Nationalist Sentinel: Westminster Fat Cat leeches off British taxpayers....

IS THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ROBBING US BLIND?

Speaker's five-star world tour on the taxpayer: Bercow racks up £96,000 travel bill with stays at a string of top hotels in Washington, Athens and New Delhi. Stop offs included hotels where rooms can cost up to £2,000 a night Stayed at Boston Harbor Hotel billed as one of 'world's best places to stay' Bercow has said Parliament must help reduce the deficit and is driving through cost-cutting measures But £142,162-a-year Speaker appears to enjoy the finer things in life Speaker John Bercow's five-star world tour on the taxpayer John Bercow has billed the taxpayer for stays at some of the world’s most exclusive hotels, it emerged yesterday. Documents reveal that the Commons Speaker has stayed at a string of five-star establishments during official travels costing the taxpayer £96,000 since 2010. The total includes flights and other costs, but more than £10,000 went on hotels. Despite paying lip service to the need for austerity, the accommodation list for Mr Bercow, who was travelling without his wife Sally, suggests a weakness for the finer things in life – particularly when the taxpayer is picking up the bill. His stop-offs during taxpayer-funded trips have included the exclusive Park Hyatt hotel in the US capital Washington, the opulent Ashok hotel in New Delhi and the Hotel Grand Bretagne in Athens, where rooms can cost £2,000 a night. The Speaker and an aide ran up a bill of £1,062 for a two-night stay at the Park Hyatt in February last year. The hotel – where some rooms cost £1,000 a night – boasts ‘spa-inspired limestone bathrooms’, a sky-lit indoor swimming pool with whirlpools and a spa offering ‘facial treatments and a private aromatherapy steam shower’. In the same month Mr Bercow and an aide ran up a £491 bill during a one-night stay at the Boston Harbor Hotel, listed as one of the ‘world’s best places to stay’ by Conde Nast Traveller. Mr Bercow also chose to relax in the luxury of Edinburgh’s Hotel Missoni during a trip to the Scottish Parliament in June last year. The designer hotel, where room rates this weekend started at £395, claims to be the only five-star hotel on the Royal Mile and describes itself as ‘unique, beautiful and daring’. The Speaker and an aide clocked up a £1,036 bill for a two-night stay at the Grand Hotel Union in Ljubljana in February 2011. The hotel describes itself as ‘the renowned address for celebrities’*visiting the Slovenian capital. New Delhi’s five-star Ashok Hotel is home to one of the city’s most exclusive nightclubs where, despite India’s continuing poverty, bottles of champagne sell for £250. Details of the lavish expenses were revealed following a Freedom of Information Act request by the Daily Mail. Commons officials initially refused to publish the list of hotels on ‘security’ grounds. They argued that Mr Bercow’s safety would be put at risk if people were able to build up a ‘pattern’ of the places he stays. In fact the list, which has been released following an appeal, shows that Mr Bercow has never stayed in the same hotel twice on his official travels. The Speaker, who is paid £142,162, has said Parliament must play its part in cutting the deficit and is driving through a number of cost-cutting measures. But his own expenses are anything but modest, with his accommodation list reading like a tour of some of the world’s finest hotels. Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, questioned why Mr Bercow had to stay in such lavish accommodation. He added: ‘The Speaker’s gallivanting is an expensive habit that taxpayers cannot afford and nor should they. ‘Bercow should lead by example and end his love affair with five-star accommodation. It’s hypocritical for him to dip in taxpayers’ wallets to pay for grandiose hotel bills given Westminster’s necessary drive to cut spending. ‘It’s clear that the Speaker realises these expenses are extravagant given his determined attempt to bury the true cost of his globe-trotting.’ Since the election in 2010 Mr Bercow has visited almost 20 countries, as well as clocking up thousands in expenses for travel in the UK mainly on projects to increase awareness of the work of Parliament. __________________ ANOTHER WESTMINSTER LEECH IN OUR FRAUDULENT DEMOCRATIC (sic) WESTMINSTER