Need to run the country from your iPad? There's a £20,000 taxpayer-funded app for that, Prime Minister

  • IT programmers inside the Cabinet Office have been working on the personalised application for months

With a country to run, an economy to fix and a coalition to keep together, David Cameron has his work cut out.

Now the Prime Minister is about to get his very own iPad app to help him keep on top of it all – with a price tag of around £20,000 for the taxpayer.

At a glance, Mr Cameron will be able to keep up to date with all the latest information from across Government on his ‘management dashboard’.

Keeping up to date: David Cameron has been a using the iPad for a while - in this 2010 photo he uses the gadget at breakfast in his hotel room at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham

Keeping up to date: David Cameron has been a using the iPad for a while - in this 2010 photo he uses the gadget at breakfast in his hotel room at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham

The application – tailor made for the PM – will produce data on polling, unemployment figures, NHS waiting lists and movements in the markets with just the touch of an iPad screen.

It will also give ‘real time’ news feeds from Google, Twitter and other outlets so the Prime Minister can keep up to date with events in the UK and around the world. Computer programmers inside the Cabinet Office have been working for the past few months on developing the personalised application.

According to reports, the cost of producing the software is estimated to have hit £20,000.

Mr Cameron, an avid iPad user, already employs the tablet device to read newspapers and political news websites, and listens to radio programmes from the BBC and other channels on it over wi-fi.

The Prime Minister also uses his iPad to relax and takes it on flights where he catches up with episodes of U.S. series Desperate Housewives and Danish drama The Killing.

Catch up: The Prime Minister also uses the device to relax and takes it on flights where he catches up with episodes of U.S. Desperate Housewives, pictured and The Killing

Catch up: The Prime Minister also uses the device to relax and takes it on flights where he catches up with episodes of U.S. Desperate Housewives, pictured and The Killing

Mr Cameron and George Osborne have also both admitted to being fans of Angry Birds – a highly addictive app which involves using a catapult to fire birds at pigs and other objects.

The Prime Minister recently boasted that he had completed every level of the game.

At the time, Andy Payne of the Association for UK Interactive Entertainment, who met Mr Cameron to discuss gaming, said: ‘He absolutely loves it. He wants to know what other top games he should get for his iPad.’

The idea for a personalised application came from his advisers after a trip to the U.S.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron
Prime Minister Gordon Brown talks with Wire

Unlike his predecessor Gordon Brown, who had a secure e-mail address linked with the government network, Mr Cameron prefers to receive papers on which he can write notes which can then be reviewed by staff

Although the software has been developed specifically for the Prime Minister, sources say it will be made available more widely within Government. But one quipped: ‘It certainly won’t have the country’s nuclear codes on it.’

However, Matthew Sinclair, director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘There are already a number of official and independent initiatives under way to make Government data easier to access from a range of different devices.

‘For the Cabinet Office to set out to make a special app for the Prime Minister, even if it might eventually find its way out so that the wider public can use it, seems like both a distraction and a waste of money.’

MPs and peers are now allowed to use iPads in the House of Commons and House of Lords and at least a dozen MPs have already bought them on expenses, spending around £15 a month each on data charges.

Modern politics: The popularity of iPads is catching on in Westminster.MPs and peers are now allowed to use the devices in the House of Commons and House of Lords chambers

Modern politics: The popularity of iPads is catching on in Westminster.MPs and peers are now allowed to use the devices in the House of Commons and House of Lords chambers

WHAT'S ON THE PM'S iPAD?

ipad


Angry Birds (top left) - Mr Cameron sparked a frenzy of publicity when he announced last year that he was a fan of this game, which involves firing tweeting birds from a catapult at wood, glass and stone structures.

TuneIn radio (bottom left) - Allows you to listen to and record over 50,000 radio stations.

PoliticsHome - Relays the latest political news, opinion and press releases live from Westminster.

Twitter (top right) - Micro-blogging site where you can send short messages to the world.

iPlayer - Watch live BBC TV or catch up on the last seven days of BBC programmes.

The Killing (bottom right) - Acclaimed Danish crime thriller spanning the course of a 20-day murder investigation.

Desperate Housewives (bottom centre) - Dark US comedy drama exploring the complicated reality behind the apparent domestic bliss of a group of housewives.

His new app (top centre) - Will give David Cameron an all-in-one view of Government information.