Government Taxpayer Credit Card ‘Freeze’ Doesn’t Apply to Booze Budget – Guido Fawkes

Government Taxpayer Credit Card ‘Freeze’ Doesn’t Apply to Booze Budget

mdi-fullscreen

Co-conspirators will remember when Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden made a great fuss earlier this year about slapping an immediate freeze on civil servants’ taxpayer-funded credit cards. At the time, he declared: “We must ensure taxpayers’ money is spent on improving the lives of working people.” Apparently, that mission doesn’t apply to the wine list…

Back in March, pen-pushers at the Cabinet Office shelled out £550 on booze. Tory MP Charlie Dewhirst asked a written parliamentary question on what it was for. Cabinet minister Abena Oppong-Asare responded:

“The referenced entry relates to wine purchased for official business. Any hospitality purchases for diplomatic occasions are made with value-for-money for the taxpayer as a priority.”

So the ‘freeze’ on spending doesn’t extend to the booze fridge. That’s despite the government’s own wine cellar already being stocked to the rafters – some 39,000 bottles by the last count. Vintage hypocrisy…