Imperial Party forum

thomas davison

Tory MP learns lover's language and puts the �678 cost of lessons on expenses
�Nick Boles has put �678.80 on his expenses for language lessons
�He entered a civil partnership with Israeli Shay Meshulam last year and says he is 'entitled' to learn the language

�MPs can claim for language lessons if it helps with their job
�Last month Mr Boles said rich pensioners should be stripped of some benefits
By Kirsty Walker
PUBLISHED: 10:40, 9 August 2012 | UPDATED: 13:06, 10 August 2012

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Lessons: Tory Nick Boles has been learning Hebrew since he had a civil partnership with Israeli Shay Meshulam
A Tory MP was under fire last night for charging taxpayers for lessons he took to learn his partner�s language.
Nick Boles has spent �678.80 on studying Hebrew after entering into a civil partnership with Shay Meshulam last year.
Mr Boles, who has called for pensioners to be stripped of free prescriptions, winter fuel payments and bus passes, claims he is �entitled� to learn the ancient Jewish language.
The Grantham MP met Mr Meshulam on a Conservative Friends of Israel trip and they had a civil ceremony last March.
He is not the first MP to put language lessons on expenses.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt charged taxpayers over �3,000 to learn Mandarin after marrying a Chinese woman.
The pair are among nine MPs who got free classes in the last financial year.
Mr Boles said: �Language instruction is a service available to Members of Parliament. I took some Hebrew lessons. It is something I�m entitled to do.�

Mr Boles is tipped by some party insiders for promotion, but his expenses claim could prove embarrassing.

Matthew Sinclair, of the TaxPayers� Alliance, said: �Nick Boles has abused this taxpayer-funded perk in order to make conversation around the breakfast table a little easier.�

Rules: MPs can take language lessons if it helps with their work in Parliament
'If MPs want to learn the language of a foreign partner then they should pay for it themselves, not expect taxpayers to pick up the bill.

'Mr Boles' unapologetic response is particular galling, given that an attitude of entitlement was one of the root causes of the expenses crisis in the last Parliament.'

Last month Mr Boles said free bus passes and prescriptions must be axed for better-off pensioners.

He also wants other universal benefits, such as free television licences for the over 75s and winter fuel payments, to be means-tested from 2015.

Mr Boles conceded it will be politically difficult but insists that the Government must admit it cannot continue to protect the payments after the next election.

In a speech to the independent think tank, the Resolution Foundation, he said: 'If we are going to protect spending on pensions � as we should � equity between the generations requires that these cuts cannot only fall on adults of working age.

�We need to acknowledge now that we will not be able to continue the protection of these other benefits for better-off pensioners after 2015.'

And this prat wants to cut pensioners money so that he can live on his expenses--------------- Oh dear and everyone thought he was such a nice boy.