The former palace renovated by aid cash
ALMOST a million pounds of foreign aid has been spent on a royal palace in central London that is used as offices by Baroness Scotland.
Figures show that £917,273 of taxpayers’ money was lavished on Marlborough House over the past three years.
The property, located on Pall Mall, is the international headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat which is led by the former Labour attorney general.
Some £327,501 of aid money was used to fund ‘the security provision, maintenance and upkeep of Marlborough House’ in 2018, the most recent year for which figures are available. A further £589,772 was spent the two previous years.
The funding, which was handed over by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, was counted towards the UK’s foreign aid spending target of 0.7 per cent of national income. The 18th century building, next to St James’s Palace, was made available to the Commonwealth by the Queen after the secretariat, the body’s civil service, was established in 1965.
It is used as a venue for independence negotiations and conferences, including the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last year.
It is also used by Baroness Scotland to host an annual reception to mark Commonwealth Day.
The peer has faced criticism since taking up her role as secretarygeneral of the Secretariat in 2016. She was nicknamed ‘Baroness Brazen’ and ‘Baroness Shameless’ after she spent £338,000 refurbishing her nearby grace-and-favour apartment in Mayfair.
Marlborough House was built in 1711 after Sir Christopher Wren was commissioned to draw up the plans. Its occupants over almost 300 years have included five dukes and duchesses of Marlborough, three dowager queens, three Princes of Wales who later became kings and Prince Leopold, who became King of the Belgians.
A Government spokesman said: ‘Marlborough House is the home of Commonwealth Secretariat, which oversees the Commonwealth of Nations, and this money was spent on its upkeep, security and maintenance.
‘The UK is committed to a Commonwealth with a strong and vibrant future built on deep partnerships embracing its unique and diverse membership.’
A spokesman for the Commonwealth Secretariat said it was ‘not involved with and has no influence over the Government’s spending decisions for Marlborough House’.