Sadiq’s dopey US jaunt cost taxpayers £34,000
SADIQ Khan has been criticised for squandering tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ cash on a ‘vanity tour’ of the US.
Labour’s London mayor came in for flak after visiting a cannabis farm during the week-long jaunt which also saw him watch a baseball game and go to a club with TV star James Corden.
He took eight aides with him to New York, San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Los Angeles last month, all of them taking business class flights from the UK and staying in four- star hotels.
Figures now published by City
Hall reveal the trip cost £34,263 of public money. Some £21,108 of that went on ‘ground transport’, including hiring gas-guzzling SUVs for the mayor to be driven around in.
Another £9,624 was spent on accommodation, with Mr Khan’s four nights in hotels costing £794. The delegation stayed at the Lexington in New York, Orchard Garden in San Francisco and DoubleTree Hilton Downtown in Los Angeles. A further £2,802 went on flight taxes and fees, with United Airlines covering the rest. Last night, Susan Hall, leader of the Tory group on the London Assembly, said: ‘This was a vanity tour. He preaches about climate change yet pays no attention to his own carbon footprint. He is a typical socialist – happy to spend other people’s money.’
The most controversial stop saw Mr Khan pictured among rows of cannabis plants at a farm in Los Angeles and visit a dispensary as the drug is now legal for recreational use in California. He announced a ‘commission’ to review UK drugs laws but was slapped down both by Labour and the Government.
Mr Khan also attended a rooftop reception at a Hollywood branch of members’ club Soho House with Corden and director Richard Curtis, and threw the first pitch at the San Francisco Giants match.
City Hall insisted that while in America he ‘worked tirelessly to bang the drum for London’. A spokesman said: ‘The economic value the trip will create will far outweigh the cost of the visit.’