£40,000 - the real cost of reading David's diary

-- When David Miliband became the first Cabinet minister to launch an online diary a few months back, he boldly declared that he intended to "bridge the gap between politicians and the public". What Miliband failed to mention was just how much the "blog" would be costing the British taxpayer.

According to research by the Liberal Democrats' urbane front bencher, Chris Huhne, the amount is somewhere approaching £40,000 a year.

Huhne has come to this whopping figure after tabling a written question to the recently promoted Environment Secretary's office earlier this month to ask what sort of manpower was involved in maintaining the site. He was told that two members of staff employed by Defra had recently dedicated as much as 40 per cent of their office time working on it.

So far, claims Huhne, this also means the blog has cost around £1 a word to upkeep. "How can it cost £40,000 a year of taxpayers' money for staff to capture David Miliband's hot air on climate change?" he says. --