Much debate has taken place over EnvironMENTAL, Food and Affairs Secretary David Milibands blog. Rumours abound at the cost of his blog to the tax-payer.
Guido first posted with a figure of £8,150 (but estimated the real cost to be nearer £50,000). One MP, Tom Watson dismissed that as nonsense and offered figures of £6,000 for setup and £4,500 to maintain annually. Guido came back with an annual wage of £62,400 for Milibands blog assistant.
Finally Miliband posted actual costs on the blog:
Initial Setup £6,000
Change over to DEFRA £1,250
Ongoing Technical costs £900 p.a.
Blog assistant £3,600 p.a. (£300 / 10 hours per month)
What no-one seems to be asking is:
A) Why tax-payers are paying ANY money towards a personal blog, especially when 11.2 million UK households (44%) are not online.
B) If one of the opposition parties gain power at the next election, no doubt the EnvironMENTAL secretary will be replaced- does this mean the blog will be forfeited to the new secretary? If it belongs to the tax-payer it should (yet another £6k for name change, no doubt).
