Gordon Brown’s special £114k allowance

Ex-PM Gordon Brown claimed an extra £114,998 of cash from UK’s taxpayers last year, and..

16:40 19 July 2012

Ex-PM Gordon Brown claimed an extra £114,998 of cash from UK’s taxpayers last year, and that doesn’t yet include his £65,738 salary. 

 

The extra amount, which is just £2 less than the £115,000 limit, was a special allowance given to ex-PMs to help them with ‘public duties’. 

 

However, it seems like Brown isn’t providing enough public duties as he has only been seen speaking in the Commons three times since May of 2010. 

 

Instead, Brown is busying himself by writing a second book. He has also so far earned £1.4million from teaching and making speeches. The ex-politician insists, however, that all the money has gone straight to charity. 

 

According to Tory Rob Wilson, since the taxpayers paid the ex-PM for public duties, the public deserves to be told which ‘ex-PM duties’ Brown was performing. 

 

This was backed by the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which said that all claims should be opened to scrutiny. 

 

The public is just as adamant, telling the ex-PM through comments on the web to show them which charity he donates to. 

 

Aside from the special allowance claimed by ex-PMs, UK taxpayers are also paying for special advisers to the Coalition. The amount had just soared to £6.2m last year from just £4.8m in 2010.