Liz Truss Asked for Public Money to Cover £3,000 Lunch

THE GUARDIAN: Reports say Truss demanded booking at ‘obviously incredibly expensive’ club owned by Tory donor

At 5 Hertford Street Truss and her companions drank two bottles of dry gin, three £153 bottles of Pazo Barrantes Albarinño, a Spanish white wine and two £130 bottles of the French red Coudoulet de Beaucastel. Photograph: Alberto Pezzali/AP
Liz Truss, the current favourite to succeed Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservatives among party members, hosted a lunch at an expensive private club owned by a Tory donor after overruling civil service advice to look for a cheaper venue.

Leaked correspondence has revealed the foreign secretary “refused to consider anywhere else” and asked that public funds should pay for a £3,000 event with Joe Biden’s trade representative.

Civil servants were so concerned at the cost and the venue’s close links to the Tories that the proposal was referred to the most senior official at the Department for International Trade.

According to the correspondence, Truss, then the trade secretary, “explicitly asked that we book 5 Hertford Street”, which is owned by Robin Birley, a £20,000 donor to Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign and the half-brother of Zac Goldsmith, the environment minister. » | Rajeev Syal | Sunday, January 2, 2022

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