Government defends bonuses for MoD civil servants
Indeed, our esteemed Home Secretary has waded in to defend us against accusations that we are given bonuses willy-nilly, with, and I kid you not, the following explanation:
Alan Johnson told GMTV: "I think we need to find more detail about what MoD civil servants do, what they get the bonuses for, before you say this is unjustified.
"Our priority always has to be the soldiers at the frontline for equipment, for pay, for conditions." But, he said, civil servants had to go "into the frontline" to, for example, develop mechanisms to protect troops from improvised explosive devices.
"When they do that my understanding is they work 17, 18 hours in Afghanistan. They don't get overtime for that – they get a bonus to compensate."
Some are born great, some have greatness thrust upon them, and sometimes, dumb just happens.
