The government is to sell off Chequers, the official country residence of the Prime Minister. Officials have pointed out that Chequers offers poor value for money, due to the huge cost of maintaining the 16th century building and the large surrounding estate. The sale proceeds are expected to exceed £42million.
Instead of using Chequers to host official meetings, officials believe that it will be cheaper for the Cabinet Office to buy boxes at each Premier League football club, so that they can be used for official government business. Their accessibility, at clubs across the country, makes them far more convenient than a trip to Chequers, which is somewhere near Wendover.
Wendover FC play in the Aylesbury and District League and do not have any boxes available for hire. Only Greg Smith, the local MP, has ever expressed any interest in holding meetings at Wendover FC.
Premier League clubs will benefit from the extra revenue and the kudos of holding important meetings. A key advantage of the scheme is that, as the use of the boxes will be an official government expense, MPs will not need to declare any benefits in the register of Members’ Interests. Officials were unable to say if meetings would take place during football matches, or at other times, but did say that the boxes would always be made available to MPs if they weren't being used for meetings.
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