When British Public Opinion Turns Scrooge
Outrage over “government junkets” is absurd and counterproductive.
The Hotel Danieli: Dearth in Venice for the British?
Photographer: MARCO BERTORELLO/AFPThe great Victorian historian Thomas Macaulay once said that “we know of no spectacle so ridiculous as the British public in one of its periodical fits of morality.” The public is currently in one of its fits of morality over the political class living the high life at public expense. “Five-star hotels, VIP lounges, flowers and gifts from Fortnum & Mason are among £145 million of spending on government credit cards,” thundered The Times. The Mirror complains that Foreign Office officials have spent £500,000 ($610,000) in 12 months on rugs and wallpapers.
Every morning, over our cornflakes, we get to explode in fury reading that, as foreign secretary, Liz Truss spent £1,500 on a dinner for herself and her staff in a Jakarta restaurant and, as chancellor, Rishi Sunak spent £4,500 on hotel rooms in Venice when he was attending a G20 meeting of finance ministers in 2021.