Channel 4 - News - Sir John Bourn to retire early

Comptroller and Auditor General Sir John Bourn is to retire on 31 January next year, the National Audit Office said today. Sir John Bourn is stepping down ahead of schedule as the head of the National Audit Office.

He's been embroiled in controversy over his expenses, after racking up hundreds of thousands of pounds on globetrotting trips. Although charged with guarding the public purse, Bourne has managed to run up bills of £365k on travel and £27k on meals, not to mention a host of not entirely run-of-the-mill leisure pursuits.

Good old Private Eye have been banging away at this for months with yesterday's edition adding another page of juicy epicurean details. What is really shocking about this isn't just the high-spending and the lavish entertaining it's the fact that we are not able to find out exactly who was entertained and for what purpose. Sir John's guest are simply listed as 'senior government officials', 'representatives of suppliers to government', suppliers to the NAO' , 'parliamentarians' and 'others'.