R.B
JF-Expert Member
- May 10, 2012
- 6,296
- 2,578
A Tory MP was caught playing popular puzzle game Candy Crush on his taxpayer-funded iPad during a crucial Parliament hearing on the future of pensions, it was revealed today.
Nigel Mills has admitted secretly having a 'game or two' while he was supposed to be listening to experts give evidence at a meeting of the Commons Work and Pensions Committee.
The MP for Amber Valley in Derbyshire was spotted closely studying his iPad and swiping the screen with his finger as he attempted to complete levels of popular app the Candy Crush Saga.
During the hearing he asked four questions to pensions experts about how to improve payments to the elderly - spending up to two-and-a-half hours playing the game on his iPad, one witness said.
Caught in the act: This is Tory MP Nigel Mills playing Candy Crush on his taxpayer-funded iPad last Monday during a crucial committee hearing on the future of pensions
Mr Mills, 40, was elected the MP for Amber Valley, Derbyshire, in 2010, but only has a majority of 536.
Last night he admitted to having a 'game or two' during a section of the 'long' meeting he 'wasn't focussing on'.
The Tory MP maintains he takes his job 'very seriously' and would 'try not to do it in future.'
But Andy Silvester from the TaxPayers' Alliance said: 'Taxpayers don't put representatives in Parliament to mess around on video games.'
MP Nigel Mills was seen enjoying a game of Candy Crush on his iPad during a hearing in Parliament
Candy Crush is available to play as an app for mobile phones or tablets or on Facebook.
It is phenomenally popular with more than 700 million games played on mobile devices alone and has a reputation for being highly addictive.
In the game, players move a variety of brightly coloured sweets - or candies - around a grid and line up at least three of the same sweet in a row.
Every time a row is completed, the line explodes, making way for more sweets to drop in.
There are more than 400 different stages, each more difficult than the last.
Basic access to the game is free, but users must pay for 'premium' services.
You do not have to pay for the first 35 levels but after that, it costs 69p for another 20 levels.
Players are also encouraged to buy 'boosters' such as virtual 'candy hammers' for around £1.
According to ThinkGaming, Candy Crush makes an estimated £400,000 a day.
Last night Mr Mills told The Sun: 'It was a long meeting on pension reforms which is an important issue that I take very seriously.
'There was a bit of the meeting that I wasn't focusing on and I probably had a game or two.
'I should not do it but if you check the meeting, I would say I was fully engaged in asking questions I felt were particularly important on how we get pensions issues right. I shall try not to do it in future.'
Addictive: Candy Crush is incredibly popular - with more than 700 million games played on mobile devices
Mr Mills, a chartered accountant, is one of 90 MPs to have received a free iPad to help them with their work.
Tory MP Graham Evans, who was sitting next to Mr Mills, insisted he did not notice the Candy Crush Game and would not criticise his colleague.
He told MailOnline: ‘We all look at our iPads. Perhaps we should all pay more attention. We had a full turnout on the Conservative side. Nigel played a full part in that meeting.
‘Nigel is a good attender of the committee and he is a bright lad and plays a fulsome role in that committee.'
He said he was ‘not a big gamer' but added that his wife and children do play Candy Crush. ‘I have children who are on these things all the time. Between doing homework they are on these gadgets and they say "oh dad, it's part of modern life".'
He is is not the only MP to be a fan of playing games on their iPad. David Cameron is a self-professed addict of other mobile games Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds.
One adviser claimed that the Prime Minister ‘spends a crazy, scary amount of time playing Fruit Ninja', a computer game in which players use a cartoon sword to slash fast-moving fruit.
Mills was the long-term partner of Gillian Shaw, the Conservative candidate for Amber Valley in the general elections of 2001 and 2005.
But she died of cancer in 2006 and he went on to win the Amber Valley seat in 2010 with a small majority.
In 2013 he married Alice Ward in St Mary Undercroft, the famous church in the Palace of Westminster, which MPs have exclusive access to and where the bodies of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Benn were kept on the night before their funerals.
David Cameron is likely to be furious that one of his MPs got caught playing games at work - although the Prime Minister himself is known to a fan of 'chillaxing' on his iPad.
The Prime Minister, a fan of Apple's trendy tablet computer, is said to be obsessed with the cult game Fruit Ninja, in which players swipe their fingers across a screen to slice through moving images of pieces of melon, orange and pineapple.
Mr Cameron is thought to have taken up Fruit Ninja after completing the hit game Angry Birds.
In a separate interview the Prime Minister admitted that he found Angry Birds ‘addictive', but denied it was taking up too much of his time.
He said: ‘It is quite addictive, but I want to reassure you I don't spend a huge amount of time on it.
‘Sometimes on these long flights, when you have done all your work, you have had all your conversations and prepared all your speeches, you need something to relax with.
‘Sometimes I watch a bit of television, sometimes I play a bit of Angry Birds.'
A book published in 2012 revealed how the Prime Minister liked to wind down away from work.
It was said that Mr Cameron's friends gave him a karaoke machine, which is now at No 10 and he invites friends over for game of snooker.
There is a machine that fires tennis balls, which he has nicknamed 'the Clegger' after his victorious battle against the Deputy Prime Minister in the 2010 General Elections.
The book, Cameron: Practically a Conservative, serialised in The Times told how Mr Cameron flicks through the papers early on a Sunday morning and spends his time at his computer.
His afternoon consists of 'a ---- film on telly, play with the children, cook, have three or four glasses of wine with lunch, have an afternoon nap, play tennis,' according to a friend quoted in the newspaper.
Michael Gove, the Education Secretary and a family friend, told the authors: 'He is the model of how to have a clear divide between the world of work and then relaxation so you can clear your mind. There are very few people who have such a finely developed capacity to do that.'
