THE disclosure that British taxpayers may end up forking out £30 million for the the new £250 million EU parliament building in Strasbourg - complete with its £10,000 luxury shower unit for each MEP - is bound to anger right-minded people.

And especially so when this bloated institution, which is likely to use the place just 60 days a year, already has an even grander £700 million brand-new talking shop in Brussels.

But what of our own politicians over here?

They are looking forward to moving into palatial new offices across the road at Westminster from the Houses of Parliament that will provide accommodation costing the equivalent of a lottery win - worth more than one than £1 million - for each MP who moves in.

The ugly and as-yet-incomplete Portcullis House, looks like a grotesque blast furnace, will cost £235 million and, in terms of outlay per user, will be the most expensive office block in the world, with its £33 million-worth of bronze cladding and oak-panelled offices for MPs.

Yet why should our public representatives - most of whom only function as dragooned party stooges and agony aunts for moaning constituents - be so coddled?

The answer, of course, is that they, like the MEPs up to their necks in self-aggrandisement, consider themselves to be so important as to be worthy of all this luxury at our expense.

They could, of course, function just as well and effectively in a clutch of prefab offices - which is probably the most taxpayers would allow them if we had the say we are supposed to have.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.