President Bauzá's Big Day Out

Apparently there has been a bit of a to-do back in Britain to do with the defence secretary. Quick brown Fox jumps before lazy PM orders resignation. Something along these lines. I'm not altogether sure what it is all about, as it only entered my orbit of interest when various Conservative lazy lap-dogs were put up to say what a fine chap the quick brown Fox was. What little I do know is that some chap who was Quick Brown's best man - the Veritable Werrity - had been swanning off on foreign trips, masquerading as QB's adviser.

Given my complete lack of interest in this story, why do I even bother mentioning it? Only because, if it registers at all, it is likely to register more amongst local Brits than foreign trips taken by Mallorca's politicians. Personally, I couldn't give a damn. Werrity may not have been veritable, in that he was only a pretend adviser, but the trips themselves were sort of what you expect of a defence secretary, shooting off to help smooth deals with odious foreign regimes, this type of thing.

Altogether more interesting is when a politician heads off for his big day out abroad for no obvious reason. And not just one politician. How many politicians and civil servants does it take to make a trip to Brussels? Eight plus two journalists to report on the trip and two "escorts" to, erm, escort them.

This is how many were in the court of President Bauzá when it travelled to the Belgian capital. There is form when it comes to Mallorca and its politicos taking themselves off on a jolly to Brussels. Maybe they like the place. They certainly liked it enough to send 40 mayors plus various politicians and other hangers-on to lobby against the pyrotechnics directive (an utterly pointless exercise).

This was arranged by the last lot, Antich's lot, during the good old days of spending public money willy-nilly. Now, of course, everything is meant to be austere, with Bauzá to the fore in this ascetic political new age. Not when it comes to Brussels, however.

Bauzá and his merry band of fellow travellers went to meet the president of the European Commission, José Barroso. Why? Good question. Quite what a president of the Balearics finds to discuss with Barroso, only he can say. It's fair enough in a getting-to-know-you sort of way, but why did it require all the others?

It's not as if this is the first occasion on which Bauzá has had a sizeable contingent accompanying him on trips. Madrid may not be foreign, but it still costs to get there (though they probably all travel on a resident's discount, so let's not be too critical). Nevertheless, and austerity or no austerity, off went the president with any number of others for a gig in the Spanish capital. Perhaps he gets lonely.

You might think, well, it doesn't matter, he's the president, he needs to be a bit presidential, and this means the occasional perk, such as a jaunt to Brussels. Possibly so, but it's when the president appears incapable of making short journeys, such as those within Palma, that one is entitled to ask if he has his priorities entirely right.

At the time, during the ABTA convention, I found it a mite odd that there were no recognisable faces from the Mallorcan political establishment hanging around and getting their photos taken with Jeffrey Archer. You don't expect them to sit through numerous presentations on the role of social media for the travel industry, but they could have popped in to say hello. It was only down the road after all. They were probably too busy being austere not to. Can't afford the taxi or the ministerial SEAT.

I am prepared to excuse the president, if only on the grounds that he has to be elsewhere in order to face abuse over the "cuts", but not Delgado. Where was the tourism minister? One fancies that had the convention been one of Russian travel agents he would have been along like a shot and would have arranged for a gastronomic nosh-up with some ball de bot accompaniment and demons for good measure.

But, as we know, austerity is everything, which is why the delegations to the various travel fairs this winter have had their numbers and their budgets cut, especially that for the fair in London.

When it comes to trips, though, it will be the Quick Brown Fox and the Veritable Werrity who concern us more. They shouldn't. We should be far more concerned about the señores Bauzá and Delgado and the trips they make. Or don't.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.