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The Kinnocks have amassed six public pensions between them!
Article continues http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6493969.eceGLENYS KINNOCK, the new minister for Europe, has amassed six publicly funded pensions worth £185,000 per year with her husband Neil, the former leader of the Labour party.
They have already received up to £8m of taxpayers’ money in pay and allowances, he as a European commissioner and she as a member of the European parliament.
The pair are already drawing payments from three of their taxpayer-funded pensions. Glenys Kinnock, 64, soon to be elevated to the House of Lords alongside her husband, is collecting a teacher’s pension and from next month is entitled to another from Brussels with an estimated annual value of £48,000.
Lord Kinnock, 67, is receiving one pension as a former MP and a second for his service in Brussels, together worth more than £112,000.
Glenys Kinnock is simultaneously drawing a ministerial salary of £83,275. Her job entitles her to a further ministerial pension.
After she retires from her job she will be eligible to draw a further UK-based pension related to her service as an MEP, worth £19,730 a year.
Neil Kinnock, who resigned last week as unpaid chairman of the British Council to avoid “perceived conflict of interest” with his wife’s ministerial role, receives a pension of £83,089 for his service as European transport commissioner between 1995 and 1999 and vice-president of the commission from 1999 to 2004.
He receives a further £28,936 a year for his 25 years’ service as an MP, including time as leader of the opposition. He also claimed £13,700 of allowances while a member of the House of Lords during 2007-8.
During their time in Brussels both Kinnocks claimed a housing allowance on top of their incomes, even though they lived in the same home. This alone would have netted the couple almost £600,000 over 10 years.
“The Kinnocks are Brussels’s very own Lord and Lady Expenses,” said Mats Persson of Open Europe, the London-based think tank that calculated the Kinnocks’ earnings.
Nice to see the old socialist principles live on.
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Well they have done....
Their daughter Rachel was paid as Glenys Kinnock's researcher. And their son, Stephen, spent eight years working for the British Council in Brussels.
I bet they couldn't find a bigger cheerleader for the EU; but Brown hasn't thought this through, the opposition parties will always be able to point to her family having their snouts in the trough to the tune of £10 millon.
All together now!
It suits today the weak and base,
Whose minds are fixed on pelf and place
To cringe before the rich man's frown,
And haul the sacred emblem down.
Then raise the scarlet standard high.
Within its shade we'll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We'll keep the red flag flying here.
And therein lies the reason why I HATE - in every possible definition of the word - champagne socialists. That particularly loathsome brand of hypocrite that likes to make out they're still one of the 'brothers', while not missing the slightest opportunity to feather their own nest or stick their nose in the trough.
I await my admonishment from one of the resident NuLabour apologists ...
Kinnock was a long-time critic of the House of Lords, and his acceptance of a peerage led him to be accused of hypocrisyby many people.
.......and that noise you can hear is Kier Hardy revolving in his grave.
Kinnock was a socialist until he made the Labour Party unelectable.
I know what you mean, they go on about solidarity with their comrades but grab the money and amass a fortune with no compunction as to the double standards and hypocrisy of it all.
I'd love to join in the singing Martin, but I fear I will choke on the words.
You have really defined a champagne socialist extemely well.
Reminds me of the alternative words to the Red Flag, so very, very true
The working class can kill my arse
I've got the foreman's job at last
All together now brothers, sing up.
As used to be sung at rugby club's everywhere
Ever wonder how Steven Kinnock landed a plumb job in the British Council, most recently heading up one of their flagship offices in St Petersburg...? Might have something to do with Neil Kinnock being the Chairman of the British Council.
Funny how these socialists don't seem to mind a bit of nepotism when it comes to keeping their family in the troughing business.