Sandwich Course

‘SUCH is the security surrounding President Bush’s trip that we are not even privy to what he will have for dinner, let alone the identity of his pre-dinner snacks.

Education Secretary Charles Clarke – before and after lunch

Suffice it to say that they will all be from Marks & Spencer’s easy-to-swallow range lest the President meets a grisly end courtesy of a rogue cheese twist or a particularly vicious pork scratching.

However, if the food is not up to the President’s standards, he would be well advised to take a short walk across Whitehall and drop into the Department of Education.

There he is guaranteed the best food in the whole of London, a fact borne out by the £600,000 annual bill for departmental refreshments last year.

To put that figure in some kind of perspective, the Department of Health spent £88,503 on hospitality in the same time.

Even within the Department of Education, it represents a 30% increase on the previous year when Estelle Morris was Secretary Of State.

One civil servant tells the Independent: ”Just think what an extra £200,000 would do for an inner-city primary school.”

Or how many first-class tickets to watch the rugby in Australia it could buy.’

Posted: 19th, November 2003 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink