HOW would you describe an outfit that spent £594 on a ring folder (three cost less than £10 on mail order) or £542 on a “low back meeting chair” (Dunelm have some at £99) among many other ludicrous excesses?
No, it’s not some cosseted overpaid under-educated footballer nor, an absurdly wealthy oil Sheikh.
Rather it is His Majesty’s Government of the United Kingdom.
As 10 million citizens are denied winter fuel payments, farmers fear financial wipeout as a result of that ill-advised budget and the NHS appears on the precipice of a winter crisis, it emerged last week that incoming Labour ministers have spent £130,000 on redecorating their offices after gaining power.
Eleven government frontbenchers have welcomed new furniture, TVs, freezers and paint jobs over the last five months.
This from a government that as recently as last week pledged to cut costs and bring in a fiscal reality to Whitehall that would deliver five per cent in efficiency savings.
Indeed, Chancellor Rachel Reeves even promised she’d take an “iron fist” to wipe out departmental waste. How utterly lame does that sound in the light of these excesses being unearthed?
Those seeking to defend this financial foolishness point to the size of the government’s annual spend, which comes in at a breathtaking £1.2trillion.
They argue that £130,000 represents an infinitesimal percentage of that gross total. But that is to miss the point. This was a government that came in promising to address and never repeat some of the fiscal follies of the previous administration – and it’s fair to say there was certainly no shortage.
But to settle into ludicrously costly chairs to watch expensive, brand new televisions is an insult on every level. After all, it’s not as if the offices were bereft of furniture or TVs before they moved in!
Perhaps the greatest irony comes from the virtue-signalling DESNZ – or Net Zero Department as you and I know it. With Ed Miliband at the helm, they’ve spent an incredible £43,000 on “renovation” – and this from the most hectoring and lecturing department of the lot!
Thou must not fly, thou must recycle and thou will fit a lamentably underpowered heat pump at absurd expense whether thou likest it or not, form just part of the Miliband mantra.
While it might be a tad unfair to suggest this all emanates from the position taken by “Free Gear Keir” and his desire for the high life, it is clearly not the example to set as pensioners and many others fret over whether they dare to turn up the heating, and an increasing number of people turn to food banks to survive.
We all know the saying, “Do as I do, not as I say.” Has there been a better example?
