Tory MP blasted after claiming £45 to rent loud hailer for demo against cuts to NHS
Alan Selby A millionaire Tory MP claimed £ 45 for a megaphone to lead a mar ch p r o t e s t ing against NHS cuts.
Jonathan Djanogly billed the taxpayer for the item, which he rented ahead of a rally to save his local hospital.
Yesterday, locals in his constituency o f Hun t i ngdon , Cambr idge- shi re, b r a nd e d h im a hypocrite.
One said : “The hospital was under threat because his party are attacking the NHS. “He’s been acting the hero but this shows he’s just as bad as the rest of them. He probably could have borrowed one for free.”
Local Labour chairman Dr Nik Johnson said: “We’ve been wondering whether we are going to be asked to pay some money towards it too as I was also asked to speak at the march.
“It was handed round various speakers, so we don’t know if we owe something for it or not.”
Djanog ly, 51, l ives in a £ 1million house in Alconbury, near Cambridge.
More than 400 turned out for his march on April 30 last year, a imed at protect ing Hinchingbrooke Hospital.
A month later, f inance chiefs in Parliament were sent the claim for £ 45, listed under “office costs”.
The entr y is descr ibed as “megaphone hire for march to save local hospital.”
After the claim emerged last week, local Labour activist David id Landon Cole said: “You can buy a megaphone on Amazon for lessss than a tenner.
“You could hire a Ford Focus us from Enterprise in Huntingdonn for a day for £ 43.14 but I think itt would have been better value for the taxpayer to hire a heater from HSS for a whole week for £ 45.82.
“It would provide all the hot air you need.”
Djanogly, son of texti le manufa cturer Si r Har r y Djanogly, was given the seat of Huntingdon in 2001 after former Tory leader John Major resignedd as an MP.
But some local party membersrs have blasted the MP, saying: “He has been a disaster.”