If I were still serving, I would take all these rumours with a pinch of salt... The current government have to be VERY careful to not breach EU laws (& lets face it, all EU MEP's vote yearly to enhance their own MULTI hundred pound EURO pensions. Even if a UK MEP has only served for 3 years the unelected bastwerds can take a pension for life of more than an RAF Air Commodore. Hilarious!!
I left the RAF in 1997 as a top of the grade (9 years?) Flt Lt on £27,000. I was immediately employed by the F&CO as the Head of IT for ECCM in Bosnia. My basic salary was £56,000, with a "war zone" allowance & a (as F&CO like to call it) a "per diem" allowance of 30 Dm/day. It equated to approx £86,000 a year in 97/98.
Let me tell you that in 1997 the F&CO used to charter A/C from Heathrow to Geneva with "new recruits" travelling Business Class. Then the next flight was a Swissair flight from Geneva to Sarajevo (Business Class again....). This was when the UK took over the Presidency of the EU.
On arrival I was put up for two nights in a pretty poor B&B. Then suddenly, all the new arrivals were taken out by the existing "Head of Mission - Peter Streams) & his top level staff to a ****ty Mexican restaurant in downtown Sarejevo. All the new "Chiefs" (as we were known) were transferred from our awful B&B rooms to Peter Streams magnificent villa (taken from a Serb Commander by SF) just outside Sarejevo, next to the defunct Volkswagen factory.
After 4 days we had to find our own accomodation in Sarajevo as Mr F&CO decided he wanted his mansion back. 4 months later we were all told that we had to attend a "reception" at his mansion as he had brought his daughter & parents out to Sarejevo (at the taxpayer's cost) for a week. I refused to attend no problem as they relied on me for IT services across Eastern Europe.
What was criminal was that at that reception in Jan/Feb 1998 the F&CO sent a small team out to decide if Bosnia was still a "War Zone" - which it wasn't - to see if he (b*gger his staff) for his extraorninary daily allowances.
So to all you honest people out there, I can assure you that your current "elected" politicians will continue to shaft you whilst it is in their financial personal interests to do so.
Since retiring in 1997 I, personally have been shafted by successive Labour/Tory governments. Thankfully (but sadly) next week I move abroad (permanently) to protect my way of life.
Take care...
