Politics

Difficult to know the best way to write this article because, after all, spending a cool half billion on government advertising does seem a lot. Of course, the adverts that remind people to get their tax returns in on time or return Working Tax Credit forms in time only benefit those who do not already have an an accountant who will arrange this for them at a fee which is tax deductible.

Follow up:

So the news today from Francis Maude that the ConDem government plan to cut back on advertising is perhaps no surprise. The simplest way to cut spending is to ensure people who cannot pay for advisors get things wrong and one way to do that is to not advertise the things that these people should be doing. That way, the rich are still getting their money because their accountants manage their tax affairs but the less well-off get it wrong and miss out.

Of course, the rich do make up quite a lot of government as it is now composed. One member of it was making £1800 a month for 12 hours work, according to theyworkforyou.com and the other money he was receiving would make your eyes water.

Now it would be correct to point out that he left that role before taking up a position in government but the Telegraph did an article about how he was being funded from government advertising that was published over a year ago. You can read it at

Tory MP criticises Government advertising – and provides adverts to Government

That particular MP has left his role with The Mission Group, who are referred to in the article, probably in the expectation that his party would form a majority government when the general election was held.

They failed to get the majority although they soon found some yellow that was really blue to support them so that power was achieved.

By now, you are probably wondering who the MP is.

None other than Francis Maude who has complained about the previous government spend on advertising while, at the same time, earning money from it