another politician on the take - swinney and the football

[AuntieBiotics]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ceqe385qen2o

£45k for Swinney and two aides to fly business class to Boston for the football. SUCH value for money. Almost as good value as the guy watching the footie on his ipad.

£10095 on car hire - WTF?

They've all got their noses in the trough.

Politicians all live on a totally different planet. Slippery self serving power hungry liars the lot of them.

He really does think that he is an important figure on the global stage. Deluded. At our expense.

Heard him trying to justify it today
What a weasel

Same school as Murrell. Literally.

They didn't go only to watch the football.

I’m still coming to terms with the permanent secretary and his office managing to spend £10k on an away day in Aberdour.

This was additional cost associated with going to watch the football.

Last thing I am is a Swinney/SNP fan but this is ridiculous. He’s the leader of the country. The PM flies on a private jet. He was representing Scotland internationally which is part of his job. Of course he should’ve been there. And of course he didn’t fly economy. Ffs.

It wasn't just a jolly though. It was a custom designed traiing session and workshop. For a company to design and deliver a workshop for that level of executives the cost of £5.5k would not be unusual.

Do you think the First Minister was driving his own hire car around the USA? It will be for some sort of car+driver service for the time they were there.

Shock horror! Man with important job flies business class.

He is really not that important. Nobody in the US would have a clue who he was. There are no security risks, nothing to stop him hiring a car and driving himself. When we have underfunded schools and massive NHS waiting lists it is a jolly we cannot as a country afford. Still, as long as Swinney gets to pretend he's a global leader at the footie, right?

You’re being ridiculous. This small minded petty nonsense is not a good look at all. There are plenty of criticisms you can throw at the SNP - they basically just claim everything is “free” regardless of the long term consequences and people keep voting for them, can’t blame them for continuing with a working strategy I guess. - but he absolutely should’ve been there. He is the leader of our country love or hate him and he should’ve been there. Jealousy is a cruel mistress.

The last thing I am is a John Swinney fan but whether or not Americans know who he is surely isn’t remotely relevant. Wasn’t it Scotland’s first World Cup in ages? I wouldn’t be at all surprised if leaders of other nations, particularly ones who don’t often qualify, attended matches. Doesn’t really seem out of the ordinary. Neither do business class flights tbh.

Read the room though Swinney. Cost of living crisis, Murrell trial, no government money to pay for anything, bbc sending fewer pundits. It’s just the last in a long line of profligate spending, most of which seems to be football related tbh.

You’re consistently coming across as someone who hates Swinney/the SNP (and I sympathise). And is looking for any excuse to bash them.

And/or you’re naive/gullible/stupid enough to buy into the rage baiting of the press.

Ahh, but it's public money and therefore to be spent by the nose in troughers any which way they choose.

Swinney flying business class is one thing, but why did he require 2 aides to fly business class too?
Is he incapable of managing a flight on one part of a plane on his own?

Who are the aides?
And why is the tax payer funding their tickets?

As for Swinney being an ambassador for Scotland, well, the regular Scottish fans who paid fortunes for flights and tickets themselves were the best ambassadors for Scotland.
They were certainly a lot more fun than ‘honest’ John,

Trade talks in Kentucky?
Swinney and his entourage should be in Edinburgh sorting out the shit show they’ve created for hard working Scots who don’t enjoy freebies, gold plated pensions and a never ending gravy train.

Great to see the SNP living down to expectations as per usual.

I seriously cannot get over the sheer brass neck and greed of these people.

In light of the Murrell scandal, anyone with a sense of decency and even a very shaky grasp of a moral compass would cut the freebies back to an absolute minimum.

Anyway, I have it on good authority that Swinney can’t attend any meeting without 5 essential aides in tow.

I am very much not a fan of the SNP or Swinney but I think that the First Minister of Scotland should absolutely have been at the match given Acoltand had qualified for the World Cup in years. I also think he should have flown business or first class.

However the amount spent seems to be pretty excessive. How the hell did they manage to spend so much?!

This exactly

Swinney and "flights" has a long and chequered history. This is completely unsurprisingly to anybody that has ever dealt with any travel requests from the Scottish Parliament.