Expenses reveal Keir Starmer splurged £250,000 of taxpayers' cash

That’s pretty dear, Sir Keir! Expenses reveal Labour leader Starmer splurged £250,000 of taxpayers’ cash on travel and hotels while head of the Crown Prosecution Service – including flights to Hong Kong, Thailand and the Caribbean

Starmer splurged more than £42,500 of taxpayers’ cash on expensive flights
Included four ‘business class’ flights to Washington, costing £20,000 in total

Sir Keir Starmer racked up a travel expenses bill of nearly £250,000 as head of the Crown Prosecution Service – more than triple his successor, it emerged yesterday.

The Labour leader’s office splurged more than £42,500 of taxpayers’ cash on expensive flights during his five-year stint as director of public prosecutions (DPP).

This included four flights to Washington that appeared to be business class, costing nearly £20,000 in total, one of which cost almost £7,000 alone.

Taxpayers were billed more than £20,000 for flights to Hong Kong, Bangkok, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Ghana and Sierra Leone.

In total, the DPP splashed £236,485 of public money on lavish flights, hotel stays, meals and a chauffeur-driven car between 2008 and 2013.

The Labour leader’s office splurged more than £42,500 of taxpayers’ cash on expensive flights during his five-year stint as director of public prosecutions (DPP) (pictured: Keir Starmer during his time as DPP)

This included four flights to Washington that appeared to be business class, costing nearly £20,000 in total, one of which cost almost £7,000 alone

Taxpayers were billed more than £20,000 for flights to Hong Kong, Bangkok, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Ghana and Sierra Leone

In his first two months in the job alone, they burnt through £23,000. The expenses were on top of his nearly £200,000 annual salary and £336,000 accrued in pension benefits over five years.

By contrast, his successor Alison Saunders spent just £67,000 on travel expenses from 2013 to 2018.

Sir Keir has sought to brand Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as ‘Mr One Per Cent’ for his six-figure earnings – but has refused to acknowledge how long he has also been a top earner for.

His average yearly expenses as DPP alone were more than the average UK salary.

The revelations come after Labour accused the Tory Government of using public money ‘like a cash machine’ after publishing a study of spending on departmental purchase cards which it claimed showed ‘lavish spending’ on hotels and hospitality.

Tory MP Craig Mackinlay said: ‘It’s clear that Sir Keir Starmer’s flip-flopping hypocrisy knows no bounds amid these revelations that he spent so much money on international jollies and jaunts.

‘It shows him in a very poor light as he was obviously happy to spend someone else’s money like water when it was available.

‘Is the country really going to let such a spendthrift become the potential First Lord of the Treasury?’

The expenses details, obtained by investigative journalism website Declassified UK, show Sir Keir’s office billed taxpayers £161,273 for the use of a chauffeur-driven car in his first 21 months in the job, despite living only a few miles away from the CPS office in central London.

While he had access to the car, his office also billed taxpayers £330 for 13 taxi journeys across London.

The DPP also lodged hotel and meal claims totalling more than £1,000 a time for ‘official meetings’ and conferences in Jamaica and Trinidad and Washington.

Some rail trips also appear to have been business class, with one to Newcastle costing more than £400, and a fare to Preston more than £300.

Sir Keir last month pledged that a Labour government would be disciplined with public spending if they win the next general election, and that ‘every pound will be precious’.

A party spokesman last night defended the expenses bill, saying: ‘As the country’s most senior prosecutor, Keir Starmer’s work getting criminals off the streets, locking up terrorists, and securing justice for victims involved frequent travel and collaboration overseas to break up international gangs and plots against this country.’

The CPS was contacted for comment.

Source: Read Full Article