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Loading ...Presumably the added cost of visiting the cricket was marginal next to the entirely reasonable aim to meet with Blair and GWB. It would be interesting to know the numbers.
Pity he wasn’t here for the last day at the Oval.
Howard feeds his addiction
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of April Leave a comment on this post
Ah, John Howard. Rarely does a week go by, seemingly, in which “cricket” isn’t uttered by the self-confessed addict. And yesterday it was revealed he spent AUD$90,000 during his time in London last year to go to the cricket. Now, Australian readers will grab the Corridor shaped voodoo doll when I say this, but sod it: it must be brilliant to have a PM that loves cricket.
Ours - for all his good points - doesn’t like the game. Ha! Actually, he does like it, but the New Labour dictatorship, brewed in 1997 and currently resting in a Tuppawear container in Gordon Brown’s apartment above Number 10, decided football was far too cool to ignore. And so it was that our Tony chose the “beautiful” game over the five-day drinkathon, otherwise known as cricket.
I thought I’d mentioned this before, that Tony was a closet-cricket fan, but alas couldn’t find it.
Anyway, have a look at Johnnie Howard’s expenses:
JOHN Howard and his entourage spent more than $90,000 on accommodation and meals in a four-night stay at one of London’s most exclusive hotels.
The visit last July, which included two visits to Lord’s for the Ashes Test cricket series, was part of a 10-day trip in which the Prime Minister visited his fellow Iraq war leaders, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the US President, George W.Bush.Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws show the trip cost taxpayers $613,947.57, or $61,314 a day.
Tags: expenses, freedom-of-information, government, john-howard, money, steve-waugh, tony-blair |
5 Responses to “Howard feeds his addiction”
April 1st, 2006 at 10.13 pm
April 2nd, 2006 at 12.25 pm
I feel utterly ashamed to have John Winston Howard as a fellow cricket fan. If there were a way to have him expelled from the brethren, I’d jump at it. His love of cricket is over-played in the name of populism. It seems, as far as I can tell, to be confined to Test cricket between Australia and England, and an unhealthy attraction for Australian Test captains (especially if their names are Bradman, Taylor or Waugh).
Now Bob Hawke, *there* was a cricket-loving PM worthy of the tag - at least he played the game at a reasonable level…
April 2nd, 2006 at 8.11 pm
Actually one of the many many achievements of Steve Waugh as captain (there were quite a few) was that he pushed John Howard as far into the background as was feasible. I think he regarded JH’s fulsome behaviour as a bit unseemly, and as attempting to ride on the coat-tails of the Aust team’s success. JH is a painfully tedious commentator when the ABC gives him a slot each year, and the way he schedules his trips around cricket dates … well, he’s not really a battler is he?
[Thus endeth the anti-Howard rant. Don't you reckon Waugh has a slightly forced smile in the photo?]
April 2nd, 2006 at 11.13 pm
We shouldn’t forget the time that Steve Waugh turned down an invitation to a lunchtime barbie with Howard, GW Bush and dozens of Johnny’s hand-picked mates because it clashed with the New South Wales team’s season launch. That act alone makes SRW an Immortal in my view.
April 4th, 2006 at 3.21 pm
Well, I’ve voted for John Howard four times, but it aint coz he likes cricket.
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