Civil Servants at the Ministry of Defence have been paid bonuses this year of £47 million.
The payments are, apparently, performance related although quite how ‘performance’ is measured in a department that deals in armed conflict I am at a loss to understand. Do they get a payment based on a reduction in injuries or deaths? One can only imagine with a feeling of horror!
Forgetting the dubious justifications given publicly for such payments, I wonder how any future government criticism of the bonuses that bankers have been paying themselves can ever be taken seriously from now on.
Added to which, the troops on the front line of Afghanistan only get their normal wages for performing a far more serious and life threatening job every minute of every day.
It is also worth noting that we would not have heard a thing about these payments were it not for a written reply to a Tory parliamentary question.
It seems that the officials in Whitehall are still playing fast and loose with public money. Time for it to be brought back under control!!
