Nice perks, UK style

Margaret Thatcher's £500,000 expenses claim revealed | Politics | The Guardian: "Lady Thatcher has claimed more than half a million pounds from a taxpayer-funded allowance for former British prime ministers, official figures reveal.

Thatcher heads a list of former prime ministers who have claimed £1.7m in the past five years from the public duties cost allowance, set up to cover office and secretarial costs incurred for public duties.

Figures revealed by the Cabinet Office minister, Francis Maude, in response to a written parliamentary question by the Conservative MP Philip Hollobone, show that Thatcher has received £535,000 from the state since 2006, and John Major, who set up the allowance in 1991, has received £490,000. Tony Blair has claimed since 2007 and received £273,000. The figures reveal he received £169,076 in 2008-9, more than his salary in office."

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