4w ago

UK lawmaker for life helped VIP win £24 million PPE Covid contract. The VIP took the money and delivered nothing.

www.theguardian.com VIP contract introduced by Tory peer left government owed £24m

DHSC rejected as ‘unusable’ PPE supplied by company linked to Lord Chadlington, which later went bust

France: 70 million people. 348 Senators. 5 year mandate. Each French Senator represents a small region of France. Banned from having any second job.

Britain: 70 million people. 831 Lords and Barons. Overwhelming from Southern England. No second-job ban. Several are paid lobbyists. Lifetime job security. Many in their 70s and 80s get paid to show up, have tea and play cards with friends.

United Kingdom @feddit.uk

Conservative Peer for life helped VIP friend win £24 million PPE contract. The VIP took the money and delivered nothing.

www.theguardian.com /politics/2025/aug/02/lord-chadlington-vip-contract-ppe-tory-peer-government-owed-24m

42 4

You're viewing a single thread.

6 comments

France: 70 million people. 348 Senators. 5 year mandate. Each French Senator represents a small region of France. Senators are banned from having any second job in office.
Britain: 70 million people. 831 Lords and Barons. Overwhelming from Southern England. No second-job ban. Several are lobbyists. Lifetime job security. Many in their 70s and 80s get paid just to show up, have tea and play cards with friends.
- Then again, non-governmental members of the Lords can only claim up to £371 per day for attendance, and then only for normal business, or they can choose to claim half or none of it. In addition travel expenses can be claimed in special circumstances.
  Meanwhile, each Fr*nch senator costs the taxpayer approximately (per month) €5,423 base + €6,109 expenses + €8,696 staff allowance = €20,228 per senator per month.
  
  only claim up to £371 per day for attendance
  Man, I wish I was a pauper in government too.
  
  That is literally what I get per month from the UK government and is the sum total of my income. In fact the values are so similar I have to wonder if the two are linked somehow.
  
  I think it's weird that you're listing the UK cost per day and the French cost per month. £371 per day is still £11,130 per month, which is more than half of the French senators' amount (£11,130 is €12,745), and there are over twice the number of British Lords/Barons than French senators.
  
  Because French senators are paid per month, while Lords are not salaried, instead claiming per day they sit in the house. The idea is to have accomplished people in their field come and sit in the Lords on days when their expertise would be useful, rather than to have a professionalised body where members are expected to sit every day of the parliamentary session.
  So an eminent technologist may be made a Lord, and would be useful when such matters are discussed, but perhaps not so useful when debating agricultural land use.
  This is one of the reasons why there are so many members. They aren’t all expected to gather at the same time in the same place.

6 comments