Their des res, your expense

Courtesy of the Freedom of Information Act, we learn that David Cameron has authorised the spending of £680,000 of taxpayers' money on improvements to his official residence in Downing Street since last year's election. About £30,000 of this was spent on the flat the Camerons live in (which for reasons of space is in No 11 rather than the iconic No 10), most of it on the kitchens. Yes, that's plural -- this small family in supposedly cramped surroundings apparently needs two of them, presumably to cater for the Big Society.

The rest of the money -- £650,000 or so -- was spent on repairs and renovations to the conference rooms within No 10 and on repairs to the fabric of the house, such as plumbing and wiring. The Cabinet Office is refusing to specify where this rather large sum was spent, though the Information Commissioner (and a Labour MP, Tom Watson) are not giving up the effort to find out. This comment from a Downing St spokesperson, quoted by The Guardian, is interesting:

"This spend relates to the Downing Street Building Modernisation Programme launched in 2006, under the last government, to address structural repairs and the renewal of failing infrastructure, having gone without refurbishment for some 50 years. This work is still ongoing. Downing Street is a Grade I listed building. As such it requires a certain level of maintenance."

"A certain level"? You could call it that, I suppose. The £650,000 now reluctantly disclosed to the taxpayer is in addition to £1.3 million spent on the buildings in 2007, when one T. Blair was in residence. The place must have been in REALLY bad shape, wouldn't you say? Pending more ferreting around by the Information Commissioner, there's still no information on how much may have been spent in the intervening years, but it seems unlikely that Gordon Brown was content to live surrounded by stuff chosen by Blair.

But why am I complaining? We're all in this together, right Dave?*

* Dave's not so keen to splash his own cash, it seems. The Cameron family has just headed off for a week's holiday in Ibiza, flying with EasyJet.