The NAO is Parliament's watchdog on public spending and Sir John effectively the most senior auditor in the country when it comes to public sector accounting.
Turn's out hundreds of thousands have been spent on his travel and that the NAO should have noted in the remuneration section of the accounts that £191,000 had been spent over five years on travel expenses for his wife.
The Public Accounts Commission has cleared Sir John of 'impropriety' but I can't help but imagine that there are a number of senior civil servants around who may be enjoying his discomfort. After all, when those Whitehall Mandarins find themselves before the MPs of the Public Accounts Committee to face questioning over their department's spending, it is the reports compiled by the NAO, and signed off personally by Sir John, that are used as ammunition against them. Who would be surprised if they relished, for a few moments, the thought that Sir John was now sharing some of their pain.