The Tories Spent Over $410,000 On Restaurants And Bars, Says Labour

Labour has accused the Conservative government of “lavish spending” on restaurants, bars and more today in a study of purchases made using taxpayer-funded government debit cards.

From the data collected, specific concerns have been raised about food and alcohol purchases, including £344,803 ($416,744) by Foreign Office (FCDO) officials in 2021 under the heading “restaurants and bars”.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said the investigation into the use of GPCs (Government Purchase Cards) revealed a “scandalous catalogue of waste”.

Excessive spending exposed in the Labour dossier also includes the use of five-star hotels, expensive restaurants, luxury furnishings, high-priced away days and the purchase of alcohol.

According to the report, the Foreign Office spent £7,218 ($8,741) on a reception for then-foreign secretary Liz Truss (who went on to become Prime Minister for 49 days) against the backdrop of a Sydney Harbour amusement park in early 2022, and wrongly declared thousands of pounds worth of alcohol as “computer equipment”.

Ms Truss and her entourage also spent £1,443 ($1,748) on lunch and dinner at two restaurants in Jakarta in November 2021 while on an official visit to Indonesia.

The Treasury—then under Rishi Sunak (the UK’s current Prime Minister)—also bought thirteen fine art photographs from The Tate Gallery at a cost of £3,393 ($4,111), despite having the government’s existing art collection to choose from.

The details were uncovered through Labour analysis of both official government data and a series of parliamentary questions, with Sir Keir Starmer’s party set to publish the full dossier on Monday.

“Whether as chancellor or prime minister, Rishi Sunak has failed to rein in the culture of lavish spending across Whitehall on his watch,” said Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader said.

“Today’s shocking revelations lift the lid on a scandalous catalogue of waste, with taxpayers’ money frittered away across every part of government, while in the rest of the country, families are sick with worry about whether their pay cheque will cover their next weekly shop or the next tranche of bills.”

The rules on government procurement cards were heavily relaxed at the start of the Covid pandemic, allowing cardholders to spend up to £20,000 ($24,229) per transaction and £100,000 ($121,148) per month.

Responding to the Labour dossier, a senior Conservative source said Labour had “forgotten that they introduced these ‘civil servant credit cards’ in 1997”.

“By 2010 Labour was spending almost £1 billion of taxpayers’ money on everything from dinners at Mr Chu’s Chinese restaurant to luxury five-star hotels,” they said.

The source claimed that the Tories had “swiftly stopped their absurd profligacy, cutting the number of cards, introducing a requirement for spending to be publicly declared and putting in place controls”.