London: United Kingdom’s shortest-serving prime minister Liz Truss has refused to pay back the British government £12,000 over the disappearance of bathrobes and slippers from the Chevening estate, reported The Daily Mail.
Truss was sent a £12,000 bill by UK’s Cabinet Office to cover the expenses she incurred last year during her stay at the Chevening estate to prepare for her short-lived administration.
The publication, citing a source, said the British government is demanding the former prime minister pay for items that disappeared during her tenure at the home – and for food and wine she and her aides consumed there. The bill is being incurred as the money was spent for party political reasons rather than on state business.
However, a spokesman for Truss told The Mail that she was contesting the bill and had requested “an accurate invoice” before she agreed to settle it.
“The latest invoice contains a mixture of costs for her personally and costs for official government business with civil servants including [Cabinet Secretary] Simon Case and senior officials from other departments who met at Chevening during the transition preparations. The latter constitutes the majority of the bill. It would be inappropriate for her to pay the costs for officials as it would have breached the Civil Service Code for civil servants to accept hospitality during the leadership campaign. She has therefore asked for this to be billed separately,” the spokesperson was quoted by the publication.
Truss was serving as the foreign secretary when she gathered with close aides at the 17th-century house in August 2022. At the time she felt she was ahead of incumbent Rishi Sunak in the Tory leadership contest to start planning for victory.
Chevening, a 115-room house set in 3,500 acres near UK’s Kent, was left behind to the British government in 1967 by the 7th Earl Stanhope and since 1981 has usually been placed at the disposal of the foreign secretary.
A source told the publication: “Liz used Chevening as a mini No 10, holding meetings with her inner circle which often turned into parties in the evening. “
The Mail reported that the Cabinet Office was informed by the staff at Chevening house that items such as towelling robes and even slippers vanished during the period that Truss and her team stayed at the residence.
“They have also objected to the idea that the taxpayer should foot the bill for what were basically a series of summer parties, and say she owes more than £12,000 for it,” said the source.
As per UK’s Ministerial Code, if a minister hosts a party or political events in grace-and-favour residences then they have to pay for that expense from their pocket. Web Desk
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