Lib Dem peer’s four-minute speech costs taxpayer £9k
FORMER police chief Lord Paddick billed taxpayers £9,000 for a business class flight from the US so he could make a speech in the House of Lords lasting just four minutes.
He took the BA flight from New York to make a 446-word contribution to a debate on bombing Islamic State.
He then flew business class back to JFK airport on a flatbed seat the same night to resume his holiday.
Lord Paddick, who twice stood as the Liberal Democrat candidate to be London’s mayor, made the 7,000-mile trip in September 2014 when Parliament was recalled to discuss military action against the fanatics.
Figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws also showed more than £621,000 was claimed in parliamentary expenses by peers who never spoke in debates. A group of 34 peers also claimed £130,000 despite never voting, while eight claimed £29,000 without speaking or voting.
The figures were revealed by journalist Martin Williams in Parliament Ltd, a book that details the questionable expenses claims made by MPs and peers.
Members of the House of Lords do not take a salary but can claim £300 a day for turning up, as well as some travel costs.
According to the book, the highest amount claimed by a peer who never spoke was £43,110, claimed by Lord Taylor of Blackburn in 2014-15. If Parliament is recalled during a recess, as it was in 2014, MPs and peers can recover the costs of getting home.
The final cost to the taxpayer of Lord Paddick’s return flight was £8,897.84 – nearly £20 a word, or £2,224 a minute.
His speech included the insight that military action was ‘a very serious issue with serious consequences’.
The Lib Dem frontbencher, a former deputy assistant commissioner at the Met, said: ‘I sought the advice of the chief whip and the Lords authorities before travelling.
‘I was advised what class of travel I was entitled to. I gave up two days of my holiday to speak in an important debate in Parliament. The claim simply covered the cost of travel. I did not gain financially myself.’
Jonathan Isaby, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Given the brevity of Lord Paddick’s intervention, taxpayers can’t be blamed for feeling fleeced. Unelected peers talking about being “entitled” to travel business class on the taxpayer will do nothing to instil
‘Can’t be blamed for feeling fleeced’
public confidence that they are being careful with our hard-earned cash.’
Crossbencher the Earl of Stair, who never voted and ‘turned up for just 17 days of the year’, claimed almost £14,000, including more than £6,000 on flights.
Of those who neither spoke nor voted, the highest claimant was Lord Steyn, a former law lord, at £11,250. He has not spoken in a debate since 2009, lives 15 minutes away from Westminster and attended Parliament for his £300 allowance 86 times in 2014-15.
Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, told The Sunday Times: ‘The Lords is full of people who are unable to make a real contribution to running the country.
‘We need to ensure the second chamber is part of a fully effective democratic system rather than a vehicle to keep elderly politicians happy.’