An email sent to former Members of Parliament from Parliament’s Digital Service Customer Relations team and seen by Guido, has informed former MPs that equipment purchased through IPSA expenses is not retrieved by Parliamentary IT, which only retrieves equipment it issued itself. This means MPs are able to keep any equipment purchased with IPSA credit cards. The same credit cards that three weeks ago Guido revealed were receiving a £10,000 limit boost…

“Equipment purchased personally or with an IPSA-issued credit card is yours to keep. All purchased equipment can be identified by a yellow label starting with ‘CMP’. However, the original software on any purchased computers is owned by Parliament and will no longer be licensed once your account is deleted.

This equipment will need to be reset to its factory settings for it be used again. Due to the security on the computer, the Digital Service will need to do this for you…

…The Digital Service will return privately purchased equipment to the address provided on the return label within 4 weeks, once the device has been factory restored.”

This bonkers system encourages MPs to buy the flashiest laptops they can, safe in the knowledge that Parliament’s Digital Services team will handily wipe the tech and hand it back to MPs for personal use…

One MP who in 2018 purchased a £2,000 laptop by this route was Tom Watson – meaning taxpayers coughed up a flashy personal gift on top of his £80,000 salary.

Not bad, eh?