Cameron's pad

geordieindevon

All in this together? B******s!!


http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011 ... provements

Aggieboy

You did read that did you?

So, £653,000 spent on a refurb started in 2006 (that'll be Labour then), £30,000 annual allowance (I'll bet they've all used that) and the rest out of his own pocket.

geordieindevon

Aggieboy wrote:

You did read that did you?

So, £653,000 spent on a refurb started in 2006 (that'll be Labour then), £30,000 annual allowance (I'll bet they've all used that) and the rest out of his own pocket.

Sure did and I put the whole bloody lot at fault BUT how can the Pm talk about times of Austerity and tightening our belts when he then goes onto to claim the full 30K and he lives at No 10 rent free...I am about to fit a new kitchen and will pay for it out of my own money.

Oh and the banking crisis was not around in 2006...we were in times of prosperity.

inkyfingers

Be realistic, can you imagine him entertaining President Obama or Sarkozy in a 2 up 2 down in Manchester with furniture bought from boot fairs?

Whilst they shouldn't take the piss, if somebody is prepared to take the responsibility for running the country and sending people to war then they deserve to be reasonably rewarded for it. The PM earns less than most senior managers in medium-large sized companies. The PM will probably make more after he's retired from book deals and public speaking than he will ever make from running the country.

Scrumple

Pathetic jealousy

10 D St is the seat of power in this country, and is iconic. It needed improvements, and the £30k is just part of the salary in effect, like a relocation assistance, - works out as a few grand per year over the term of office. Doubt any of it was spent on anything other than H&S such as wiring...

Besides, if the infrastructure needed changing why should he pay.

Go and cry over someone else who gets paid more than you. I get bored with this sensationalised "faux" dirt digging. Next you will complain about the price of wine served at state dinners.

Life aint fair, you know!

flasher

10 Downing St. isn't a 2 up 2 down, it's nearly 300 years old and has about 100 rooms, you can't just bring in a bunch of Polish builders to knock a few walls out!

A spokesman said: "This spend relates to the Downing Street Building Modernisation Programme launched in 2006, under the last government, to address structural repairs and the renewal of failing infrastructure, having gone without refurbishment for some 50 years. This work is still ongoing. Downing Street is a Grade I listed building. As such it requires a certain level of maintenance. The prime minister has paid for changes to the flat out of his own pocket, beyond the annual maintenance budget threshold."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downing_Street

geordieindevon

Scrumple wrote:

Pathetic jealousy

10 D St is the seat of power in this country, and is iconic. It needed improvements, and the £30k is just part of the salary in effect - works out as a few grand per year over the term of office.

Besides, if the infrastructure needed changing why should he pay.

Go and cry over someone else who gets paid more than you. I get bored with this sensationalised "faux" dirt digging. Next you will complain about the price of wine served at state dinners.

Life aint fair, you know!

Nothing to do with jealousy! Just pointing out how taxpayers money is spent and if you are happy with this then fine.....many others may not be!

Scrumple

I was being dramatic for effect.

I'm very happy to pay it. I want my country's leader to be able to be safe and well in his home.

You haven't even mentioned chequers... Again, quite happy to pay for that too.

Don't get me started on the Common Agricultural Policy though. This £30k is peanuts, and really not worth a jot.

Jez mon

At the end of the day, whether you agree with his policies or not, the guy is in charge of the country. That's a fair bit of responsibility, surely if anyone deserves a high salary, and to travel first class on trains etc. It's the people charged with that responsibility...

Or look at it another way, compared to the whole governments expenditure, its mere pennys

Ollieda

Scrumple wrote:

Next you will complain about the price of wine served at state dinners.

Which isn't even that expensive due to the gov's wine cellars - i remember reading about it recently (might have been posted here somewhere - in which case i've just missed your subtle link) Although people have complained about the gov even having wine cellars saying its the tax payer funding a fancy lifestyle - lets all start saving money and make visiting dignataries slum in in an "Easy Hotel" with a bottle of lambrini then - yer right!

Scrumple

Indeed


Consider this:

The coc(k)s that routinely put in FOI requests cost this country thousands.

Right now, there are police forces, political parties, schools, councils and other public bodies spending ££££ on researching a replying to pointless questions from journalists trying to drag up stories.
I'm not against good journalism, but FOI has become a cheap and convenient way to waste public money and time replying to speculative dirt digging.

