Proud Sir John's expenses an accident waiting to happen
I feel a great deal of sympathy for Sir John Bourn, who has just stood down as head of the National Audit Office. Yes, he has made some serious lapses of judgment in his choice of hotels and airline classes (too many five-star establishments and first-class trips at taxpayers' expense) but he was someone who acted with integrity throughout his many years in public office.
The only people to have has a bad word to say about him were those on the receiving end of his dogged pursuit of value for money in Whitehall.
Did he have to go? Perhaps. Interest in his expense account had been overshadowing the NAO's work for some time and, it should be said, those stories cast a guardian of the public purse in a poor light. It was thoroughly avoidable too.
For someone who had never sought the public eye this would have been extremely embarassing. Sir John had worked in some of Whitehall's more sensitive departments and so for a long time you would never see have seen a picture of him appear in any newspaper or magazine. Yet when I interviewed him (many years ago and without a photographer in tow needless to say) he was forthcoming and forthright in equal measure.
Labour MP Austin Mitchell may be a veteran member of the Public Accounts Committee (which works closely with the NAO, of course) but he has never been one to suffer fools gladly. And it's testimony to the high regard in which Sir John is held that he said of the resignation: 'It is a great shame. He is a devoted public servant who has done a splendid job. His departure will be a serious loss to us.'
Mitchell said the lack of suitable corporate governance system meant this was an 'accident' waiting to happen, adding: 'I think it was a cause for criticism but not for resignation, but he is a proud man'.
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