commons rule book is provision for MPs to learn foreign languages in the hope that they'll perform their public duties more efficiently.

Mr Boles decided to spend an claim £678.80 learning Hebrew: coincidently his partner is Israeli. In a show of utter arrogance he stated:

“It is ­something I’m entitled to do. I’ve done it and that’s that.”

Nick Boles isn't the only MP to have the taxpayer fund their language lessons.  Multi-millionaire Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt claimed over £3,000 for Mandarin lessons after marrying his Chinese wife.

These are only two of the nine MPs who claimed, from the taxpayer, for private language lessons in the past 12 months.

Surely this is another abuse of the taxpayer and a loophole which must be closed immediately.


23 comments:

JRB said...

U’kshe’ani le’atzmi, ma ani?
- Hebrew proverb

This proverb is in the form of a rhetorical question, it can be directly translated as And when I am for myself what am I?
The implied meaning is that those who are driven by greed and self-interest achieve nothing other than to be looked down upon by the rest of society.

Mr Boles would do well to learn this proverb.

Demetrius said...

I would be quite happy to allow MP's to claim for Old Scots, Anglo-Saxon, Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish and Old Norse but to make them pay for the rest.

subrosa said...

Good advice indeed JRB.

subrosa said...

You missed Glaswegian Demetrius. :)

Anonymous said...

I wonder how many of these guys in parliament are working for foreign powers?

- Aangirfan

pa_broon74 said...

I wonder that too, they're certainly not working for us.

Two things I'd say about this, firstly, this is another example of the grasping sense of entitlement MP's have, and they have the cheek to accuse anyone who happens to be on benefits of the same thing.

And secondly, man, does that chap have a big forehead. At school (when not being chased by dinosaurs) we used to say of people with an 'enlarged coupon' that they had a 'tefal heid'.

I think it was something to do with the shape of food mixers at that time. I could be wrong though.

cynicalHighlander said...

pa_broon74

The Mekon

Clarinda said...

pa_broon 74

It was from an '80s advert where the boffins behind the latest Tefal gadget were characterised as having so much brainpower they had very large heads. I'm not entirely certain if that trait transmutes to Tory MP/MSPs. However, the non-stick quality of Tefal, does seem to relate to many MP's ability of avoiding getting stuck with paying for items when their expenses claims betray their grasping nature.

Leg-iron said...

But... if they've married native-speakers, why do they need to pay for lessons at all when they could get them for free at home?

Or did they marry people who don't speak any English?

muddypaws said...

hhhhmmm

muddypaws said...

these language classes....they were by a fully accredited language school I assume, not a friend of a friend. Well, of course they were, there would be receipts and all that which would be checked and verified by the HoC

Apogee said...

Pity that politicians don't seem able to learn to speak the truth.

WitteringsfromWitney said...

Well done for unearthing this.

So much for cleaning up politics...!

RMcGeddon said...

It illustrates the parallel universe that exists in the UK between power and the people.
He'll be a regular on MSM couches. His every word taken as gospel.
Like Jackie 'Asian Babes videos' Smith or Keith 'too numerous offences to mention' Vaz.
Fawned over and never questioned properly.
Just taking the mickey out of us basically and sticking up two fingers to the proles.

subrosa said...

An excellent point Anon and one which will never be answered publicly of course. I object to paying their language lessons just the same.

subrosa said...

He does pa_broon. Never heard of tefal heid. I somehow believed folk with big foreheads were brainer than the rest of us. This bloke's not that brainy if it's taken him until now to bother to learn a bit of his partner's native language.

subrosa said...

Nice one CH. :)

subrosa said...

Ah Clarinda, now a bell is ringing in the distance.

subrosa said...

Leggy, I have no sensible answer to your questions. Could make a stab at them though but won't. :)

subrosa said...

Jings muddypaws, of course they'll be all above board and not lessons from a friend of a friend and an invoice on a home made computer.

subrosa said...

In any language Apogee.

subrosa said...

It'll never be cleared up until these ridiculous rules are removed from public life WfW. While they're in situ then there will always be those who take advantage.

subrosa said...

He's certainly sticking up two fingers to us taxpayers with his comment RM.

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