It no doubt cost a fair few quid to reply to this - so folks like you can express public horror.

If I were in charge and someone asked for this info I'd tell them to stick their request up their ar...

Ollieda

Scrumple wrote:

If I were in charge and someone asked for this info I'd tell them to stick their request up their ar...

At which point they would perk up their ears and start demanding to see all expenses and rip apart every penny you had spent - "he spent £100 on a lunch for him and the King of X, how discraceful, there's a KFC just down the road!"

shouldbeinbed

Scrumple wrote:

I'm very happy to pay it. I want my country's leader to be able to be safe and well in his home.

Pedantic Bit: The £30k is an annual allowance so it adds up to £30K per year (not a few grand as you said) over the course of the parliament.

also if nothing has been done to it for the previous 50 years necessitating the £600K plus major refurb going on since 2006, What has 50 years x £30k (pro rata) annual allowance been spent on by the previous incumbents of all political hues I wonder ?

Also why (maybe it is) is the £30k allowance still being paid to the PM (whoever that has been since 06) rather than being put directly to the major refurbishment budget?

In schools when a major capital spend is required and offered by the Local Authority - (boiler replacement, major building refurb etc) that is coming from a far larger central pot, a contribution is demanded from the school of usually that years 'service' (devolved capital) budget allocation, The proprotion of devolved capital normally factored to schools is vired straight to the major project coffers, if schools refuse to pay that portion and still choose to claim it for themselves, the work doesn't get done and School bears the entire cost of the major work themselves at another date.

The seat of power could be relocated elsewhere if so dilapidated, plenty of country houses of Grade listing status and wonderful heritage have fallen down cos it was cheaper to relocate. I wonder if the alternatives have been considered or if we're propping up a costly white elephant of a building/street simply out of nostalgia / inertia / political self indulgence.

I don't object to the PM having a grace and favour living and office arrangement as a 'perk' of the job but I do onject to the vast arrays of other such freebies in town and the number of country weekend retreats we all pay for. F**k off to your own home at the weekend if you want to get away from the work flat Mr Cameron.Brown/Blair/Major etc & pals, god forbid you might have a little trip to your constituency rather than the big posh country pile we all pay for.

Scrumple

shouldbeinbed wrote:

Pedantic Bit: The £30k is an annual allowance so it adds up to £30K per year (not a few grand as you said) over the course of the parliament.

Pedantic reply:


This is an allowance taken on moving in to cover initial improvements. Allthough yearly, I can be almost certain it will be a one off. Hence, it will work out as I said.
If it is claimed every year, I'll eat my hat.

No mention has been made of the 2nd year's being taken.

I stand by what I said, because your pedantic bit it tosh on the facts.

The rest of that is back to sad jealousy, and more lack of appreciation of status and society realities.

geordieindevon

All fair points but this is all about how it looks isn't it? Whilst I do not have a major problem with a nice house for the PM and a shed load of vintage wine being made available for state occassions I do have a problem with our government on the one hand telling us we need to tighten our belts, loose jobs, serious cutbacks in public services, loss of pensions etc etc and then expecting us to swallow this sort of "public spending"....

I just wish Cameron, Osborne et al had never used that phrase ( We are all in it together) and then people may have a bit more time for them!

Even the Daily Mail readers are up in arms about this:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... treet.html

Scrumple

If we weren't in it together they'd be lapping up the £30k every year and buying the stuff inside off the John Lewis list.

And taking the pay rises.

If you read more, you'd know the PM has sacrificed a fair bit of what he could have had!

Scrumple

There are some welfare state, job shy, idle toe rags with a better car than me, sub letting their house, and claiming to be disabled.

That is where we waste our taxes.

And on that note - I'm out out [of this thread]

Aggieboy

Let's look on the bright side. At least he's claiming expences he's entitled to, on a property he actually lives in. There's a couple of Labour MP's with sore arse's, who'll be wishing they did the same.

geordieindevon

Scrumple wrote:

If we weren't in it together they'd be lapping up the £30k every year and buying the stuff inside off the John Lewis list.

And taking the pay rises.

If you read more, you'd know the PM has sacrificed a fair bit of what he could have had!

"Mr Cameron has ordered all departments to rein in their expenditure and has even resorted to buying his own Christmas tree to cut costs" Daily Mail

Well bloody hell! Thank god for that! That's saved a few bob!

