Today’s Telegraph reports on the comparative work ethic of Britain’s many and various Members of Parliament.
The politicians who do the least work while submitting the largest expenses claims are exposed in a league table produced following an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph. Those who work the hardest for the lowest cost are also identified.
Congratulations are due to Philip Hollobone (CON, Kettering) who represents the best value of those analysed.
He had the lowest expenses claim of any MP last year while maintaining an attendance record that was well above average.
Old Labour is well represented by the venerable Beast of Bolsover Dennis Skinner who came second in the table and who also deserves the Order of Stakhanov.
But what about those who did the least parliamentary work while sucking most strongly at the taxpayer’s teat?
Second-worst is Clare Short, the former Labour Cabinet minister who now sits as an independent, and third-worst is Derek Conway, the MP who was expelled from the Conservative party after it emerged that he had paid family members more than £250,000.
Boo to the pair of them obviously. But who was even worse value than even these two work-dodging scroungers?
You’ve guessed correctly:
At the other end of the table George Galloway, the only MP for the far-left Respect party, is rated the worst-value MP. He turned up for only one in twenty votes, far fewer than any other MP, yet claimed £136,000 in expenses.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
