The timing could not be worse for Keir Starmer. As the Prime Minister scrambles to contain the latest explosion in the Mandelson affair — it emerged yesterday that his disgraced former ambassador to Washington failed his security vetting, only for the Foreign Office to quietly override the recommendation of its own intelligence officials — along comes a reminder that this Government’s instinct for spending other people’s money on itself is as acute as ever.
Starmer has now sacked the Foreign Office’s most senior civil servant, Olly Robbins, as a fall guy, and faces calls to resign from opposition parties, while Labour MPs privately concede he may have to go if he is found to have known of any cover-up. It is, even by this Government’s standards, quite a week.
Alongside this maelstrom comes a detail that, in quieter times, might have passed with only a raised eyebrow. Starmer and Lady Starmer have, it turns out, been treating the No10 flat to a lavish taxpayer-funded renovation.
The bill: £30,000. Which brings us neatly to the shower screen. Sir Keir Starmer and his wife, Lady Starmer, have found themselves in the middle of yet another controversy over spending money.
But this time, it’s not Lord Alli buying them clothes and glasses. Instead, it’s the taxpayer footing the bill for a fancy renovation of the No10 flat where Starmer now lives. Specifically, £30,000 of your money.
That’s about two UK households’ entire tax contributions for the year, spent on making Starmer’s flat nicer. At a time when the economy is struggling, with no growth and spiralling borrowing, this will understandably infuriate people who are unable to renovate their own homes.
Alex Burghart MP, the de facto deputy Conservative leader, took to GB News to discuss this issue and hit the nail on the head.
If they are not able to get value for money on a shower screen for one flat, can they be trusted with the national finances? With public debt soaring to never-before-seen levels under this Government, the answer is clearly not. Burghart, whom I would put as the Conservatives’ best brain and best communicator, struck the right balance.
He, like us, doesn’t think that historic residences like No10 Downing Street should be left to fall apart. But he pointed out that £9,000 for a paint job was ridiculous.
As someone who has roped in his parents and siblings to help paint my house recently, in return for nothing more than endless cups of tea, biscuits, and love, I agree.
More broadly than just the money in this one instance, it is what it says about the state of our politics. This renovation highlights the problem that the political class are able to use our money to insulate themselves from the effects of their awful policies. Bad economy?
The Mandelson fiasco could not have come at a worse time for the Prime Minister - James Price
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MPs' pay and expenses stay the same. Rising crime? Parliament can pull up higher fences around its perimeter. Expensive heating bills? Their offices (or Downing Street flats) will stay warm.
I have long advocated for MP and ministerial pay to be linked to the economy. In recessions, their pay goes down. If they get real growth up, they can have a pay rise. As an economist would say; you show me the incentives, I’ll show you the outcomes.
In fact, as Nobel prize winner Milton Friedman put it: “There are four ways in which you can spend money. “You can spend your own money on yourself. When you do that, why then you really watch out what you’re doing, and you try to get the most for your money.
Then you can spend your own money on somebody else. For example, I buy a birthday present for someone. Well, then I’m not so careful about the content of the present, but I’m very careful about the cost.
“Then, I can spend somebody else’s money on myself. And if I spend somebody else’s money on myself, then I’m sure going to have a good lunch!
“Finally, I can spend somebody else’s money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else’s money on somebody else, I’m not concerned about how much it is, and I’m not concerned about what I get.
“And that’s government.”
This is why your money is so often wasted by the state. And it’s at the heart of why you should demand lower taxes and lower spending, to give yourself economic freedom to spend your money, as an individual, a family, or a business, better than any government ever could.
Still, now he has spent £1,395 on a "TV unit”, at least Starmer will now be better able to watch GB News and find out what’s really going on in the country!