*Victorian England - Young lad tips his hat to the PM - "Thank you your lordship for this very generous gesture"

Cleat Eastwood

geordieindevon wrote:

Scrumple wrote:

If we weren't in it together they'd be lapping up the £30k every year and buying the stuff inside off the John Lewis list.

And taking the pay rises.

If you read more, you'd know the PM has sacrificed a fair bit of what he could have had!

"Mr Cameron has ordered all departments to rein in their expenditure and has even resorted to buying his own Christmas tree to cut costs" Daily Mail

Well bloody hell! Thank god for that! That's saved a few bob!

*Victorian England - Young lad tips his hat to the PM - "Thank you your lordship for this very generous gesture"

+1

there are a lot of people on here who are happy to live on their knees in happy ignorance. Slaves they are and slaves they shall ever be, shame really.

geordieindevon

Thanks Cleat...and here is the difference as to where the general populace are and where Cameron et al are (and no this is not jealousy of any kind simply facts about how much the PM is worth)

A Daily Mail article from June 2007 quoted Sunday Times Rich List compiler Philip Beresford, who had valued the Conservative Leader for the first time, as saying: "I put the combined family wealth of David and Samantha Cameron at £30 million plus. Both sides of the family are extremely wealthy."[204] Another estimate is £3.2 million, though this figure excludes the million-pound legacies Cameron is expected to inherit from both sides of his family.[205][206]

Courtesy of Wkipedia.

geordieindevon

Aggieboy wrote:

Let's look on the bright side. At least he's claiming expences he's entitled to, on a property he actually lives in. There's a couple of Labour MP's with sore ars*'s, who'll be wishing they did the same.

Quite Aggie and TBH the whole lot of them get under my skin. The expenses scandal was across the political spectrum and involved a number of MPs. At the time there was a huge amount of public criticism and calls for a revamp (which I believed occured) but we still have an unelected second chamber and that is still something we need to change to see true democracy.....

To some extent Mr Cameron's kitchen is the tip of an iceburg that needs to be sorted out properly starting with the House Of Lords being scrapped. But I guess that would be like turkey's voting from christmas...and it ain't going to happen.

Ollieda

geordieindevon wrote:

Even the Daily Mail readers are up in arms about this:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... treet.html

NOt that it normally takes a lot of them to get all angry - don't worry though, i'm sure they'll let us know it was immigrants or cyclists causing the problem really. They cause cancer don't you hear?

P_Tucker

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

+1

there are a lot of people on here who are happy to live on their knees in happy ignorance. Slaves they are and slaves they shall ever be, shame really.

And there are people on here who think they are slaves but all they do about it is post on the internet. Shame really.

2Phat4Rapha

Isn't Gordan Brown still drawing an MP's salary although he doesn't attend parliament? The loathsome Mandleson a Lord, as is yer wonderfully working class Prescott. Didn't take him long to eye up the ermine did it.

And of course all of 'em get big fat pensions afterwards at our expense.

shouldbeinbed

Scrumple wrote:

shouldbeinbed wrote:

Pedantic Bit: The £30k is an annual allowance so it adds up to £30K per year (not a few grand as you said) over the course of the parliament.

Pedantic reply:


This is an allowance taken on moving in to cover initial improvements. Allthough yearly, I can be almost certain it will be a one off. Hence, it will work out as I said.
If it is claimed every year, I'll eat my hat.

No mention has been made of the 2nd year's being taken.

I stand by what I said, because your pedantic bit it tosh on the facts.

The rest of that is back to sad jealousy, and more lack of appreciation of status and society realities.

I didn't claim Cam had taken and wasn't partisan in wondering where it had gone

As for the minor character assassination, yawn, you have your view i'll have mine.

Can't be faffed with a bigger squabble

Scrumple

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FIGHT





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geordieindevon

Scrumple wrote:

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FIGHT





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Capitalist and a Fascist!! Way to go!

Frank the tank

In reference to the OP, the man is a multi-millionaire hence, it dosen't matter how cold it is outside when you're well insulated. We're all in IT together but some are more in IT (unnessesarily) than others.

P_Tucker

This just in - there's a difference between telling the public how it actually is, and telling the public what they need to hear in order to get something done. Who knew?