Oh the irony, in the wake of the expenses scandal, of an MP commenting about consultants “creaming off cash” (14 May, ).

Mr Gove, look more closely and you will find that the industry has invested heavily in this sector, more often than not taking on work on an “at risk” basis and in any event at the low margins needed to achieve local authority affordability envelopes.

I wonder how many architects he seems so willing to criticise have specified, on schools projects, products from the upmarket furniture store Oka at which he happily spent thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money, before then “flipping” his house to avoid paying capital gains tax.

Chris, building.co.uk