Labour MPs Get £1000s to Appear on BBC

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You can see from the list below just who gets the majority of these fees, which the BBC calls 'modest'.

Any surprise they don't understand what modest really means?

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• Diane Abbott (Lab) - £3,278 for television appearances and travel
  
  
• David Blunkett (Lab) - £250 for a television appearance
  
  
• Glyn Davies (Con) - £1,650 for newspaper reviews and interviews
  
  
• Philip Davies (Con) - £1,290 in expenses for a trip to Florida to film a documentary
  
  
• Peter Hain (Lab) - £2,900 in expenses for a trip to South Africa to film a documentary
  
  
• Nia Griffith (Lab) - hospitality tickets to Wales vs Ireland Six Nations match worth £781
  
  
• Alan Johnson (Lab) - £12,000 for 40 hours of work for the BBC
  
  
• Tessa Jowell (Lab) - £750 for an interview and a television appearance
  
  
• Owen Smith (Lab) - hospitality tickets to Wales vs Ireland Six Nations match worth £781
  
  
• John Whittingdale (Con) - £150 for a radio appearance

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A BBC spokesman said: 'In general, we do not pay a fee to politicians to appear on BBC programmes to talk about party political matters. If they are making a filmed report or appearing as a presenter they may be offered a modest fee.'

BBC spends £24,000 on hospitality and appearance fees for just TEN MPs

• Labour MPs, including former Cabinet ministers, received the most cash
  
• Spending includes VIP tickets, all-expenses paid trips and appearance fees

By Rosie Taylor

The BBC has splashed out nearly £24,000 in hospitality and appearance fees for just ten MPs, including senior former Cabinet ministers.

Gifts to MPs from the taxpayer-funded corporation include VIP hospitality tickets and all-expenses paid trips abroad to film documentaries.

Labour MPs received the biggest payments, with former Home Secretary Alan Johnson being paid £12,000 for just 40 hours work at the BBC - the equivalent to £300 an hour - where he has made regular TV and radio appearances.

And Diane Abbott was paid £3,278 - including £500 for appearing on the quiz show Pointless, £600 for University Challenge, £500 for travel and an appearance on Sunday Morning Live in Northern Ireland and two payments of £839 for This Week.

BBC Wales provided tickets in its hospitality box worth £781 each for the Wales vs Ireland Six Nations rugby match at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff for Labour MPs Nia Griffith and Owen Smith.

While Peter Hain, a Labour MP who was born in Africa, was sent on an all-expenses paid trip to South Africa to film a documentary about its future, for which he received £2,900 to cover expenses.

Tory MP Philip Davies was also sent on a paid trip to Florida worth £1,290 to make a programme about the death penalty.

The payments were all declared on the MP's latest register of financial interests, which details income received by MPs outside their salary in approximately the last 18 months.

Former Home Secretary Alan Johnson received £12,000 for just 40 hours work at the BBC
Conservative MP Glyn Davies has received £1,650 in appearance fees

Cashing in: Former Home Secretary Alan Johnson (left) was paid £12,000 for 40 hours work at the BBC, while Tory MP Glyn Davies (right) has received £1,650 in appearance fees
Peter Hain was taken to South Africa on expenses to film a documentary
David Blunkett received an appearance fee for a radio show

Payments: Labour's Peter Hain MP was taken on a £2,900 trip to South Africa to film a documentary, while former Home Secretary David Blunkett was paid £250 for appearing on Sunday Morning Live on BBC One

Other recipients of the BBC's generosity include Conservative MP Glyn Davies, who was paid £900 for six newspaper reviews and £600 for interviews by BBC News 24, as well as £150, plus unspecified travel expenses, for appearing on BBC Wales show Pawb a'i Farn.

Former Cabinet minister Tessa Jowell declared receiving £250 for an interview and £500 for an unspecified television appearance at the BBC, while former Home Secretary David Blunkett was paid £250 for an appearance on Sunday Morning Live.

Tory John Whittingdale was paid £150 for an appearance on Any Questions.

Matthew Sinclair, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, told The Sun that the spending by the BBC was 'hard to justify when budgets are so tight'.

A BBC spokesman said: 'In general, we do not pay a fee to politicians to appear on BBC programmes to talk about party political matters. If they are making a filmed report or appearing as a presenter they may be offered a modest fee.'

Defending the tickets given to MPs to attend the rugby match at the Millennium Stadium, he added: 'The box at the Millennium Stadium is provided to us as a result of our broadcasting deal with the Welsh Rugby Union and is not subject to a separate payment. We invite a wide range of guests from political parties as well as stakeholders from a range of other organisations.'

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Not a MAJOR revelation, and certainly not in relation to many other BBC scandals coming to light in the past year. But it is an indication of how much more the BBC rewards Labour over Tories. I would imagine that the ratio of positive spin or propaganda to Labour is also something along similar lines.

Balance - BBC style

BBC pays seven times more to Labour MPs, figures show
The corporation paid more than £32,000 in fees to Labour MPs whilst only shelling out £4,650 to their Tory counterparts in the past year

By Hayley Dixon

The BBC has paid seven times more to Labour than Conservative MPs over the past year to appear on its programmes.

The corporation has shelled out nearly £40,000, but more than £32,000 of that went to Labour representatives compared to just over £4,650 to Tory MPs.

The newly-published figure, which is equal to almost 300 licence fees, is the combined payments made to 26 parliamentarians.

In total 11 Labour MPs, 12 Conservative MPs, Sir Menzies Campbell for the Liberal Democrats, one Green Party member and one member of the Welsh party Plaid Cymru were paid for appearances, including on flagship programmes such as Any Questions.

Alan Johnson, the former home secretary, was the biggest earner and was given £15,800 for 51 hours work contributing to radio and television broadcasts.

It means the former postman, who already picks up a £65,000 salary, is earning almost £310 per hour.

Government poverty tsar Frank Field has disclosed pay of "up to £5,000" for contributions to BBC shows.

Former Wales secretary Peter Hain was paid £5,000 – with the licence fee also covering his £2,500 expenses – to film a documentary about South Africa's Marikana mine massacre.

The payments have been declared in the updated register of members' financial interests and come as MPs are set to see their salaries rise 11% to £74,000.

The figures could lead to further accusations of left-wing bias against the corporation.

The declared payments also include a £600 fee handed to Labour's Diane Abbott for taking part in the four-hour filming of a University Challenge Christmas special by the corporation.

Tory Michael Fabricant was paid £1,500 by the makers of BBC Two's Have I Got News For You to be on the panel show in May. He spent two hours filming the programme and was accused of making a racist comment.
More than 10 MPs, including Michael Fabricant, Ming Campbell, David Davis, Ben Bradshaw and Jacob Rees-Mogg, got £150 for going on Radio 4's Any Questions.

But while Labour's Keith Vaz recorded his appearances as taking 45 minutes, Green MP Caroline Lucas claimed it took up 10 hours in "preparation, travel and recording".

Payments have also been made to politicians appearing on popular radio shows Moral Maze and Front Row.

Tory Glyn Davies received £900 for six interviews on BBC News 24, while Labour's Tessa Jowell was handed £1,325 for just 12 and a half hours work.
Tristram Hunt, the TV historian turned Labour MP, got £400 for two-and-a-half hour's work with the BBC History Magazine.