It has emerged that Mr Blair is running up a bill of at least £2million a year for a police protection team larger than the Prime Minister's. He is of course not paying the bill. The rest of us are.

The former Premier, who is estimated to have earned £15 million on leaving office and hopes to be appointed first president of Europe has a 16-strong Scotland Yard close protection team which follows him around the world. This is a disgraceful waste of public money at a time when the less well off are asked to make sacrifices.

Police protection is a benefit enjoyed by politicians, members of the Royal family and others. As a benefit it should be treated like other benefits and be means tested.

Given the level of incomes and assets of those receiving protection there would be a considerable saving for the public purse.

A lovely story going the rounds is about a young attractive lady who attended last year's Tory Conference in Birmingham.

Ms Squire (for that was her name) of the Taxpayers Alliance was enjoying a round of evening receptions. At one, she was approached by a middle-aged delegate who told her: ‘You must come back to my room.’ Despite Ms Squire’s refusal, the man continued to press his case, eventually thrusting one of his room cards for the Birmingham Hyatt into her hand and saying: ‘Come to my room at 3.30am, when the parties are over, and I will give you the time of your life.’ Ms Squire accepted the key – but with no intention of taking him up on his offer.

She then went to another reception, where she was pestered by a second, younger man in similarly persistent terms. Exasperated, she eventually reached for the first man’s room card and smiled: ‘OK. Here is the key to my room. Come up at 3.30am and I’ll give you the time of your life.’

She was left in little doubt that her ploy to bring the two ardent men together had succeeded. She encountered one of them the following morning. He expressed his fury about his early-hours meeting. So Ms Squire might expect to be given a wide berth by her male fan club as the Tories meet in Manchester this week.

Last night Ms Squire refused to identify the delegates concerned or to comment on the story. A friend said: ‘A lady never tells.’

On the BBC Radio 4 program PM there has been a minor controversy involving Boris Johnson the London Mayor and the question of drinking and riding a bicycle.

On Lantau Island in Hong Kong private cars are banned and the usual method of conveyance on Lantau is by cycle, bus, taxi or golf buggy. A friend of a friend of mine allegedly has a conviction for being drunk in charge of one of the latter.

On Sunday we went to the Farmers Market at Winchester on the No 1 Bus Service from Southampton to Winchester courtesy of the free travel scheme offered to Pensioners. It is amazing how different the view sitting upstairs on a bus is to sitting in a car. When we arrived at the market there was no sign of a recession.

I had intended offering Maura lunch at a Winchester Restaurant. Instead we had a burger from the stand offering Water Buffalo Burgers and it was delicious. Subsequently we bought a special bread and some local cheese and enjoyed that at home.

There used to be a Farmers Market in Southampton but that seems to have disappeared. Pity.

I do like a good put down. For anyone who did not catch a recent letter in The Times I offer the following extract without comment.


"Sir, I was astounded to hear that Lord Myners is seeking God (report, Times Online, July 19). All the time I knew him at Marks & Spencer he seemed to think he was God.

Kevin Lomax
Former senior independent director of Marks & Spencer"

“I don’t care what the government does anymore. They can announce cuts, they can announce increases, they can set the whole thing to music and do a karaoke. I have completely lost faith, as has most of the country, in anything this government says. You can see it every week in PMQs when the Prime Minister stands up and says ‘black is white’.”

As a former member of the Labour Party (best part of forty years) and one whose instincts are still left of centre it gives me no satisfaction to endorse the comments above by the Leader of the Opposition. I am afraid that the Labour Party needs to clean out the stable occupied by the present MPs, reflect for a few years in opposition and come back with some sense of values other than self interest.

I have refrained from comment on the deplorable state of affairs about expenses claimed by Members of Parliament at Westminster. There is little I can add to the condemnation made by almost everyone who has an opinion and who has commented.

I am however also disgusted that the Speaker (it is said) appears to be making it a condition of his resignation that his son be selected by the Labour Party for the (currently) safe Glasgow seat the speaker currently represents. The Labour Party (or any other party for that matter) should not manipulate the system whereby a parliamentary seat is treated as part of some sort of fiefdom belonging to the present incumbent. There was a similar ploy recently in Hull for the seat to be vacated soon by John Presott. To the credit of the Labour Party members in that constituency the idea was rejected. I hope the Labour Party members in the Speaker's constituency will exercise similar sound judgement and the Labour Party machine will not be leaning on the local association to become party to such an arrangement.

That the Speaker will of course be 'rewarded' and take up a seat in the House of Lords is deplorable and to compound that calumny by manipulating the system to try and get the Speaker's son elected to the House of Commons would be a disgrace totally.

Mr Speaker is due to address parliament later today and one hopes he will retire immediately but I will not be rushing to the bookmakers.

Two days later -
For anticipating political events and betting advice I have awarded myself nul points.