If Labour’s Fabian Hamilton is the experienced expert of using taxpayer’s money to buy Apple products, Peter Bone is the trendsetter for AirPod buying. Angela Rayner and Matt Hancock were way behind him. All the way back in 2019 he used Parliamentary expenses to purchase the expensive accessories, setting back the taxpayer £159.00:
The purchase was made the year after it was revealed Bone had left his wife for his researcher 20 years younger than him. Perhaps he was trying to use cutting edge tech purchases to show he’s in touch with the youth…
The practice of MPs expensing totally unnecessary Apple products is far from limited to Angela Rayner and Matt Hancock. Shadow Minister for Peace and Disarmament Fabian Hamilton went on an Apple-buying rampage as ridiculous as his job title in 2020, buying both a new £1,299 Macbook Pro, a £1,069 iPad Pro 12.9″ and a £1,049 iPhone, along with a bucketload of luxury accessories:
- £144.98 USB adaptor and connector for Macbook Pro
- £39.58 Laptop computer stand and USB charging plug
- £21.99 USB-C hub adaptor for Macbook Pro
- £59.99 Apple mouse
- £234.98 Brydge keyboard for iPad Pro (which seemingly turns the iPad into a laptop, making the subsequent Macbook purchase redundant)
This is far from the first time Fabian’s tech expenses have come under scrutiny. In 2009 it was revealed he’d spent £14,000 of taxpayers’ money on 13 Apple computers in just four years – despite having just two members of staff. Funnily enough, before being elected, Hamilton was an Apple Macintosh consultant and dealer…
Much has been made of Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner buying a set of personalised Apple AirPod Pros using taxpayer cash at the start of the pandemic. The purchase set the taxpayer back £249. Yet Rayner isn’t the only MP with headphone claims…
Cardiff West MP Kevin Brennan has been a keen member of the DCMS committee, especially with regard to lobbying for more government intervention with regard to music streaming. Brennan was praised by the Musicians’ Union for “excellent interventions” and being “extremely strong on the MU’s three main asks”. What the Committee wasn’t told is that the union praising him for delivering their lines had paid him £4,000 in 2019…
The only payments Brennan declared at the start of the Committee hearing were “occasional payments for working as a musician, which are declared in the Register of Members’ Interests”. Brennan, who has declared he is a member of the Musicians’ Union, has failed to declare his substantial and recent donation in any hearings so far, despite pushing the union’s line as part of a co-ordinated campaign. The Musicians’ Union even acknowledged having briefed Brennan for the debate.
While Brennan has declared the donation in his register of interests, MPs are required to also declare relevant interests at hearings where it’s on a related topic. Brennan, who has been an MP for twenty years, will have known the rules. Not least because fellow Labour MP Stephen Doughty, who was also praised by the Union, followed the rules and declared his Musicians’ Union donations…
The Labour Group on Enfield Council has this week suspended one of their own councillors after she refused to back pay rises for her fellow councillors. In the midst of the pandemic, with thousands of families in cash crises, councillor Anne Brown abstained as a matter of conscience on a vote to increase the salaries of Labour colleagues by as much as £7,608.
As a result of her abstention, Brown was suspended from the Labour Group at a hearing chaired by Group Chief Whip Claire Stewart on Monday. The Labour Group then voted to support the Whip’s decision.
Guido hears that some of those who benefited from the salary hike voted to uphold the view that Councillor Brown should be suspended without declaring their pecuniary interest – something that could have made them ineligible to vote. Good on Councillor Brown for rejecting Labour’s barmy pay rise plans, a heroic stance. Clearly far more in touch than her snouts-in-trough colleagues…
While Labour MP Siobhan McDonagh interrupted a select committee yesterday to show off her social media pride, Luke Pollard is going above and beyond to brag about his Facebook successes. Locals in Devonport will spot a gadget in his office window tracking live how many Facebook likes his MP page has.
Last November, local Labour councillor Jeremy Goslin recorded his delight with the tech tracker, with Pollard telling constituents to “Like my Facebook page at facebook.com/lukepollard and watch the counter spin round #plymouth :-)”
What Luke didn’t tell his constituents is they actually forked out for the useless bit of ego-boosting tech. A search of Pollard’s expenses and an FoI enquiry later, Guido can reveal the taxpayer coughed up out £330.66 for the window display.
Even after fleecing the taxpayer for over £330 of unnecessary expenses, Luke’s Facebook page has only 8,309 likes. Equating to about 4p per follower…
