Scandal-free activity holidays

Activity and adventure holiday specialist Activities Abroad have been examining ways in which MPs might have spent their expenses had they done the work they claimed for themselves.

The company is not saying that MPs should be spending the taxpayer’s hard earned cash on holidays but here’s what a few of them could have got for our money if they’d booked with Activities Abroad.

Sir Menzies Campbell - £10,000 to decorate a flat
Menzies might have considered popping down to his local DIY store and buying a roller, paint pallet and some lovely magnolia emulsion. With the money he saved he could have taken himself, Lady Elspeth and two close friends on a 13 day adventure in stunning Costa Rica.

Oliver Letwin - £2,000 to replace a leaky pipe under a tennis court at his Somerset home
Oliver could have chosen to foresake his own soggy tennis court in favour of one of the local municipal facilities. Having done so, he, and his two teenage children, could have enjoyed a family holiday in beautiful Tuscany discovering thrilling adventure sports such as canyoning and rock climbing.

Douglass Hogg (QC) - £2,000 to clear a moat
If, like the majority of us, this son of Lord Hailsham lived in a “normal” house rather than on his Lincolnshire estate then he could have spent his moat-cleaning £2,000 on an activity weekend in the Lake District. Suitably revitalized after 3 nights in beautiful Borrowdale, he would still have had well over half the money left to install a kayak course in his now not so clean moat.

Barbara Follett - £300 to have a Chinese needle point rug repaired
It’s hard to not feel some sympathy for poor Barbara. After all, how many among us have not felt the need to have a Chinese needle point rug repaired at some time in our lives?

Nevertheless, If Barbara had dug out her crochet needle and a bit of thread then the Minister for Tourism could have joined the Hoggs in the Lake District rather than slumming it in one of the properties she owns with author husband Ken in London, Hertfordshire, Cape Town and Antigua.

Gordon Brown - £6,577 paid to his brother Andrew for arranging cleaning services
If Gordon had done what most of us do then he could have donned his pinny and feather duster, saved himself £6,577, taken the family on a fabulous winter holiday to Savalen in Norway and still had thousands left with which to buy Christmas presents.

Alex Salmond - £54.75 for towels, £540 for bed linen, £650.40 in curtains and £1,093 for a bed
Rather than forking out for this little lot, Alex could simply have booked any Activities Abroad holiday. Towels, bed linen, curtains and beds are included at no extra expense on all our holidays.

All these holidays and many more can be booked with Activities Abroad.

See activitiesabroad.com for more information.