Dominic Raab goes skiing as lavish Foreign Office spending on his watch unveiled
Dominic Raab has been plunging himself down the ski slopes this week - meanwhile his career is spiralling downhill back in Westminster.
The deputy Prime Minister escaped to the snowy mountains as a bullying probe into allegations made by as many as two dozen officials looms over him.
Complainants have said they lost weight, suffered breakdowns or even felt suicidal as they themselves felt there was no escape, the Mirror revealed last month.
But Mr Raab denies the claims, saying he is “confident” he has “behaved professionally at all times”.
His jolly to the French Alps comes as lavish spending at the Foreign Office was brought to light by Labour’s deep dive into spending on Government Procurement Cards (GPCs).
Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade
Dominic Raab sunning himself with a beverage (Ikon Pictures)Mr Raab, who is also now Justice Secretary, served as head of the department during much of the period analysed by the party.
It found that under the MP for Esher and Walton’s tenure, the Foreign Office enjoyed splashing taxpayer money on visits abroad.
In 2021 - during which Mr Raab was Foreign Secretary until September - the department’s card-holders spent £344,803 outside the UK in the category Restaurants and Bars - at a massive average cost of £1,206 per transaction.
Labour’s report noted that most of this spending is presumed to relate to “diplomatic engagement with local counterparts”, however it added: “There may be an argument for greater transparency around such expenditure to provide clarity on that point.”
Dominic Raab getting ready to take a selfie (Ikon Pictures)Foreign Office GPCs were also used for alcohol, with £23,457 spent on ‘duty-free’ supplies from a Dubai-based company specialising in supplying duty-free spirits, wine and beer alone.
Questions around the use of GPCs to purchase alcohol remain “sensitive”, Labour said.
The Foreign Office “unsurprisingly” recorded the largest spending in Whitehall on overseas accommodation.
However, the report found the department to be “one of the least transparent in terms of disclosing which hotels its officials and ministers have used, and what star-rating they had”.
Across 2021, the Foreign Office spent £1.3million on unnamed “accommodation providers”, logged under the category ‘hotels/motels/resorts’, at an average of £1,493 per transaction, Labour found.
Dominic Raab has used the parliamentary break to escape to the Alps (Ikon Pictures)The department also splashed out on luxurious gifts - spending £36,293 on items of fine bone china from Royal Crown Derby and £15,943 on items from the Royal Collection online shop between January 2021 and June 2022.
Richard 'shuts up' GMB guest who says Hancock 'deserved' being called 'd***head'
Labour spent months putting in hundreds of parliamentary questions and freedom of information requests to collect the information, which it has dubbed “the GPC files”.
When asked whether Mr Sunak would encourage officials to be as frugal as possible, the PM's spokesman this week said: "As ever, everyone who spends taxpayers’ money needs to be aware that they are doing just that and as the Government we are very responsible in how we use these cards.
“But it's important to understand that they are there to serve a purpose and the NAO [National Audit Office] estimates that using cards typically saves around 35% of transaction costs - or £5 per transaction - compared with traditional methods."
Follow Mirror Politics on,, and.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
