Labour’s jet-setting cost the taxpayer more than £2 million in the party’s first three months in government, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
From jaunts to the Euros in Germany and the Olympics in Paris to meetings in Indonesia, Japan and Ecuador, Labour ministers racked up a £2.1 million bill for travel from July to September last year.
The Tories spent a total of just £630,600 on trips abroad across all government departments during the same period in 2023 – less than the whopping £697,000 spent on Sir Keir Starmer’s trips alone.
The MoS can also reveal that staff at the Foreign Office ran up a hefty £50,000 bar tab abroad, as an investigation begins into potential misuse of taxpayer-funded credit cards.Sir
Latest figures show that officials bought £49,511 worth of beer, wine and spirits between July and October.
Sir Keir Starmer travelling to Rio de Janeiro for the G20 summit last November. The PM spent more on trips abroad from July to September last year than the Tories spent across all government departments during the same period in 2023
The Foreign Office (pictured) spent nearly £50,000 on booze abroad between July and October last year
Meanwhile, Foreign Office ministers’ spending on trips totalled just over £1 million from July to September.
Elliot Keck, head of campaigns at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘The Foreign Office has long used its status as top dog of diplomacy to take the biscuit with expenses.’
A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘All spending undergoes oversight to ensure we are delivering best value.’
A Downing Street source said: ‘Since taking office in July, the Prime Minister and his Cabinet have worked tirelessly to rebuild the diplomatic bridges burned by the Tories.’
