The Labour Party has revealed just how much has been spent on government-issued credit cards in a rather eye-opening report.
By making freedom of information requests and issuing parliamentary questions, Labour found more than £145 million was spent on the government procurement cards (GPCs) from the calendar year of March 2021 onwards.
The party claim that the Tories have spent £84.9 million more than the last Labour government did in 2010/2011.
While the Tories claim the report has just “wasted” civil servants’ time, it has undeniably drawn the spotlight onto the government during a particularly difficult period, just as ministers are trying to resist striking public sector workers’ calls for pay rises amid inflation and a cost of living crisis.
It found that departments also spent much more at the end of the financial year in 2021, as they tried to use up their entire annual budgets.
Here are just 29 of the most extravagant – or bizarre – uses of government money recorded in the Labour dossier.
1. Liz Truss spent nearly £1,443 on one lunch and one dinner
She and her top officials ate at two of Jakarta’s most exclusive restaurants.
2. Rishi Sunak spent more than £3,393 on 13 fine art photographs
They were put up on the walls in his office when he was chancellor.
3. The Foreign Office spent £21,552 on five new ministerial red boxes and 13 ministerial red folders
They all came from a specialist supplier, Barrow Hepburn & Gale, and were described as ‘Computer Software Stores’.
4. Liz Truss spent £1,351 for ‘Women’s ready to wear stores’ in Australia
This payment – from when she was foreign secretary – related to “event costs [and] business hospitality”, according to ministers.
5. The Foreign Office spent £3,266 on specialist lamps
The money was given to luxury lighting firm, Marc Wood Studio.
6. The Foreign Office spent £29,873 on Posturite chairs (for posture)
And £10,692 of this hefty sum was spent just in March 2021.
7. Rishi Sunak’s Treasury group spent £5,040 on a “top-of-the-range, heavy-duty paper” shredder
And a further £10,984 on video and photo equipment.
8. The Foreign Office spent £92,321 on beer, wine and liquor from package stores in 2021
Labour’s report said “it is assumed” this is in line “stores in questions are considered the best local importers of British-made wines or spirits”.
9. The Foreign Office spent £344,803 across 2021 on “restaurants and bars”
This worked out for an average cost of £1,206 per head.
10. The Foreign Office spent £36,293 on fine bone china items from Royal Crown Derby
It also spent £15,943 on the Royal Collection online shop, which the report suggests was on “presents to foreign counterparts”.
11. The Foreign Office spent £11,853 Fortnum & Mason
The report said ministers “declined to say” whom they were for.
12. UK Borders and enforcement spent £721 on Stubhub for visiting officials
Ministers refused to say what tickets they were purchasing.
13. Then PM Boris Johnson ran up a bill of £4,445 for one dinner in New York
This includes orders for the most expensive starter, the most expensive main course and three of the most expensive sides, and worked out to £177.80 per head.
14. Border Force staff spent £609 on Pret a Manger sandwiches at Glasgow airport
They were catering for global delegates arriving for the COP26 summit.
15. Foreign Office paid £1,495 for a magician, mind-reader and event host
It was part of the UK-Spain Business Awards in 2021.
16. The Foreign Office paid £1,903 at Hot Pink Photo Booth
Minister said it was used at a guest reception based around the screening of the James Bond film, ‘No Time To Die’.
17. The Foreign Office spent £14,957 across eight purchases on floral displays
Ministers “did not specify for which individual events the costs were incurred”.
18. British Embassy in Singapore paid £2,174 for Shake’n’Swirl
These cocktail specialists and providers of bespoke bar services attended two events.
19. The Foreign Office spent £1.3 million on unnamed “accommodation providers” in 2021
In the first 10 months of 2022, this rose to £3.25 million.
20. The Department for Education spent £1,040 on chauffeuring Nadhim Zahawi
The then-education secretary was driven around Glasgow just on November 5, 2021, for COP26.
21. Foreign Office spent just under £500,000 on furnishings
That includes £11,508 on just one wallpaper supplier, The Romo Group, and £11,746 on just one bedding company Ferguson’s Irish Linen.
22. The Ministry of Justice spent £698,208 on Amazon
This includes £724 on four-metre wide “Panoramic Limestone Background” for “video and photo communications”.
23. Natural England bought £1,411 of branded mugs for its Evidence Services team
It was “in recognition for the difficult year of 2020”.
24. Prison and Probation Service pent £9,236 on branded hand sanitiser
This was then used in prisons.
25. The Government Property agency spent £1,450 on 500 branded fidget cubes
This was for distribution at Civil Service Live events.
26. The Education Department paid £1,518 for an “interactive team building game”
This was called ‘El Dorado’ and involved teams competing to solve riddles and clues to find a key for a treasure chest.
27. Local Transport Directorate paid £5,388 for an online workshop from Service Animals
It uses animal behaviour archetypes to analyse service delivery models. Participants are asked: “Do you hoot? Growl? Click-click? Or wave your feathers?”
28. The Department for Transport paid Zing Events £2,074 for an away day
Twenty-nine staffers took part in “group juggling” and the construction of a “mini-Mexican railway”.
29. The Environment Agency spent £877 on printing leaflets on seeded paper
This was to inspire Team GB athletes “to reduce their plastic consumption”.