A government department is facing questions over an apparent failure to disclose that Liz Truss and three officials spent more than £2,000 of public money on subsistence and expenses during a three-night trip to Tokyo.
The bill relates to a visit by Truss, who was then trade secretary, to Japan in October 2020 to sign the UK’s first post-Brexit trade agreement, which she lauded at the time as a “historic moment” for both countries.
The Department for International Trade (DIT) had initially stated in a parliamentary answer to Labour that Truss and three members of staff who travelled with her had spent £182.74 of public money on food, drink and other expenses. However, after a Freedom of Information request by the shadow attorney general, Emily Thornberry, it has now emerged that the party in fact spent £2,080.44.
“There is a clear pattern of behaviour emerging here with Liz Truss, which raises serious questions about her character,” Thornberry told the Daily Mirror. “Because if her instinct is to hide the truth and hope that no one asks questions even over these expenses claims, what else is she willing to do that about?”
A DIT spokesperson said: “This expense was initially published incorrectly due to an administrative error and subsequently corrected. All DIT expenditure is published routinely in full.
“The purpose of this trip was to sign a free trade agreement with Japan covering billions of pounds of trade, supporting jobs and growth across the United Kingdom.”
Questions about the Japan trip, which Truss made between 21 and 24 October 2020, follow separate questions about spending associated with Truss, who has emerged as one of the contenders to succeed Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative party.
Earlier this week, Labour called on the government to explain why it claimed Truss had wanted to host a £3,000 lunch at a private members’ club because it was available at short notice, when correspondence later showed that she had insisted on the venue.
In a letter to the international trade minister, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the party also asked why Truss, Trevelyan’s predecessor in the role, had overruled civil servants’ concerns about the cost of the members’ club, owned by a Tory donor.
Correspondence disclosed by the Sunday Times showed that Truss “refused to consider anywhere else” and asked that public funds pay for the event with Joe Biden’s trade representative. Truss was said to have “explicitly asked that we book 5 Hertford Street”, owned by Robin Birley, a £20,000 donor to Johnson’s leadership campaign and the half-brother of Zac Goldsmith, the environment minister.
Before Truss attended the event with US trade representatives, a civil servant described the club as “obviously incredibly expensive and more than I understand we’d usually expect to pay for such a venue”. It was requested, the official wrote, as the private dining room was “of the appropriate size and standing”. After negotiations between civil servants and the venue, the price was reduced to £1,400.
Truss and her companions drank two measures of dry gin; three bottles of Pazo Barrantes Albariño, a Spanish white wine, costing a total of £153; and two bottles of the French red Coudoulet de Beaucastel, costing a total of £130, it was reported.
A spokesperson for the department described the event as a diplomatic working dinner.
• This article was amended on 8 January 2022 to remove the suggestion from the headline and text that the £2,080 was only spent on food and drink in Japan; the money covered other expenses as well. Also, the section about the lunch at the private members’ club was amended to clarify that while the initial quote for the lunch was £3,000, it was later reduced to £1,400.
