Labour has criticised what the party says is a culture of "lavish spending" in Whitehall after it was revealed that £145million of taxpayers’ money had been splashed on government credit cards.
The list of spending includes almost £345,000 in “restaurants and bars” by Foreign Office (FCDO) officials, as well as bills for VIP airport lounges, gifts from Fortnum & Mason and products from Ikea, Amazon and John Lewis.
The dossier, compiled by Labour, shows spending across 14 major Whitehall departments. The igure was up from £84.9 million in 2010/11 in the equivalent departments, although around £20 million of the difference could be explained through inflation.
Here are twelve of the most eye-catching examples:
1) £344,803 on booze by the Foreign Office
2) £1,552 on “purple cups” for UK Visas and Immigration and the Passport Service;
3) £7,218 on a reception for Truss against the backdrop of a Sydney Harbour amusement park;
4) £1,903 to rent a hot pink photo booth for a Washington embassy movie screening;
5) £11,853 on gifts from Fortnums
6) Fine art photographs from the Tate for the Treasury costing £3,393;
7) £9,121 for an Airbnb house for four BEIS staff
8) £2,564 on home-brewing kits filed under “Computer Equipment & Services”;
9) £14,957 on flowers;
10) £3,266 of luxury lighting registered as ‘computer software’
11) £7,218 on a reception at a Sydney amusement park
12) £724 on a backdrop for a photograph by the Home Office
