Media continue attacks on Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski for spendings on Polish lessons

Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski did not apologise for his spending of taxpayers money on Polish lessons, considering it is a necessary investment in the context of his political activities as Chair of the All Parliamentary Group for Poland. He explained that he regularly meets with the Ministry of Defence in Warsaw as well as Polish parliamentarians. MPs are allowed to take language lessons if they are useful for their job. 

Daniel Kawczynski was born in Poland and moved to the UK at the age of six. When Kawczynski’s family arrived in Great Britain in 1978, his mother prevented him from speaking Polish in the hope of facilitating his integration into British society. 

The Conservative MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham is facing criticism because of his spendings on learning the Polish language. His critics often refer to one of Kawczynski’s Twitter publications in which he wrote that he is an “almost fluent Polish speaker”. 

When asked about it by the BBC, he claimed he was never actually fluent in that language which he has now been learning for the last four years. „I was naive to think my Polish was good enough to have intricate discussions on a technical level with the Polish government,” Kawczynski told the BBC.

In order to defend his point of view, Mr Kawczynski argued that MPs are encouraged to „undertake various types of training„.

Pidgin speaking is one thing, being able to order food is one thing, meeting delegates and speaking to them about trade deals is another,” he explained.

British Poles contacted Parliament and the office of Daniel Kawczynski MP and found that the MP spent exactly £18,328,38 in the course of three years from which he paid for 407,5 hours of lessons. This gives a total of £44,98 per hour. The £22,000 figure used by The Times and other media is therefore incorrect.


Although £44,98 per hour may seem high, it is not too different from any corporate rate for language lessons in London, which sometimes are much higher. We are hopeful that Mr Kawczynski will find an alternative, hopefully, cheaper rate, and continue learning Polish.



Author: Sébastien Meuwissen

Photo: British Poles

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