How UK MP's spend tax payer money!

[Peikko 1,575]

Biscuits, peanuts, carpets, elephant lamps. The items MPs have claimed for make interesting reading. Here are a few of their odder purchases:

• Geoff Hoon £80.46 on a magnifying mirror

• Humphrey Malins £4 for a toilet brush

• Jeremy Hunt 1p for a 12-second mobile phone call

• Michael Gove £39.99 of seagrass; £20 on mugs from Tate Modern, and £134.30 on "Elephant lamps"

• George Osborne £47 for two DVDs of his own speech on Value for Taxpayers' Money

• Chris Huhne £119 on trouser press

• Ian McCartney £593.59 on a paper shredder

• Alan Duncan £19.55 for biscuits, tea, coffee … and mint imperials

• David Cameron £656.44 on "burning oil" (presumably for an Aga or similar device)

• Christopher Fraser More than £1,800 on cherry laurel and red cedar trees

• Ed Balls £58.75 for sponsored match ball for Ossett Town AFC; £1.05 on peanuts, and £7.99 on the book Reasons to be Cheerful by Mark Steel

• Harry Cohen £35 on curtain shortening; £43.17 on storage trolleys

• Garry Streeter 82p on a flapjack

• David Heathcoat Amory £2.99 on slug pellets; £2 on mouse poison

• Ann Cryer £183 on having three pictures framed

• Sir Peter Viggers £174.72 to repair lights on olive tree and clean pond pump

• John Reid £1.50 on ice cube tray

• Austin Mitchell 67p on ginger crinkle biscuits

• Andrew Rosindell £1.31 on jellied eels

• John Prescott toilet seat - part of maintenance totalling £112.52

• Michael Spicer £609 to trim hedge around "helipad"

• Margaret Beckett £600 on hanging baskets

• Bob Marshall Andrews £200 for pair of Kenyan carpets and £399.50 to have bath resurfaced to colour white

• Cheryl Gillan £4.47 on dog food

• Paul Murphy £35 on toilet roll holder

• Nick Clegg £1.19 on tea lights

• Lembit Opik £19.99 on wig for charity event

• Charles Hendry £270 to have windows cleaned three times

• Daniel Kawczynski £108.10 for Polish lessons

• Boris Johnson £17.92 for 200 Nescafé One Cup sticks; £5.84 for 120 Lakeland Lite Milk Jiggers

• David Taylor £3 for an organic facecloth

• Fabian Hamilton £135.13 for an 8gb iPod Nano as part of his communications allowance

• Ben Bradshaw, newly appointed culture secretary £131.50 for overdue renewal of TV licence - "If you are using television receiving or recording equipment at the above address, you are acting in contravention of the Communications Act 2003 and are committing an offence".

• Graham Brady £70.50 for a locksmith after locking himself out

• Ronnie Campbell £91.94 for Wickes rock salt – "problem with snails"

• Maria Miller £154.61 for books including two biographies of Tony Blair and a copy of Vikings Don't Wear Pants

• Christine McCafferty £8.40 for candles

• Sarah McCarthy-Fry £100 for hair straighteners

• David Blunkett £1 vinyl diary from Poundland

• Nick Clegg £1.59 for a pineapple from Sainsbury's

• Hugo Swire £24.50 for "replacement orchid plant" and £5 for "Glyndebourne Festival book"

• James Purnell £16.64 for a 3kg jar of mint imperials

• Alex Salmond £2,109.13 for a high-powered letter-folding machine

• Nigel Griffiths £29.99 for a Playstation computer game, Premiership Arsenal

• Eric Joyce £235 for an "assertiveness at work" training course

That's an awful lot of mint imperials Mr Purnell!!!!

Link

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

That's just crazy... There's just too many ridiculous things to narrow down.

I like David Blunkett claiming a quid for a diary from the pound store.

And claiming 82p for a flapjack? As Gordon Ramsay would say - he needs one "shoved up his azz sideways!"

[mawilson 2,133]

Typical smoke and mirrors politics.

Squabble over pennies while Gordon Brown is spending hundreds of billions of pounds like a lottery winning chav.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Seems like small potatoes - but its been going on for years, and I think there is something to be said for keeping our politicians at least somewhat honest and accountable.

[Peikko 1,575]

It's not really politics, it's a 'silly' piece on one of the back pages. I just thought it was funny.

The real article is about the 'blanking out' of addresses which stops one from seeing who has been playing pass the parcel with their housing claims.

[msu17 0]

I still can't get over the guy who bought 2 dvd's of himself giving a speech on taxpayers money

[Heracles 417]

Lefties, they are the same in every country. Talk a big game but are all about helping themselves.

I don't see to many lefty leaders living in poverty here. Coincidentally, a good portion of them just so happen to be managing America's most corrupt, rundown, crime ridden cities and towns.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

There are a fair few "Righties" in that list too, BY

[Heracles 417]

There are a fair few "Righties" in that list too, BY

Righties don't go pretending they are for the people and all of the garbage only to turn around and scoff down themselves. Just look at the communist. AKA super ultra left. They preached about being for the country and how everyone should sacrifice, while they lived a life of luxury. Hence, why only the foolish support such ideas. People tend to vote on the basis of ideology rather then performance, so why be shocked when you see the clowns you voted in working the system.

Politicians should be able to receive fringe benefits when they perform.

Edited June 18, 2009 by Constellation

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

There are a fair few "Righties" in that list too, BY

Righties don't go pretending they are for the people and all of the garbage only to turn around and scoff down themselves. Just look at the communist. AKA super ultra left. They preached about being for the country and how everyone should sacrifice, while they lived a life of luxury. Hence, why only the foolish support such ideas. People tend to vote on the basis of ideology rather then performance, so why be shocked when you see the clowns you voted in working the system.

Politicians should be able to receive fringe benefits when they perform.

BY - most MPs in our government are center right, with the tories being slightly more center-right than Labour.

The leader of the Tory party is in that list as is the conservative mayor of London...

[Heracles 417]

BY - most MPs in our government are center right, with the tories being slightly more center-right than Labour.

The leader of the Tory party is in that list as is the conservative mayor of London...

I am not too sure familar with the UK but it is certainly not the case here. Have a look at any ghetto or run down city and I'll bet the majority are run by democrats.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

BY - most MPs in our government are center right, with the tories being slightly more center-right than Labour.

The leader of the Tory party is in that list as is the conservative mayor of London...

I am not too sure familar with the UK but it is certainly not the case here. Have a look at any ghetto or run down city and I'll bet the majority are run by democrats.

But this article is about members of parliament in the UK

[Peikko 1,575]

I like the Cameron entry "burning oil". One wonders if he has a penchant for burning scented massage oils

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I like the Cameron entry "burning oil". One wonders if he has a penchant for burning scented massage oils

Or perhaps for the anti-siege defences in his castle...