Bercow:Order, order me a £1,000 taxi!
Taxpayer billed for 256-mile cab trip
JOHN Bercow spent more than £1,000 of taxpayers’ cash on a 256-mile taxi ride, it emerged yesterday.
In total during his final year as Commons Speaker, he ran up a £13,627 travel bill with visits to the US, France and Italy.
His expenses claims included £1,003.80 in April last year on a cab from Westminster to Nottingham Trent University and back – even though an off-peak return train ticket costs only £67.
Aides claimed he was advised to take the taxi rather
‘Heightened security’
than public transport due to ‘heightened security concerns’, but critics said the extra spending defied ‘common sense’.
Mr Bercow gave a speech on how Parliament should respond in an ‘anti-politics age’ at a conference organised by the university’s Political Studies Association.
In his remarks, he defended breaking his promise to stay as Speaker for only nine years. Mr Bercow, who finally stepped down in October, said it had been ‘essential’ for him to remain to preside over the Brexit wrangling.
‘Wherever you go, whether it be down the pub, at the dinner table, standing at the school gate or in conversation with colleagues by the water cooler, there is no doubt people are talking about Brexit, politics and Parliament,’
he told the audience of more than 400 academics.
‘It is the most important issue in the country right now, which is why it is essential for me to be in the chair while the process remains uncertain.’
Other expenses claims submitted by Mr Bercow last year included almost £7,500 on a US trip in May that included visits to Washington DC, Virginia and Boston.
A bill of £2,639.74 was also racked up for a trip to Brest in France for a G7 conference in September. Mr Bercow put in a £74 claim for a train ticket to Heathrow en route to the Edinburgh Festival.
James Roberts of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘Frittering taxpayers’ funds on his farewell tour is a sad end for a Speaker who came in committing to clean up parliamentary expenses.
‘Like so many public officials, a commonsense approach to keeping down travel costs and entertainment expenses became a tall order for this spendthrift.’ A Commons spokesman said: ‘Due to heightened security concerns for the safety of MPs, Mr Bercow was advised it was safer for him to travel to the university by taxi.’
On taking the Speaker’s chair in June 2009, Mr Bercow promised to serve ‘no more than nine years in total’. He abandoned that commitment ahead of the 2017 snap general election.