Liz Truss racked up £1.8 million bill for travel on government jets last year

19 August 2023 , 16:53

673     0

The former PM and Foreign Secretary spent £1.8m on flights, accommodation and meals in a year (Image: Simon Dawson / No10 Downing Street)

Globe-trotting Liz Truss racked up a £1.8 million bill for overseas travel on private government jets last year, official figures have revealed.

Government documents show Ms Truss was responsible for some 51% of government spending on foreign flights, accommodation and meals during 2022. Ms Truss was Foreign Secretary until September last year, after which she was Prime Minister for just over a month.

The Mirror previously revealed she’d spent more than £500,000 in taxpayers’ cash on flights in just three months at the end of 2021. A source on her leadership campaign claimed flying by private jets with wifi and privacy, rather than by commercial airlines, allowed her to work “work more and harder". But she faced criticism for using the private plane, which includes plush, lie-flat seating, for flights that could be made on commercial services. Ms Truss used the official plane usually reserved for the Prime Minister and the Royal Family for 69 of the 78 flights she took between September 2021 and July 2022.

That month she used the VIP aircraft to fly to the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting in Indonesia - only to cut her trip short and fly straight back in order to drum up support for her bid to replace Boris Johnson as Prime Minister. She waited in Bali only long enough for the jet’s crew to take their mandatory rest time before taking the 18-hour flight back to London to drum up support for her campaign. The trip cost taxpayers £370,000.

And earlier in January 2022, Ms Truss took a trip around Australia on the official jet, with costs coming in at £454,626.59 Analysis by the TaxPayers’ Alliance of ministers’ overseas travel found Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, was in second place, ringing up at least £197,058, while James Cleverly - a foreign office minister - had costs of £141,140.

Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “Taxpayers will be shocked by these sky high figures. While hard-pressed households are struggling to make ends meet, they’re also being expected to stump up the costs for globetrotting ministers. Ministers should ensure that any overseas travel represents value for money for taxpayers.”

A Foreign Office Spokesman said: “The Foreign Secretary’s job requires travel abroad to pursue UK interests on trips which are often complex and can include multiple destinations. Value for money is taken into account in all travel decisions and costs are regularly published for transparency.”

Mikey Smith