If it is so easy to strip honours in retribution, then how come convicted criminals and sleazy cash-takers still sit on the red benches? Fred Goodwin has never been convicted of a crime but has the full book thrown at him, yet ex-convicts can return to the trough when they are out of prison.  Once again our lawmakers put themselves above the law…

Given it is Chinese New Year today the exclusively MPs-only Member’s Dining Room is offering some specials; for starters oriental vegetables with pink ginger, toasted sesame seeds and soy dressing for only £2.05 (after the £1.53 subsidy) followed by the seasonal winter vegetable and lemon stir-fry with hazelnut couscous for a mere £6.75 after the taxpayer chips in £5.13 of subsidy. Gùng héi faat chōi, indeed…

Look at this subsidy another way, it will take a worker on minimum wages 7 hours to pay the taxes required to subsidise today’s two-course celebratory Chinese New Year lunch for one MP. Someone should tell the MPs it is the Year of the Dragon, not the pig…

It’s always nice to know your work is appreciated, so Guido enjoyed his chat last night with a northern Labour MP whose name escapes him and whose face blends in.

“Amicably” discussing the Commons subsidy and difference in prices for the public and Members, Guido was asked what he was doing sipping a taxpayer subsidised lager in parliament:

“Research”.

Hungry? Well have a look at what our Honourable Members are lunching on today in their private dining room:

Lunch Thursday 12 January 2012

STARTERS
Artichokes, ratatouille and olives with basil dressing £2.05 (£1.55)
Braised pork belly with black pudding bonbon, apple salad £2.70 (£2.05)
Halibut and soft boiled quail egg with carrot dressing (wf) £4.15 (£3.15)

MAINS
Rib eye steak with hand cut chips and béarnaise sauce £7.80 (£5.92)
Haddock and leek fish cake with tomato and dill cream £6.75 (£5.13)
Chickpea and lentil curry with red onion fritter £6.75 (£5.13)

PUDDINGS & CHEESE
Chocolate and orange torte £2.05 (£1.56)
Fresh fruit salad (wf h v) £2.05 (£1.56)
Home-made ice creams and sorbets (v) £2.05 (£1.56)
Fine cheese with biscuits – ask for today’s selection £3.10 (£2.35)

Then compare the cost of the extra taxpayer subsidy (highlighted in red) to what you spent on your own lunch today. And the rip-off doesn’t stop there. Now compare the above menu to the other prices that are being offered to mere members of the public, in the very same building, right now:

MAINS
Rump of lamb with creamed white beans, spinach and shallots £15.85
Corn fed chicken with wild mushrooms and puy lentils (wf) £13.55
Whole grilled plaice with lemon and caper butter,  vegetables  £12.25
Smoked haddock and leek fish cake with tomato and dill cream £12.25
Potato and halloumi parcel with sauté bok choi, pepper sauce £10.45
Basil tofu and roasted vegetables with herb sauce £10.45

One price for them, one for us. Oink oink…

UPDATE: Meanwhile in another part of town, another taxpayer funded lunch. Here’s what we paid 90p to provide at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital:

Who do you think is more deserving of a subsidy?

Pic via @ajbonner

Hungry? After PMQs our honourable MPs will toddle off to their private and exclusive riverside dining rooms.  Today the “quince glazed belly of pork with savoy cabbage & white bean stew” sounds tasty, especially at the penny-saving price of £6.75. It’s only that cheap because of the £5.27 subsidy from our pockets. Incidentally that subsidy alone is the equivalent of six hospital meals, that we learn today, cost just 90 pence. Gives you a real sense of political priorities.

Enough to put any decent person off their lunch…

Not only do we subsidise their gin, but we also pick up the Lords’ tech tab:

10 Jan 2012 : Column WA46
House of Lords: IT

Lord Kennedy of Southwark:
To ask the Chairman of Committees how many iPads have been purchased to date for use by Members or staff of the House of Lords.[HL14465]

The Chairman of Committees (Lord Brabazon of Tara):
Twenty iPads have been purchased for use by Members and staff of the House of Lords to evaluate how handheld devices can facilitate core parliamentary work.

iRage.