Source:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...experts-gave-evidence-Parliament-hearing.html
Nigel Mills has admitted secretly having a 'game or two' while he was supposed to be listening to experts give evidence at a meeting of the Commons Work and Pensions Committee.
The MP for Amber Valley in Derbyshire was spotted closely studying his iPad and swiping the screen with his finger as he attempted to complete levels of popular app the Candy Crush Saga.
During the hearing he asked four questions to pensions experts about how to improve payments to the elderly - spending up to two-and-a-half hours playing the game on his iPad, one witness said.
Caught in the act: This is Tory MP Nigel Mills playing Candy Crush on his taxpayer-funded iPad last Monday during a crucial committee hearing on the future of pensions
Mr Mills, 40, was elected the MP for Amber Valley, Derbyshire, in 2010, but only has a majority of 536.
Last night he admitted to having a 'game or two' during a section of the 'long' meeting he 'wasn't focussing on'.
The Tory MP maintains he takes his job 'very seriously' and would 'try not to do it in future.'
But Andy Silvester from the TaxPayers' Alliance said: 'Taxpayers don't put representatives in Parliament to mess around on video games.'
MP Nigel Mills was seen enjoying a game of Candy Crush on his iPad during a hearing in Parliament
Candy Crush is available to play as an app for mobile phones or tablets or on Facebook.
It is phenomenally popular with more than 700 million games played on mobile devices alone and has a reputation for being highly addictive.
In the game, players move a variety of brightly coloured sweets - or candies - around a grid and line up at least three of the same sweet in a row.
Every time a row is completed, the line explodes, making way for more sweets to drop in.
There are more than 400 different stages, each more difficult than the last.
Basic access to the game is free, but users must pay for 'premium' services.
You do not have to pay for the first 35 levels but after that, it costs 69p for another 20 levels.
Players are also encouraged to buy 'boosters' such as virtual 'candy hammers' for around £1.
According to ThinkGaming, Candy Crush makes an estimated £400,000 a day.
Last night Mr Mills told The Sun: 'It was a long meeting on pension reforms which is an important issue that I take very seriously.
'There was a bit of the meeting that I wasn't focusing on and I probably had a game or two.
'I should not do it but if you check the meeting, I would say I was fully engaged in asking questions I felt were particularly important on how we get pensions issues right. I shall try not to do it in future.'
Addictive: Candy Crush is incredibly popular - with more than 700 million games played on mobile devices
Mr Mills, a chartered accountant, is one of 90 MPs to have received a free iPad to help them with their work.
Tory MP Graham Evans, who was sitting next to Mr Mills, insisted he did not notice the Candy Crush Game and would not criticise his colleague.
He told MailOnline: ‘We all look at our iPads. Perhaps we should all pay more attention. We had a full turnout on the Conservative side. Nigel played a full part in that meeting.
‘Nigel is a good attender of the committee and he is a bright lad and plays a fulsome role in that committee.'
He said he was ‘not a big gamer' but added that his wife and children do play Candy Crush. ‘I have children who are on these things all the time. Between doing homework they are on these gadgets and they say "oh dad, it's part of modern life".'
He is is not the only MP to be a fan of playing games on their iPad. David Cameron is a self-professed addict of other mobile games Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds.
One adviser claimed that the Prime Minister ‘spends a crazy, scary amount of time playing Fruit Ninja', a computer game in which players use a cartoon sword to slash fast-moving fruit.
Mills was the long-term partner of Gillian Shaw, the Conservative candidate for Amber Valley in the general elections of 2001 and 2005.
But she died of cancer in 2006 and he went on to win the Amber Valley seat in 2010 with a small majority.
In 2013 he married Alice Ward in St Mary Undercroft, the famous church in the Palace of Westminster, which MPs have exclusive access to and where the bodies of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Benn were kept on the night before their funerals.
David Cameron is likely to be furious that one of his MPs got caught playing games at work - although the Prime Minister himself is known to a fan of 'chillaxing' on his iPad.
The Prime Minister, a fan of Apple's trendy tablet computer, is said to be obsessed with the cult game Fruit Ninja, in which players swipe their fingers across a screen to slice through moving images of pieces of melon, orange and pineapple.
Mr Cameron is thought to have taken up Fruit Ninja after completing the hit game Angry Birds.
In a separate interview the Prime Minister admitted that he found Angry Birds ‘addictive', but denied it was taking up too much of his time.
He said: ‘It is quite addictive, but I want to reassure you I don't spend a huge amount of time on it.
‘Sometimes on these long flights, when you have done all your work, you have had all your conversations and prepared all your speeches, you need something to relax with.
‘Sometimes I watch a bit of television, sometimes I play a bit of Angry Birds.'
A book published in 2012 revealed how the Prime Minister liked to wind down away from work.
It was said that Mr Cameron's friends gave him a karaoke machine, which is now at No 10 and he invites friends over for game of snooker.
There is a machine that fires tennis balls, which he has nicknamed 'the Clegger' after his victorious battle against the Deputy Prime Minister in the 2010 General Elections.
The book, Cameron: Practically a Conservative, serialised in The Times told how Mr Cameron flicks through the papers early on a Sunday morning and spends his time at his computer.
His afternoon consists of 'a ---- film on telly, play with the children, cook, have three or four glasses of wine with lunch, have an afternoon nap, play tennis,' according to a friend quoted in the newspaper.
Michael Gove, the Education Secretary and a family friend, told the authors: 'He is the model of how to have a clear divide between the world of work and then relaxation so you can clear your mind. There are very few people who have such a finely developed capacity to do that.'
Source:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...experts-gave-evidence-Parliament-hearing.html
