Dispatches

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1. Tim Yeo said that when his wife joined him "no government money was spent". Did anyone ask him whether she flew to join him using his air miles? I would think that with 5 or more longhaul flights in business class at taxpayers' expense, an MP like Mr. Yeo could generate enough air miles for at least one longhaul economy ticket.

   Posted by David on 30/09/2009 16:32:21

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2. anybody want to investigate why a delegation of councilors from Bath and North East somerset are going on a trade delegation to China at rate payers expense and how many are extending their trip afterwards? this sort of thing is endemic throuighout the whole public service.

   Posted by Richard on 30/09/2009 12:31:32

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3. The gravy train, boat, plane just gets longer and visits more exotic destinations. This has to stop now. These Mp's have no morals at all......... Im stuck for words on this one.

   Posted by Harvey on 29/09/2009 23:16:54

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4. Planes and gravy trains. What a scandal? Why do those MP's think it is still ok to enfuriate the voting public, are they so removed from what is appropriate and reasonable behaviour, where every penny must be spent wisely, that Jo Blogs will not be outraged by their arrogance and stupidity? Those that take that route must be held accountable.An expensive trip wherever it may be must be needed, cost effective and on a restricted budget. They simply throw public money around for their entertainment when people are dying because medication is too expensive. Where are their morals?

   Posted by Derek on 29/09/2009 18:18:02

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5. did MPs really have to go all the way across the world to come back with the Answer: " Using sand bags would help" wow! thanks so much for that! we (The people who are paying for this) would never have thought of that!

   Posted by Ade on 29/09/2009 18:14:13

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6. Goodness me! The gravy train needs re-inventing, perhaps the "foie gras flyers" (you can do better!).

   Posted by Steve B on 29/09/2009 17:56:13

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7. As someone said, "this is just the tipof the iceberg. Does anyone think these are the only MP's that have been doing this for god knows how long? They're all "at it" As a pensioner i can't affod a holiday abroad, i wonder if one kind MP would like to take me along as his companion on a holiday...sorry..fact finding tour to Barbados next summer. And if you think this is bad enough, you should investigate what our Euro MP's are wasting and fiddling! It knocks this lot into a cocked hat!

   Posted by SCUBAJON on 29/09/2009 14:48:46

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8. I chose not to respond to Dispatches request for comment prior to the broadcast of this programme, since being an MP it is getting rather difficult to avoid a hatchet job from most of the media (there are one or two exceptions). Journalists hunt as a pack and they all want a piece of the action. Thus, having now seen the programme, I am chosing to exercise a right of reply (limited to 4000 characters). The programme did lack balance, and it did not convey to me what precisely has to be changed, apart from having more transparency, which I hope nobody should have a problem with. But was it also saying that parliamentarians should not meet each other? That we should only deal with domestic matters? Was it saying that the cost of inter-parliamentary exchange is too high? These are legitimate points to make, but the producers fought shy of clarfying these issues. One was left with the impression that despite an earlier comment from a Vanuatu MP that the visit of British MPs was very welcome, nevertheless exchanging views with US representatives was extravagant. So the conclusion might be it's OK if you do this but please stay in two star hotels. I'm sure lots of Senators would leap at the chance! As regards the transparency question, the programme did not make clear what information is already - and has always been - in the public domain. All select committee costs and visits are fully reported every year, and all of the parliamentary associations I can think of publish annual reports. The latter might not be totally complete, but I doubt if the secretariats of these bodies would not respond positively to enquiries. I do not see any reason why they should keep this information private. Dispatches could have asked these questions years ago - and got answers. The lack of balance meant that (and I only speak for myself) the visit to Kiribati, one of the world's poorest and most climate change vulnerable nations was ignored completely. That must have been a producer's choice, because the kind of images they would have got (pointing their cameras at the people if not the beaches) would have reflected abject poverty - no holiday island paradise this - but such images were outwith the programme's remit, clearly. No attempt was made to ask if our meetings - and there were plenty of those - could be filmed. The programme was not seriously interested in the purpose of the visit, merely the fact that it was taking place. Maybe this is why the cameramen lied about who their work was for. If they had told the truth they could have asked a lot more questions based on what they had seen. But their instructions must have been clear: 'get the island paradise shots!' And of course there was a lot of selective quoting, as I know to my cost. The implication of the programme was that so far as I was concerned the big 'fact' I had unearthed was that in one island sandbags might provide some defence against sea level rise! The programme acknowledged at the start that I 'may' have some expertise in climate change, so you might think they would ask why the sandbag suggestion was made in the first place - but no, it was shown to make a point about MPs coming away from a 'fact finding' trip with precious little to show for it. (I have written a report on this visit which will be presented at a meeting of the CPA and also sent to the Foreign Secretary, by the way.) Of course, viewers - having seen the pictures (which do not lie) may now reasonably assume that I spent most of my time watching dancers, wearing garlands and drinking beer. To refuse the locals' hospitality would have been an insult. The two events that were shown where I was present were an important demonstration of friendship, but this is too complex an issue to be developed in the remaining 187 characters I have left here. There was absolutely no mention made of the democratic reform challenge in Tonga - a country in serious transition. I have nearly exhausted Channel 4's word ration so I

   Posted by Colin Challen MP on 29/09/2009 14:43:47

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9. Thank you Channel 4 for going the extra mile to bring this to people. I suspect it is only a tip of an ice berg. I had watched it in amazement at how boldly and blatantly MP's lie and commit fraud (in my opinion)openly. It is trully shocking given the current "every 7 minutes house repossession" state of economy. I wish we had a leader who is that - a leader - to stamp out the abuse that is happening in a plain day light.

