John Bourn

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Sir John Bourn, then an officer of the British House of Commons, was holder of the office of Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) and, as such, head of the National Audit Office. He took up his post in 1988 after a series of senior appointments in the Ministry of Defence and the Northern Ireland Office. On October 25, 2007, his office announced that he would step down early in 2008 after 20 years in the job to avoid any conflicts of interest with other posts he holds.

The decision followed criticism from opposition parties over Bourn's high spending, including a recent overseas trip that ran up taxpayer costs of more than £16,000. Bourn's wife accompanied him on the trip. His expenses have frequently been highlighted in the satirical magazine Private Eye.

Bourn said in a statement he would retire on January 31, 2008 in order to avoid any conflict with his post as chairman of the Professional Oversight Board, a body that oversees professional accountancy bodies.

Bourn has been a visiting professor at the London School of Economics since 1983,^[1] and is also a governor of the School.^[2] In March 2006 he was appointed "independent advisor on ministerial interests" by Tony Blair, to advise ministers on potential clashes between their public duties and private affairs, and to investigate any claims that the rules have been broken.^[3] However this appointment was revoked following the controversy around the C&AG's travel expenditure.

1 Early years
2 Criticism
- 2.1 Foreign Travel
- 2.2 Chauffeur
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Early years

Bourn attended Southgate County School from 1945-1951.^[4]

[edit] Criticism

[edit] Foreign Travel

The National Audit Office has a high international profile and carries out much work in the field of international audits. As its head, the C&AG is required undertake overseas travel. Nevertheless, Sir John came under criticism for the extent of his overseas travel. Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that, in the three years to March 2007, Sir John made 43 overseas visits in support of the NAO's international work. On 22 of these, he was accompanied by his wife Ardita. Sir John claimed £336,000 in travel expenses in addition to his £164,430 salary.^[3]

Records show that he stayed almost exclusively in five star hotels,^[3] such as the Hotel Sacher in Vienna, the Astoria in St Petersburg, the Gresham Palace hotel in Budapest and the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh. Sir John's flights were exclusively first class on long haul and business class on shorter visits^[5] He also travelled to Croatia, Turkey, Jordan and Bulgaria for discussions or the launch of twinning projects involving co-operation between the NAO and other state audit offices. The records show that the couple enjoyed a week-long stay in the Bahamas in 2006 to attend the Caribbean Organisation of State Audit Offices Congress.

A spokesman for Sir John claimed that he normally stayed at hotels which were "recommended by the host organisation"^[6], however an investigation by The Daily Telegraph suggested that on several of the most expensive trips, no such recommendations were made. Sir John's expenses emerged after a freedom of information request by Private Eye magazine.

[edit] Chauffeur

It emerged that Sir John rode to and from his office in Victoria, London in a chauffeur driven vehicle at the taxpayers' expense. The financial cost of this is unknown due to it being funded directly from the consolidated fund and therefore not being included within the NAO's accounts^[7].