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John Bercow, House Of Commons Speaker, Spends £30,000 On Flights In Two Years

John Bercow

Huffington Post UK   First Posted: 12/12/11 09:08 GMT Updated: 12/12/11 09:18 GMT

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Speaker John Bercow has raised eyebrows after spending £30,000 on overseas travel in two years.

The figures were revealed in a freedom of information request by the Telegraph.

The Commons chief and his team have used £1,000 per month of taxpayers' cash on nine overseas jaunts in the two years to September 2011.

Taxpayers' alliance spokesperson Emma Boon told the paper that it was "astonishing" taxpayers were footing the bill for the Speaker's trips to countries including Kenya, Poland, Greece, India, Hungary, France, Slovenia, Canada and Rome.

“Members of the public will rightly wonder what on earth he needs to go to so many conferences for and why we had to pay for his wife to accompany him on one occasion."

But a spokesperson for Bercow said that the Speaker "always tries to ensure value for money".

"When travelling overseas on official visits he is representing the UK Parliament and on arrival is often expected to go straight into an intensive schedule of meetings.”


How to upset the Prime Minister
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The Speaker interrupts the Prime Minister and asks him to sit down at PMQs on the 29th of June 2011.

What the video doesn't show (because of the rules on how TV covers Parliament) is David Cameron, who remained standing in disbelief before sitting down, shaking his head.

The uproar on both sides on the chamber speaks for itself, though.
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Speaker John Bercow has raised eyebrows after spending £30,000 on overseas travel in two years. The figures were revealed in a freedom of information request by the Telegraph. The Commons chief...
Speaker John Bercow has raised eyebrows after spending £30,000 on overseas travel in two years. The figures were revealed in a freedom of information request by the Telegraph. The Commons chief...
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Sickofpoliticians2
243 Fans
12:25 AM on 12/13/2011
Yeah they need to attend conferences and fact finding missions, constantly, so why in hells name do we need embassies/consulates full of staff dotted around the planet, surely a phone call would suffice. These snakes we elect are always on jaunts abroad to see how well the aid money gets spent in Jerusalem/Karachi/Mumbai/Jakarta/Florida/Ontario, in fact anywhere the feel fit enough to visit, sometimes they even have the trips funded by some businesses donation, one big joke on this countries people who, here at home, suffer unemployment and cuts to the services our taxation should be funding. Stop all aid, bring the troops home, stop any foreign interference, these holiday jaunts, quit the waste of space EU and sort this bloody country out first and foremost.
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lastpost
see biography
440 Fans
01:46 PM on 12/12/2011
"a freedom of information request by the Telegraph."
Dear John, obviously these are not merely flights of fancy. So we are setting aside a front page column, where you can enlighten the electorate. Concerning the quintessential essence of the devolved wisdom, won on each journey. Accordingly, if nothing much resulted we’re happy to leave it blank.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Daviejohn
All the world's a stage,
79 Fans
 
12:18 PM on 12/12/2011
This man is a disgrace,taking his wife on junkets, is simply not on, the Taxpayer is justified in asking him to pay her fares, I do partly understand the reason though, he can not reach the ticket counter without his wife picking him up.
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Blindstu
132 Fans
10:30 AM on 12/12/2011
I don't see why we should be so shocked at this........it's called the Gravy Train and they are all riding on it.
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StokersBob
0 Fans
03:09 PM on 12/12/2011
That seems a good assessment of the situation. I expect there are more unreasonable examples to be found ! The train is very long.
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