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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Mikey Smith

Liz Truss blew £370k on G20 flight to Bali - then flew straight back to launch PM bid

Liz Truss blew £369,000 flying to Bali for a G20 summit - only to turn around almost immediately to launch a leadership bid when Boris Johnson resigned.

Then Foreign Secretary, Ms Truss took a 18-hour flight to Indonesia for the summit, at which foreign ministers hoped to put pressure on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.

But she had barely set foot in her beach-side hotel villa when Mr Johnson announced he would step down as PM - sparking the race to replace him.

Ms Truss was forced to wait in Bali before returning, because the Government plane's crew needed a 12-hour mandatory rest period.

During her brief stay she met with a bilateral meeting with Retno Marsudi, Indonesia's foreign minister.

But she left later that evening - skipping the G20 foreign ministers meeting the next day entirely.

Newly published data reveals transport for the 40 hour round-trip for Ms Truss and 13 aides cost the taxpayer an eye-watering £369,000.

Ms Truss attended one meeting before flying back (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Ms Truss was already under fire for flying more than 100,000 miles on the official government plane during her nine months in post - rather than using scheduled flights.

An earlier trip to Australia reportedly cost £500,000 in the VIP jet.

Ms Truss was successful in her bid to replace Mr Johnson as Tory leader, but became the shortest serving Prime Minister in UK history, imploding after just seven weeks after crashing the economy with her disastrous mini-budget.

Elsewhere in a raft of transparency publications dumped on the Government's website on the last day before Christmas, it was revealed she kept the gift of a fancy hat she was given during her brief tenure in No 10.

But failed to find time to do any entertaining at Chequers.

Ms Truss chose to purchase the hat donated by Amanda Denton Millinery in line with rules for ministers for gifts worth £140 or more received in their official capacity.

The company, based in Hungerford, Berkshire, specialises in "occasion ladies hats" - described as "perfect" for Cheltenham or Royal Ascot - according to its website.

But Ms Truss decided not to purchase jewellery she was given by the first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, which was retained by the department.

She did not manage to undertake any taxpayer-funded entertaining at Chequers - the prime minister's official country residence - according to her declaration.

Among the meetings that she did find time for was one with Robert Thomson, chief executive of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, to "discuss the priorities of the new government".

In contrast, Mr Johnson managed to pack in a series of meetings with senior media figures in his final days in No 10.

These included a "social meeting" with Mr Murdoch - whose media empire includes The Sun and The Times - just days before Mr Johnson was forced to quit amid a welter of resignations by government ministers.

There were subsequently meetings with Mr Thomson and News UK chief executive Rebekah Brooks, the Telegraph Group chairman Aidan Barclay, The Daily Telegraph editor Chris Evans and the Daily Mail editor Ted Verity.

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