Speaker accused of ‘global gallivanting’ at our expense
JOHN BERCOW was last night accused of ‘global gallivanting’ after flying halfway round the world at taxpayers’ expense for an internet conference.
The Speaker and two Commons officials, along with two MPs, flew to the event in Seoul, South Korea, last weekend, in a trip thought to have cost more than £10,000. Mr Bercow’s office said the Speaker had a ‘packed schedule’ and had delivered a ‘well-received’ keynote speech to the World E-Parliament Conference 2014.
But Tory MP Rob Wilson said: ‘Some parliamentary representation there was sensible but there is little justification for as many as five people taking part in such an event in these straitened times.’ Mr Bercow has made reconnecting voters and MPs through the internet a key aim and has set up a Speaker’s Commission on Digital Engagement, made up of members including Tory MP Robert Halfon and Labour’s Meg Hillier, who also flew to Seoul. Challenged on the costs of the trip yesterday, a spokesman for Mr Bercow said he and one aide had flown business class at £2,600 each return, having chosen the ‘cheapest business flight available’.
Delegates are thought to have stayed at a four-star hotel where rooms cost up to £250 a night.
Hackney MP Ms Hillier and Mr Halfon, MP for Harlow, flew out ahead of the Speaker. Mr Halfon last night said they were invited by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which was funding their costs. He said: ‘It was not a jolly – I was in the South Korean parliament solid for three days.’
Ms Hillier also insisted the conference was hard work.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘Taxpayers will struggle to see what value has been achieved for them from this gallivanting around the globe.’