Seeing the shiny new Jaguars arriving in Downing St I thought what a boost to the car industry this must be. While central government has about 300 cars, I was rather surprised to learn that the total number of government owned or financed cars in the UK is 55,000.
However this is nothing like Italy, where the comparable figure is 629,000. They are known as Auto Blu, although they can be any colour; the police wave them across red lights and often, behind, say, a Maserati there will be an expensive BMW carrying an aide or a bodyguard.
Despite a law passed in 1991 that only Ministers, undersecretaries and a few Directors General are entitled to such a privilege, the number has grown dramatically, up from 200,000 just a few years ago. It is qute normal to see a government car, with police escort, pull up outside some luxury store so the mamma of someone important can do her shopping. Near us, a Lancia regularly collects an attractive ragazza and brings her back the following morning.
Now the minister for Public Administration (which sounds straight out of Yes Minister), Renato Brunetta, has promised to do something about it, under pressure from Contribuenti.it, a taxpayer's group.
He'll have a fight on his hands. The political class, known as La Casta in Italy, The Caste, looks after its own.
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