   Posted by Dan on 29/09/2009 09:38:12

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10. It's mind boggling that in a leading first world country we still have unaccountable MP's. As an auditor I was required to keep track of each 6min unit of time for each and every day for 7 years...why is it so difficult to get MP's to declare there working agendas for the public to scrutise. I tried to get a telephone conference with my local MP Jonathan Djinogly to discuss NHS medical prescription fraud and how to quell the waste and after being promised a call I was dropped...and Gordon Brown insists that he will cut public spending by saving in inefficiency but it all seems like lip service to me...it's so depressing!

    Posted by ROB on 29/09/2009 00:51:23

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11. When will MPs learn that there is such thing as moral responsibility and just because the so-called rules currently in place allow this kind of disgusting waste of tax-payer's money it doesn't make it right? They need to realise that many people are struggling just to get by and when they see a large chunk of their paycheck being taken away to fund someone else's holiday it does invoke a great deal of anger. Incidentally, the general public are expected to work for every penny of their salary so why isn't the money that is taken from them accounted for in the same way. Many MPs have shown that they cannot be trusted with our money under a flawed system and it would be naive to believe that the issue will be resolved without a complete overhaul of the rules. So let's do away with this old boys' club and get a modern, productive system in place so we can feel a little better about how our money is spent.

    Posted by Ian on 28/09/2009 22:10:46

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12. How many years has this been going on?How many years was the MPs expenses allowed to waste taxpayers hard earned money.Can anyone estimate the cost to us all for the past few years/decades of these apalling scandals.Why do the newspapers and television keep picking on the small fish who claim benefit while finding a bit of casual work,when they should be going after the big fish first,like MPs and Bankers?

    Posted by Darren Nelson on 28/09/2009 21:37:00

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13. I would just like to thank you for bringing to the forefront the hypocrisy we have to live with. I am absolutely disgusted with what the government deem acceptable for them and not for others! How can we be governed by people with the ability to have such high levels of double standards! More to the point why are we still paying these greedy people! Excellent documentary, how do we get change?

    Posted by marcus on 28/09/2009 21:22:20

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14. Is anything being done about this and also, is anything being done about the expenses scandal that everyone has forgotten about? Where do we go to get something done?

    Posted by B Balu on 28/09/2009 21:17:42

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15. What a shocker! I am disgusted; not at the knowledge of MPs jetting off on a "jolly", but at the fact that the frequent flyers are evidently neglecting their roles as MPs, not giving a thought to those in their communities. Seems to me they are abusing their position as MP to appear important to the outside world (egotist) and to greedily use this role to become a jetsetter! It is absurd and totally unacceptable for any MP to travel around the world all year long as one long "jolly"! What a sham! MPs should be employed by the public and therefore held accountable to every minute of every day that they are employed to work. Just like the rest of us.

    Posted by Lucy on 28/09/2009 21:16:57

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16. A superb bit of journalism which brings to our attention a huge failiure throughout the parliamentary system. I have never had the oppourtunity to place my vote at a general election, the coming will be the first. This latest cross party scandal has me literally shaking my head with shame to be a citizen, how the consistant abuse of a system can be undertaken without embarasment of the individuals greed, sickens me.Does parliament not understand that actions like these siply make me not want to vote for the current democratic system at all!

    Posted by Dave P on 28/09/2009 21:10:30

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17. I'm gobsmacked that our MPs don't have a formal contract of employment. That is iniquitous. And yet - in the scheme of things their indulgence is a drop in the ocean. Perhaps it is more important to fid a way of impressing on them that they are our paid servants and representatives, and of then moving on to the real, large-scale squandering and incompetence in the public sector rather than waste any more time on 600 people.

    Posted by Peter Martin on 28/09/2009 21:02:15

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18. After seeing the latest program , do the MP's declare there frequent flyer miles earnt from all these foreign trips? I fly a lot and have High frequent flyer status with a number of European Airlines but the amount of miles these politicians must earn must be staggering ! I wonder how they spend their miles ? Upgrades on golf trips ? Free flights for their families ?

    Posted by Paddy on 28/09/2009 20:59:17

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19. Thank you for your informative programme on the foreign work our parlimentarians do on our behalf. I am pleased to see that they do exactly what I would hope: a combination of fact finding and selling Britain abroad. I was particularly interested in your reporting of the visit to the South Pacific. I have worked in the area, and so have some knowledge of both the region and its culture. I believe that there are three areas where your reporting could have been more balanced: Firstly, the only hotels across the south pacific that are "tourist grade" are luxury grade resorts; there is no gradation of hotels of different classes available, as might be the case in Blackpool. Second, you should be aware that the British government does not have permanent representation across most of the pacific, so a visit from a UK parlimentary delegation is the only way of flying the UK flag in the area. Third, you underestimate the logistic difficulties of travel around the area; a short trip to a village out of town can easily be an hour each way in a 4x4 along a poorly maintained dirt road (as is the case for the visit to Eton village in Vanuatu that the UK delegation made). I look forward to more balanced reporting in the future as your programme was well below the standards that I would expect of Dispatches. Your faithfully Steve Gooberman-Hill

    Posted by Dr Stephen Gooberman-Hill on 28/09/2009 20:45:16

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20. Excellent expose, what great value for money we get from our travelling MPs. I am glad that as I can't afford a foreign holiday our MPs are taking the strain and putting in the miles on my behalf. I wonder if I can get my MO to pay my taxes too?

    Posted by Craig Childs on 28/09/2009 20:44:05

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