Sir John Redwood, the former Conservative member of parliament for Wokingham, has hit out at the costs being incurred by his successor, Liberal Democrat Clive Jones.
Writing on his personal blog Sir John, who was recently made a Lord, said: “In my last full year as an MP (2023-4) I claimed £103,266 in office costs and staff expenses.
“Two people helped me do my job. I claimed no travel , no one off expenses. I supplied my own car and diesel for the task. My two staff members concentrated on following up and handling the detail of constituency cases which I discussed with them.
“I was grateful for the efficient, well informed and caring way they dealt with a wide range of sensitive issues for people.
“I did not have any staff to write speeches, research problems, monitor political agendas and highlight issues that needed government attention. I regarded all that as my job as the MP. I wrote my own blog seven days a week to keep constituents informed and paid for it myself.
“We replied to all incoming emails and letters from constituents by the next working day following receipt.
“The Lib Dem replacement in Wokingham, Mr Clive Jones, claimed £178,207 in staff and office costs for the part year 2024-5 he has served as MP, or an annualised rate of £237,000.
“So he has landed Wokingham and national taxpayers with a 130% increase in the bill for his office.
“The main reason is large parts of the job of being an MP which I did myself he expects others to do for him.
“His staff list runs to nine staff employed for part of the year 2024-5. IPSA lists a chief of staff, a communications officer, a senior parliamentary assistant, a constituency support officer, a senior casework team leader and four caseworkers during the first year.
“It is difficult to see why he cannot handle his own communications with the public and media, or why he needs a parliamentary assistant when an MP has full access to Commons papers, and can go into the Chamber to find out what is going on.
“He should not need someone on the state payroll to design and advise on campaigns.
“On top of his claims for his large office, he claimed £20,995 for accommodation in his first nine months, and £2,579 for travel including some for dependants.
“This is an expensive MP.
“No wonder our taxes have to go up with public servants like him undermining public sector productivity, unwilling or unable to do the job they are paid to do without people to do most of it for them.”
In a statement for Wokingham Today, MP Clive Jones reacted to Sir John’s claims.
He said: “Becoming the member of parliament for Wokingham has been one of the biggest honours of my lifetime, and one I take seriously.
“Being an MP is a full-time job, yet John Redwood treated it as more of a casual part-time role.
“Instead of fully focusing on his parliamentary duties, he earned £692,438 from other jobs between 2019 and 2023.
“He should have been working for Wokingham constituents; he instead chose to prioritise his personal financial interests over the people he was elected to serve by working two days a week for other organisations.
“I have not taken any part-time roles outside of my responsibilities to represent the hard-working people of Wokingham in Westminster.
“But more significant than his massive earnings from his work outside of parliament is the fact that John Redwood was simply considered by many to be an inadequate Member of Parliament.
“During the 37 years he served as the MP for Wokingham, he gave an average of just 36 spoken contributions in Parliament per year.
“Since my election in July 2024, I have spoken over 200 times.
“John Redwood mentioned Wokingham in parliament just 79 times in 20 years, that’s roughly four times a year, which was less than the number of times he spoke about the EU.
“I have spoken about Wokingham 98 times since my election 18 months ago.
From 2020 to 2024, John Redwood incredibly spoke more times about fish than Wokingham.
“It’s clear where his loyalties lie, and it evidently was not with constituents.
“My dedicated staff and I have dealt with over 8,000 cases from constituents and regularly manage over 200 cases at any one time.
“I’ve received over 60,000 emails since being elected.
“These cases are often sensitive and require a great deal of dedication and empathy, which my caseworkers provide day in, day out for the benefit of Wokingham residents.
“When John Redwood stood down, he and his staff did not hand over a single constituent case to me, unlike many other MPs who passed over casework to their successors.
“His persistent slander of my staff is true to his character – a blatant disrespect for the residents of Wokingham, their concerns, and the democratic choice they made in 2024.”
Reacting to claims that he is an expensive MP, Jones said: “I have remained within all of my budgets, including staffing and office budgets which are set for all MPs by the Independent Parliamentary Standards authority.
“Constituents will make their own minds up about whose approach they prefer.”
