The Wardman Wire

This morning Tom Harris MP proposed that the Howden and Haltemprice by-election was a monumental “waste of public money” of the order of “two hundred grand”.

I differ; it is well worth it.

My suggestions for the most monumental waste of £200k include:

• The £200k costs being paid by the taxpayer for Ann Winterton MP and Nicholas Winterton MPs to rent their London house from themselves, and the death duty tax dodge that goes with it.
• The £200k estimated to have been spent by Mr Speaker Michael Martin on Legal Fees in order to keep MP’s expense details concealed from the public.
• The £200k of public money spent on each 0.04% of the £500 million just written off by the M.O.D. over the Special Forces Helicopters disaster.

Competitive suggestions include:

• The £200k (ish) being spent on Tom Harris MP and his office. (Ed: no comment, I have no quarrel with MPs running offices )

Plenipotentiaries and Potentates

I’ll do two of these as well:

• The £200k of public money spent on Henry VIII’s fripparies:

“Between 1491 and 1509 he spent in the order of £200,000 on the trappings of power.”

• And the £200k of public money spent on each third of the refurbishment of Derry Irvine’s flat in 1998.

Time for a Meme

Let’s have a meme.

“The best £200k waste of public money you can think of”.

I’ll tag:

• Gavin Whenman
• Miss Wagstaff
• Mark Pack
• The Winchester Whisperer
• Sadie at the Tavern
• Hamish
• Donal Blaney
• Paul Canning
• The Thunderdragon

I’m tempted to tag Tom Harris MP himself, but I’d better not.

I hope that is diverse enough to get us some memories of waste back the 1980s and 1990s.

Here we go…