Mandarin leaps into his limo – to travel a mile
HE CLAIMS his £250-a-day chauffeur-driven car is to take him to far-flung parts of Britain – but last week Sir Mark Sedwill used it for a mile-long trip to an exclusive club.
Just days after The Mail on Sunday exposed the Cabinet Secretary’s £175,000 expenses bill, including his taxpayerfunded limo, he was spotted using it after a lunchtime meeting at the Garrick Club.
The all-male, members-only institution is just a brisk 12minute walk from Sir Mark’s desk at 10 Downing Street, but instead a blacked-out Government Car Service Ford was used to whisk him back to work on Wednesday.
When The Mail on Sunday confronted the Cabinet Office last week about Britain’s most senior civil servant’s unusually large expenses bill, on top of his £205,000 salary, officials said Sir Mark’s use of the limo helped him to meet his teams around the country.
His chauffeur is from the ministerial fleet and cost the public purse £22,000 every 90 days last year.
Sir Mark’s defenders say the reason behind the large bill is because he is ‘very active in getting out of Whitehall’.
However, an eyewitness said of last week’s trip: ‘I did a double take as I saw him confidently stride out of the Garrick and straight into his waiting car.’
The source added: ‘He didn’t look like he had a care in the world. It was a sunny day, so he probably could have walked.’
As one of the oldest gentlemen’s clubs in the world, the Garrick is loved by actors, lawyers and men of letters. It is also popular with top mandarins.