One topic that’s been brought up during this election campaign is the amount of Whitehall waste. The government has attempted to crack down on the blob’s woke DEI agenda, whilst Reform have pledged to “slash government waste”. Though taxpayers have been bankrolling more than just rainbow lanyards and struggle sessions for our pen-pushers…

Guido has been given data uncovered by the Taxpayers’ Alliance revealing that in 2023 alone, the Ministry of Defence splurged an eye-watering £981,260 on business class travel for top civil servants. That’s a staggering 265 luxury trips for the bureaucrats. Looks like it’s not just the budget that’s flying high. Meanwhile, Home Secretary James Cleverly opted for a more frugal route, forgoing plush travel for the humble confines of Wizz Air on a recent trip to Lampedusa earlier this year…

It pays to serve the civil service. Immigration Enforcement civil servants were today treated to an event rewarding long service at the Hurlingham Club, the Fulham-based country club known as “one of the most exclusive in the world“. What better way to reward good conduct in the office than a taxpayer-funded jolly in a London neo-classical mansion…

One can’t buy membership – the only way to get in is to be born to a current member – though rooms can be hired for events. One of the two the civil servants used for their jolly, the Quadrangle, costs from £4,800 just to gain access. At least someone knows how to stop people getting across borders…

UPDATE: Guido is told the Napier Room costs at least £12,000 for a day. So that’s a total hire bill of £16,800…

If civil servants working from home weren’t costing the taxpayer enough already, HMRC staff who are cosily working from home have managed to lose a whopping £1 million worth of phones and laptops in just three years. Last year’s figures reveal that these home-working heroes lost around 10 mobile phones and two laptops every single week…

In the same time, our diligent tax collectors also reported 95 phones, 562 laptops, and one memory device as stolen. If sensitive information being nicked doesn’t raise enough alarm bells to make officials rethink the shirking from home trend, what will…

Another day, another way the taxpayers’ dime is wasted. According to the Taxpayers’ Alliance, the Covid Inquiry is costing £300,000 a day – £94 million so far in the last two years that it has been going on. The costs of Covid continue…

It doesn’t stop there, as just last year, a group of 265 civil servants dedicated their full-time efforts to furnishing the inquiry – costing a whopping £100,000 a day and totalling £44 million when combined with legal advice. Meanwhile, the Scots have spent £21 million so far on its separate inquiry. John O’Connell of the TPA said on the excessive cost, “The Covid inquiry should be short, sharp and decisive, not an expensive political pantomime.” Still no sign of Simon Case either…

Senior Department of Business and Trade officials managed to spend a whopping £82,625 on 14 trips, including business, first, and premium economy class travel. Just one return flight to Osaka, Japan cost the British taxpayer £10,629…

According to research supplied to Guido by the TaxPayers’ Alliance, ten DBT officials spent an eye-watering £73,369 on bougie flights while their accommodation cost £8,647 between September and December last year. Joanna Marchong of the TPA hits the nail on the head: “Taxpayers will want these business class bureaucrats to be brought back down to earth.” Meanwhile, the Home Secretary took the cattle-class option on Wizz Air to Lampedusa last month…

“Common sense” minister Esther McVey is today outlining plans to stop any new civil service jobs dedicated to equality, diversity and inclusivity. She may want to take a look at time spent on being a “Network Chair” within the blob…

The Civil Service currently has over 20 cross-government staff ‘networks’ that are meant to create a “provide a space” for underrepresented groups to feel a sense of community and be supported. They include faith, disability, race and wellbeing networks, from “The Cross-Government Flexible Working”, “Civil Service Stammering Network” to “a:gender”. That’s a lot of safe space…

Network Chairs are members of the blob who are paid up to £81,000 for their day job. An FOI request shows each Network Chair is permitted to spend 20% FTE (full time equivalent) on the role, the value of £16,200 in some cases. That 20% could fund someone to answer the phone to tax payers…