Parris Match: On Expenses

Writing in The Times today, columnist Matthew Parris offers a welcome alternative to the tiresome ‘They Still Don’t Get It’ line on MPs’ expenses.

And he sheds an interesting light on the bills of newspaper folk at the same time.

For fear of his proprietor accusing me of kleptomania I’ll keep the copy and paste to a minimum but the rest is well worth a read:

I last week submitted to this newspaper my expenses claims for the three annual party conferences. For nearly a month I got to stay in three expensive hotels, with restaurant and bar bills all reimbursable by my employers — reimbursements being allowable free of income tax on the ground that the costs were incurred “solely and necessarily in the performance of [my] duties”.