Union Boss has Bling Lifestyle

Marr Let Harman Off the Hook - Iain Dale
Brown Refuses to Hand Back Pension - Daily Mash
Government Contractor Mattinson Donates to Labour - Red Box
Mandelson : Labour To Cut Slow Rate of Spending Growth - WSJ
London Tory AM Triples Expense Claims to £102,965 - Tory Troll
FCO: British Minister's Bank Propped Up Mugabe - Telegraph
Brown Did it With Dignity - Quentin Letts
Sadly, the House Got It Wrong About Ivan Cameron - Matthew Parris
Only Two MPs Sign EDM Pledge to Offer Value for Money - Dizzy
Turner Blames Bank Crisis On Brown's "Light Touch" - Paul Waugh
Tories Raise Double Labour Donations - Electoral Commission
MEPs Not the Most Detested Politicians - Dan Hannan
Is Mandy's P45 in the Mail? - Ben Brogan

SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2009

Union Boss has Bling Lifestyle

Grandad Fawkes was a Fabian in his youth (we are all allowed a few follies), he once recounted to a young Guido the day he lost his faith in the Labour Party. He was in his mid-twenties, on the lowest rung of corporate management and was delighted to be invited out with his superiors to a fantastically expensive restaurant (on expenses).

This was in the miserable seventies, industrial strife was terrible, strikes and union unrest were marking the decline of the country. Despite all this Grandad Fawkes believed in the ideals of equality and justice for all. On a neighbouring restaurant table he noticed union bosses recognisable from so many television news broadcasts, where they would without fail bemoan the plight of their members. The union bosses were enjoying themselves immensely, ordering the best wines and cigars like plutocrats.In that moment he realised his naivety.

So it is no surprise to learn, that Unite's Derek Simpson is not satisfied with his annual £150,000 package, nor his £800,000 grace and favour union house. He stays weekdays at the Waldorf, despite living a mere half-an-hour from the office. "Nothing is too good for the workers" they say. Derek Simpson enjoys the use of a luxury suite that usually rents for £500 a night. Unite, his union, is Labour's biggest paymaster. Ordinary union members couldn't dream of the bling chauffeur-driven lifestyle he leads - paid for out of their dues.