And lead us not into Congo, but deliver us from Hannan?

So, there are always two sides to a story. So some not totally convincing saying that I vaguely remember being told as a child states, anyway.

The Daily Express has an article today highlighting vast expenditure at taxpayer expense as the European Union swans it's way around the world, poking it's nose into everybody else's business.

One of the examples given is a fact finding mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo - a trip which aimed to discuss poverty but which cost we, the taxpayer, £850,000 or £17,067 per EU delegate.

The newspaper points out that: "Tory MEPs Daniel Hannan, Nirj Deva, Martin Callanan, and Liberal Democrat Catherine Bearder were among 50 delegates on the trip."

The first name on the list, Dan Hannan MEP is someone that this blogger has a LOT of time for. However, many of our fellow bloggers have long since written Hannan off, mainly due to his staying in the pro-EU Conservative Party.

So, we decided to ask him about the trip on Twitter.

Using the newspaper's headline, we asked:

"Care to explain your EU jolly to the Democratic Republic of Congo at the taxpayer's expense?"

And to his credit, Dan Hannan replied, saying: "'Jolly'? Are you serious?" - pointing us in the direction of his blog article about the trip.

It certainly makes for grim reading.

The fact remains, however that - irony of all ironies - a fact finding mission to discover the extent of POVERTY in the DR of Congo cost the taxpayer £850,000.

So, we've gone back to Dan Hannan and asked: "Dan, would it be better for EU to have SENT Congo £100,000 to fight poverty or SPEND £850,000 of taxpayer cash looking at it?"

We'll update you on any further response, though point out a robust defence of the position from Conservative MEPs already appears in the newspaper report.

Yet it is not just the Congo.

Tenerife, the Seychelles, Argentina and Rome are other destinations for EU delegations which, Matthew Elliot of the TaxPayers' Alliance points out, have seen MEPs rack up "the equivalent of some British taxpayers’ annual salary in a matter of days".

So, we're trying to give you two sides of a story and let you make your own mind up.

Is £850,000 of taxpayer cash spent on sending MEPs off looking at and discussing poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo money well spent?