Bishops’ expenses in the House of Lords were defended this week, as critics said they undermined the Church of England’s comments on MPs.
The president of the National Secular Society, Terry Sanderson, observed that some claims suggested a legalistic attitude similar to that in the House of Commons. He said: “Most of the bishops seem to be playing by the rules, although it is difficult to see why Tom Butler needed to attend the Lords on 83 days when he voted only 10 times. Given that he lives on the doorstep, I suppose it is easy for him to pop over, sign in and then pop back to his palace.
“We won’t be taking any sermons from him about the propriety of claiming expenses until he comes up with a satisfactory explanation for this.”
You just can’t make this stuff up. Money is truly the root of all evil and dishonesty. No one is exempt.
1. Bishop shave a constitutional responsibility at present to participate in the House of Lords. Bishop Tom, I understand, is tasked with a special responsibility for the Lords. That means not just speaking but being present, attending meetings, putting the church’s view etc.
2. He only claims the standard daily expense which means he does not claim anything from the church as he fulfills his constitutional responsibility.
One could put this story in an entirely different way. Bishop Tom fulfills his constitutional responsibility more than any other bishop in England and gives 83 days of his time to this public service for just the cost of his expenses.
I should say – some bishops have this constitutional responsibility – 25 bishops sit in the House of Lords.
more questions than answers….inspired me to blog!
http://www.sbarnabas.com/blog
Someone needs to pursue this methinks
No wonder the ABC called for an end to the investigations! He seems to have wanted them stopped before the bishops could be lumped in with the secular MPs! Ah. Well. There is that whole bit about “bishops” and money going back to the Didache … for good reason.