It is now eight years since Wallpaper-gate, when Lord Irvine famously spent £650,000 on redecorating his Westminster accommodation, including £59,000 on hand-printer wallpaper.
Inspired by this, Sarah Teather is fishing around for similar scandal by asking every Cabinet minister how many times their offices have been redecorated in the last five years. Only one answer so far:
Sarah Teather: To ask the Leader of the House how many times his ministerial office has been decorated in each of the last five years. [87645]
Mr. Straw: As required by the terms of the lease conditions, set by Crown Estate, my office has been decorated once in the last five years. This took place in 2002. It still looks okay.
Love him or hate him, Jack Straw does have a good sense of humour…
Why Sarah Teather didn’t add ‘and at what cost’ to the end of her question is hard to fathom.
redtamarin[at]gmail.com
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What people never understood about Lord Irvine’s official residence is that it was all part of a long-running redecoration of the whole Palace, agreed by all parties and in place since the early 1990s. The idea was to get back to the position that the building had been in when first built. Lord Irvine simply happened to be in charge at the time the Lord Chancellor’s residence happened to come up. He’s had no access anyway since 2003 when he left office - it was never his own private flat.
David Boothroyd said this on July 23rd, 2006 at 8:56 pm