14 January 2023 , 19:00
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Boris Johnson put a dinner costing more than £4,000 on a government credit card while living it up in New York.
And Labour suspects that it was Liz Truss ’s official plastic he used to do it.
Mr Johnson took his entourage of 24 out for a meal plus booze while attending the United Nations General Assembly on 21st September 2021.
Mr Johnson was still PM and his disastrous successor Ms Truss had been his Foreign Secretary for just a week.
After talks with foreign leaders the then PM headed for famous New York diner Smith & Wollensky’s where he ran up a bill of £4,445.07 - or £177.80 a head.
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And Labour research shows that is exactly the amount it would cost to feed ten infant school children for a year.
Labour’s Deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “Taxpayers have been left picking up the bill for the last two Prime Ministers’ excesses.
“While families are sick with worry struggling to make ends meet, this waste of public money is obscene.”
The £177-a-head meal was paid for on the Foreign Office procurement card (PA)When it came to paying up, the Foreign Office Government Procurement Card was handed over.
Ms Rayner added: “Liz Truss must explain why her departmental procurement card was used to shell out for this banquet at the British people’s expense and come clean on her own involvement.
“Today’s Conservatives spend taxpayers’ money with reckless abandon while Labour will treat it with the respect it deserves.”
The diners could have chosen the most expensive starter on the menu - Maryland Crab Cake at £23 - for the money they splashed out.
They could have followed with the priciest steak, a £63 bone-in rib, with whipped potatoes for £12, roast oyster mushrooms at £13 and classic onion rings for £14.
The Foreign Office admitted under questioning from shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry that the feast “included alcohol (approximately one drink per person).”
In which case Mr Johnson must have been a very generous tipper to whack up the eye watering amount.
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Foreign Office minister David Rutley said: “Expenditure was subject to normal FCDO controls and an appropriate use of public money.”
He added that Mr Johnson also booked dinner for the travelling press pack - who paid their share back.
The Foreign Office was approached for comment.