What £22 billion ‘black hole’? Civil servants blew taxpayer cash on celebrity cardboard cut-outs, Bahamas yacht club and Fortnum & Mason goodies_Nhy
Civil servants splurged taxpayer cash on celebrity cardboard cut-outs, a Bahamas yacht club and Fortnum and Mason goodies.
Department records show the Foreign Office used procurement cards to spend £920.30 at Nassau Yacht Club on the Caribbean island, where Prince Philip was an honorary life member.
The Duke was pictured in 1959 manning the tiller of a sail boat with Olympian Bahamian and club member Sir Durward Knowles.
The government department also splashed out £672.80 on a website that sells life-size cardboard cut-outs of celebrities.
The records do not show which famous stars the cash was spent on but those on offer include full-size £45 replicas of members of the royal family wearing different outfits, including the late Queen Elizabeth and King Charles.
There is also a topless Peter Andre, Harry Styles, and one of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson with a ‘stay alert control the virus’ board.
A further £965.46 was paid at bowling club Danforth Bowl club in Toronto, Canada.
The payments were made in 2023, but records show lavish spending has carried on under the Labour government.
Department records show the Foreign Office used procurement cards to spend £920.30 at Nassau Yacht Club in the Bahamas
The government department also splashed out £672.80 on a website that sells life-size cardboard cut-outs of celebrities
£1,400 was spent at London department store Fortnum and Mason’s
Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden is expected to lead a crackdown on the spending and has ordered an urgent review on who can access the cards.
A Government spokesman said: ‘We are fully focused on tackling wasteful spending and inefficiency across government.
‘That’s why we are carrying out huge reforms to create an agile and productive state. We are fundamentally changing the way public services, civil servants and the UK deliver for the public, building on the first eight months of the Government’s agenda.’
It follows scrutiny of civil service spending since Labour’s general election victory last July.
Officials are reported to have spent thousands of pounds on meals at private members’ clubs and luxury crystal glasses.
Team-building exercises, such as an escape room in Kent, and English sparkling wine was also found to have been put on Government cards.
Cat Little, the top official at the Cabinet Office, has written to the bosses of all Whitehall departments to demand they rapidly review their outgoings.
They have been asked to check whether every civil servant who has a Government procurement card actually requires one, and to cancel those that aren’t needed.
Prince Philip was an honorary life member of the Nassau Yacht Club. He is pictured here in 1959 with Olympian Bahamian and club member Sir Durward Knowles
The Foreign Office also spent £998 on food and drinks on a visit to Sokha Beach Resort in Cambodia in September
It was recently reported how the Foreign Office spent £2,400 at Cumbria Crystal. The luxury glass company also supplied crystalware for the set of TV’s Downton Abbey
In her letter to other top officials, Ms Little said she had been ‘concerned to see examples of expenditure using these purchasing cards’.
The Cabinet Office permanent secretary added such spending ‘on the face of it look difficult to justify based on our approved guidelines’.
Bills at private members’ clubs, included £2,240 at The British Club in Thailand, £975 at London’s Reform Club and £940 at The Kildare Street and University Club in Dublin.
There was also an £810 bill for Home Office staff to do a team-building exercise at an escape room in Kent and £872 on trophies for an awards ceremony.
The Foreign Office paid £623 for tickets to the South By South West music and tech festival in Sydney, and spent £998 on food and drinks on a visit to Sokha Beach Resort in Cambodia in September.
A Labour source told The Telegraph: ‘We will not allow taxpayers’ money to be frittered away in this irresponsible way.
‘We will be ruthless in tackling the waste to which the Tories turned a blind eye, so we can prioritise cash on more hospital appointments, teachers in classrooms and police back on the beat.
‘To get a grip on the problem, Pat McFadden has ordered an urgent review of who has access to these government credit cards and what they can be used to purchase. We will set out more action in the coming weeks.’
