Baroness Shameless and her £16k soft furnishings
FORMER Cabinet minister Baroness Scotland requested an audacious list of taxpayer-funded perks for her grace-and-favour Mayfair mansion, including marble furniture.
Leaked documents reveal the Labour peer’s aides ordered tens of thousands of pounds in public money to be spent fitting the property with designer carpets and wallpaper.
The lavish requests, drawn up by a celebrity interior designer, were lodged weeks before Baroness Scotland took over as head of the Commonwealth, entitling her to use the sprawling property.
Costs for the makeover spiralled when she requested dozens of additions, including £16,000 on fabric linings for the prop-
‘Scandalous waste of money’
erty’s windows and a £2,000 dishwasher.
Her aides also asked for a marble window sill to be added to the entrance hall of the six- storey property. The plans included a request to redecorate in £100per-roll wallpaper at a total cost of £10,500 and to spend £5,000 ‘refurbishing’ a safe.
Baroness Scotland, a close friend of Cherie Blair, was given the property after taking over as political chief of the Commonwealth earlier this year.
Despite a significant makeover undertaken before she took office, she ignored colleagues’ concerns and came forward with a list of further requests.
Officials have expressed fears over the spending as the total budget for the changes has risen from £230,000 to an estimated £450,000 since she took over.
Documents seen by the Mail reveal the peer’s aides had already visited the property in February when they drew up a list of requests – before she took up the position in April.
After enlisting designer Nicky Haslam, Baroness Scotland asked for a new mirror-lined cupboard to adorn the house’s reception room at more than £4,000. The spending spree also included a new runner for the wooden staircase, earmarked at £2,500, and her aides described how they wanted it stained for £2,000.
The plans listed a ‘ladies’ powder room’, replacing Dulux paint with luxury brands such as Farrow & Ball, and ‘top of the range’ carpets costing £81 per square metre. The Mail understands there is alarm among senior members of the Government over the revelations about Baroness Scotland’s expenditure.
Tory MP Charlie Elphicke, of the public accounts committee, said: ‘This is a scandalous waste of taxpayers’ money. It beggars belief that hardworking people who struggle to make ends meet will end up footing the bill for Baroness Scotland to live high on the hog.’
The peer, who already owned a £ 2million property close to the Thames, is understood to have moved into the Mayfair mansion in recent weeks after the refurbishment was completed. The redevelopment was paid for using UK taxpayers’ money as well as funds from the Commonwealth’s other 52 members.
Colleagues flagged up warnings telling the peer’s aides the requests were ‘extremely expensive’, which the Commonwealth ‘could not afford’. Leaked emails between Commonwealth staff show the peer’s new employees were shocked by the spending levels.
One reads: ‘The SG’s [secretary general’s] priorities are the paint, wallpaper and carpets and the extended reception. Next is the SG’s bathroom … I [have] advised that we [are] already over budget.’
The document outlines only proposed spending, and the Commonwealth has so far refused to detail exactly how much the project cost.
The spending requests were made by the peer’s aides, but it remains unclear whether any of the work has been carried out on the property.
Baroness Scotland has denied any wrongdoing while staff say they ‘authorised or agreed’ any increase in the refurbishment budget. A Commonwealth spokesman declined to comment last night.