Over the past 15 years, China has built hundreds of new cities.
Here in the UK, it takes us four years to repair a clock tower. I’m talking about Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben. It will cost £40 million, which includes a ‘full refurbishment’ with the addition of a new visitor centre at the bottom of the tower and installing a lift to the top.
In addition to this £40 million, there is the planned renovation of the Houses of Parliament at a staggering estimated cost of £3.5 billion. As a Grade 1 listed building, you can bet your bottom dollar that figure will double as new things are ‘discovered’ during the renovation, meaning yet more renovation. The Houses of Parliament is a grossly outmoded building for modern politics.
The moment a new politician walks into that Victorian, Potteresque, gothic fantasy, with its 100 staircases, more than 1,000 rooms and three miles of passages, something hits them – a massive sense of self-importance, privilege and ultimately a self-serving sense of right. Perfect for Jacob Rees-Mogg and his like, or the bewigged judges and the hereditary lords hanging out in the many heavily subsidised eateries and bars, all delighted to be embraced by the 19th-century backdrop, cosseted from the nasty realities of the outside world.
But we live in the 21st century and our politicians should reflect that, and they just don’t in this archaic building. And to shell out the enormous amount of money bandied about for the renovation is obscene when so much money is desperately needed in far more important areas.
An average attendance in the House of Commons...
unlesss they happen to be discussing something really important, like their expenses and pay.
Far, far better to create a modern, environmentally sustainable parliamentary building fit for the 21st century, dispensing with the stockinged waiters, wigs and gowns and all the other antiquated trappings. Perhaps then many of the 800 peers would drop out of using the place as “the best club in London” as one peer said to me when I visited with him a few years ago, with many of them collecting their £300 per day for snoozing on the benches after eating subsidised booze and food.
Collecting £300 per day for a Lord is exhausting..
The Lords member's dining room.
And the Commons dining room.
Above a typical menu
Free taxies home for MPs after !!p.m. No smelly tube for them.
And while on politicians expenses here is Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt's new bathroom...
A snip at £44,000 for the taxpayer installed exclusively for Hunt's own personal use in his London penthouse office. I'm sure all those 1% pay rise nurses will be pleased for him. This is what I mean by self-serving.
The parliamentary buildings sitting in such a fabulous location should become the most wonderful complex for the people, with money raised from both public and private sources.
An example of a 21st-century (aka 19th-century) occupant is Sir Robert Rogers (above), who when he retired recently as clerk of the commons was applauded by the house, which he described as “really, really moving”. But Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said: “I think applause is a bit modern for the House of Commons.” See what I mean. And here is Mr Rees-Mogg in his home setting...
Jacob Rees-Mogg's home blends perfectly with his work environment.
And then there is the Buckingham Palace ‘emergency’ refurbishment, costing the taxpayer £369m. Don’t get me started on that.
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