Despite a couple of MPs yesterday backing the idea to privatise and outsource Parliament’s catering, most of the time the subsidy in Parliament is defended on the basis that it helps out the assorted staffers and bag carriers as well as the gorging Members. Leaving aside the fact that this argument fails to consider other low paid public sector workers who receive no such perk, it is also complete baloney. Take a look at these two menus from the very same day in Parliament:

Firstly steak and chips in the Strangers’ Bar, where MPs can invite; constituents, voters, taxpayers and staff to dine with them:-

Then have a look at the very same item on the menu in the exclusive Members Private Dining Room:-

Same meal, same day, very different prices. Subsidy for the MPs, who incidentally vote on their own subsidy, is in this case over 50%. They make us, the taxpaying public pay for their subsidised troughing. One price for them, one for us…

Hungry? Last week Guido brought you the rib-eye steak and hand-cut chips with béarnaise sauce that cost MPs a mere £7.80, thanks to the handy £5.93 top up from the taxpayer.  This subsidy works out at some £20,000 per day…

As lunchtime approaches and the first greedy members saunter back into town, they can head to their exclusive riverside restaurant today for seared breast of pigeon with aubergine purée and spiced couscous. It will set them back £4.15. The rest of us, eating al desko, will pick up the extra £3.15 subsidy.

Choking… 

UPDATE: Tory backbencher Chris Kelly gets in touch to say:

“Every day I have been an MP I have made my own sandwiches for lunch & brought them in. I used to take a packed lunch to work when I worked in my family businesses &, when I was campaigning flat out ahead of the general election, I did the same. I don’t see why it should be any different now that I’m an MP.”

Cheese and mustard today, in case you were wondering…

UPDATE: Elizabeth Truss MP responds with a call for the Commons catering to be outsourced to the private sector:

@MrHarryCole @daisymcandrew @GuidoFawkes I would to see franchises bid for on Parliamentary estate from the likes of Pret/Cafe Nero. #VFM—
Elizabeth Truss (@trussliz) January 09, 2012

Hungry? Fancy a rib-eye steak and hand-cut chips with béarnaise sauce served in the agreeable setting of a restaurant in an historic building on the riverside. Waited on by liveried waiters bringing silver service to white linen tables? It will cost our MPs a mere £7.80 and you’ll chip in £5.93 in subsidy for that lunch. We are all in it together.

If you are a vegetarian or dieting for the New Year perhaps you would like an artichoke and tomato salad drizzled with truffle dressing? Only £2.05 in the MPs’ dining room thanks to the £1.56 that minimum wage taxpayers have contributed to the MPs lunch in subsidy. The 646 MPs have their lunches subsidised to the tune of £8,823 each per annum.  Three years after the expenses scandal, MPs are still troughing at our expense…

The Right Honourable Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath has finally woken up to the fact there is a crisis in his constituency and it might be an idea for him to actually do the job he is paid for. Guido brought you the news a month ago that part of Gordon’s Fife constituency contained radioactive material. Now with a lack of action, not least from the local MP, the beach could be designated the UK’s first stretch of Radioactive Contaminated Land. Finally today Gordon managed to haul himself in front of a camera.

So what has he been doing instead of representing his constituency? Well:

• £48,166.00 for a speech to Visa International.
• £36,639.66 for a speech to Credit Suisse in Miami, Florida.
• £36,018.18 for a speech to Comtec Med in Geneva, Switzerland.
• £35,873.94 for a speech to World 50, Inc in New York.
• £36,174.63 for a speech to PIMCO in Newport Beach, California.
• £36,174.63 for a speech to Economic Club of Michigan.
• £36,146.29 for a speech to Skybridge Capital in Las Vegas.
• £36,292.84 for a speech to Citi Latin America in New York.
• £36,224.88 for a speech to Pershing LLC in Miami.

It must be a little painful for the former Prime Mentalist that Blair can command the combined total of that for a hour of his time, but do you know what hurts more Gordon? Radiation poisoning…