Sir John Bourn, who has died aged 88, was parliament’s longest serving auditor general, responsible for exposing waste, inefficiency and scandal in the corridors of power, and for shaping the National Audit Office into one of the most influential, respected and feared bodies in Whitehall.
During his 20 years as comptroller and auditor general, he was responsible for the auditing of £800bn of government expenditure. In his first year in office, 1988, he uncovered a political scandal over the sale of the ailing Rover car company to BAE Systems (then British Aerospace) under the Thatcher government. In a confidential memo – leaked to the Guardian - Bourn revealed the existence of £38m (later revised to £44.4m with interest) of hidden government “sweeteners” to the defence company to persuade it to buy Rover.
