Oh dear. It’s not turning out to be a great week for staff at the Treasury. After George Osborne declared that a £130m tax settlement they had reached with Google was a ‘major success’, he faced a cross-party backlash as it was pointed out that the internet giant had only paid a tax rate of three per cent.
As anger grows over the arrangement, both Google and the Treasury have been attracting negative publicity on a daily basis. Now Treasury staffers have been dealt another blow. Mr S hears that internet at the Treasury cut out on Thursday morning for a number of hours — meaning staff couldn’t even use Google.
‘You could call it Karma,’ mutters Mr S’s disgruntled government mole.
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