UK Edition
Nick Clegg granted former prime minister's expenses allowance worth up to £115,000 a year
Nick Clegg has been granted an expenses allowance worth up to £115,000 a year that was previously only awarded to former prime ministers, it has emerged.
The former deputy prime minister and Liberal Democrat leader claimed £101,911 from the so-called public duty cost allowance last year.
The grant, which is reviewed annually, has traditionally been granted to former leaders to help cover the costs related to their public duties.
It comes on top of thousands of pounds of earnings Mr Clegg has made giving private speeches, including £22,500 for a two-and-a-half hour session for the bank Goldman Sachs.
Mr Clegg has been accused of hypocrisy given his time sought reducing the cost of politics during the years of the Coalition.
Andrew Bridgen, the Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire, said: “Where will this end? Will all MPs start getting grants to cover their costs for public duties after they leave parliament?”
Mr Clegg resigned as Liberal Democrat leader within hours of the result becoming clear after his party was kicked from office with all but eight MPs losing their seats.
A spokesman for Mr Clegg told the Sunday Times he had received the allowance for the same reasons as former prime ministers.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “It was agreed Mr Clegg should be paid [the allowance] for a short period after leaving office to help with some of the necessary costs and secretariat support associated with being in such a senior position in public life.”
Jonathan Isaby, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said:" The Cabinet Office should reveal who sanctioned giving Nick Clegg this allowance so that taxpayers can hold them to account.
"Given that the government of which he was part was set on reducing the cost of politics, he will struggle to avoid the accusation of hypocrisy.
"If no previous former Deputy Prime Minister has been eligible for this bonanza, it is totally unjustifiable for Nick Clegg to be claiming this pot of taxpayers' cash."
The latest revelation came as Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, Nick Clegg's wife, revealed how she rebelled against become a political wife and was disappointed to have been served Hellmann's mayonnaise at a lunch with Samantha Cameron at Downing Street.
In an interview with the Mail on Sunday about her new cook book, Mrs Gonzalez Durantez said she had refused "invitation after invitation" to dine with the Camerons at Chequers, and deliberately exiting the house when George Osborne visited, leaving her husband to order Thai takeaway.
"Now that I’ve spent years observing how grand people live,I’ve learned that the ultimate grand person’s food, found on all the most upper-class tables, is not caviar, truffles, virgin olive oil or fancy cheese. No, it is…Hellmann’s mayonnaise", she writes in her book.