Ex-UK PM contests £12,000 bill for use of country house
Former British prime minister Liz Truss is contesting a government bill relating to her use of the grace-and-favour country house she had access to while foreign secretary.
The £12,000 bill is for costs incurred while Ms Truss spent time at the Chevening estate, The Mail on Sunday reported.
Billed items are said to include missing bathrobes and slippers, claimed the report.
The invoice dates to last summer when Ms Truss was preparing for her short-lived leadershop. She is understood to have received the bill several weeks ago.
Chevening, a 115-room property in Kent, south-east England, was left to the nation by the 7th Earl Stanhope in 1967.
The PA news agency has been told Ms Truss is happy to replace any missing items.
But the former prime minister maintains the bulk of the invoice relates to official government business, for which she should not be liable, rather than personal expenses.
“Liz always paid for the costs of her personal guests at Chevening,” a spokesman for Ms Truss said.
“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.”
A government official said: “Costs and funding relating to Chevening House are a matter for the Chevening Trust.
“Where appropriate, we work closely with them to ensure costs incurred are allocated accordingly.”
Ms Truss replaced Boris Johnson as prime minister on September 6 last year. She resigned 45 days later, after her mini-budget was blamed for panicking the markets and reducing the value of the pound.