Junket-loving Tory invents (another) excuse for free Caribbean trips

With a mooted referendum on the future of the Falklands set to rock the geopolitics of the south Atlantic, Tory MP Andrew Rosindell backed the islanders’ right to self-determination yesterday:

“It’s not for Argentina or Britain to tell the Falklanders where they should be, it is up to the Falkland Islanders themselves to have self-determination and decide their own future.”

Rosindell spoke as chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on the Falklands, a group of MPs and peers with an interest in the territory. The Romford MP was previously flown to visit the island at taxpayer expense.

As we revealed last month, however, the windswept outcrop is by no means the only place Rosindell has visited for free. A member of a whopping sixty APPGs relating to territories from Australia to Zambia via Bermuda and Tunisia, the MP clocked up £36,000 in free flights and entertainment in just one year.

But it seems Rosindell is determined to clock up further Air Miles — by setting up another group for a Caribbean island. MPs received the following notice earlier this week:

“Reception to launch the British-Saint Lucia APPG. Caribbean food, drink and entertainment. All welcome but please confirm with … the Office of Andrew Rosindell MP”

Perhaps the voters of Romford should grant him a permanent holiday.