Liz Truss claims £3000 of taxpayers money for a “business” lunch

Yep

Optics dear boy, optics?

Not at all, GG13. Another word for the connections you describe would be cronyism. And we have seen a too much of that.
Whether or not ministers frequently entertain at this level is immaterial. LT is the person in the spotlight here and she shows up badly.
If this episode brings about a reduction in this sort of conspicuous consumption, so much the better.

Queues at food banks, high price of energy.and people struggling to get by, people losing their homes, yet we have a government that feels it’s ok to run up a £3000 bill on nothing more than a jolly. Yes the price came down by about 50% , you know what I am really angry and can’t be bothered to go on.

GillT57 perhaps all parties should be unable to use any establishment with any connection to their own party?

Rich person owns top end restaurant and contributes to the Conservatives. obviously is better news fodder

Connections make the world go round in every level in Society, whether rich or poor. Sometimes called friendship, sometimes networking, but basically we all tend to stick within our own circles and frequent places owned/operated by/recommendations by people we know.

MaizieD

^If they had gone to a lower priced restaurant the media headlines would have been poundshop U.K.^or similar.

I doubt if anyone would have taken any interest at all in a meal at a cheaper venue. Government entertaining must be quite commonplace, after all.

I think it was the high cost and the money being put the way of the tory donor that has sparked so much interest in this.

Also, I think the tory leadership contenders have started a briefing battle against each other. Who would have access to the details of this little lunch party? The Treasury, maybe?

Totally agree with your last paragraph MaizieD

Government has always entertained outside of parliament, I do think that the media is being spoon fed stories at the moment.

GrannyGravy13

The lunch was for 10 people including the US trade representative, would you rather she hosted them at the local McDonalds, KFC or Wetherspoon’s?

No of course not, what a silly comment. I don't actually think the bill is excessive for a London restaurant but I am really bothered by the fact that Truss over ruled her department to host the dinner at a club owned by a Tory donor. Doesn't this bother you?

If they had gone to a lower priced restaurant the media headlines would have been ^poundshop U.K.^or similar.

I doubt if anyone would have taken any interest at all in a meal at a cheaper venue. Government entertaining must be quite commonplace, after all.

I think it was the high cost and the money being put the way of the tory donor that has sparked so much interest in this.

Also, I think the tory leadership contenders have started a briefing battle against each other. Who would have access to the details of this little lunch party? The Treasury, maybe?

Seriously, how much money do people on universal credit have to spend on food each week? and we are being told the levels are acceptable by people who use taxpayers money to spend £14.50 on a gin and tonic? That is more than I earn in an hour!

The Houses of Parliament have several dining areas subsidised by the taxpayers. The chefs there could have laid on a perfectly good high end lunch for these folk. It’s not as if Truss has got anywhere near the promised US trade deal.

Doodledog

I’m constantly amazed at the bare-faced hypocrisy and double standards of a government that tells us all that ‘we now have to pay for Covid’ yet uses the public purse to pay inflated prices for boozy working lunches.

It's because they know that we don't actually have to pay for covid. All the extra money was 'borrowed' from no-one and doesn't need to be 'repaid'.

So they can spend it how they like

JaneJudge

I suppose people might be fed up of the double standards of use the food bank if on universal credit versus boozy lunches at top restaurants. I imagine lots of people who are working poor would get the sack if they drank half a bottle of wine on their lunch break

Can only say what our SME policy is on alcohol.

No alcohol to be consumed during working hours, if one of us wines & dines for business it is either early evening or if at lunchtime no alcohol. If alcohol has been consumed no return to work.

Snap, JaneJudge!

I’m constantly amazed at the bare-faced hypocrisy and double standards of a government that tells us all that ‘we now have to pay for Covid’ yet uses the public purse to pay inflated prices for boozy working lunches.

I know I'm fed of them. I witnessed the queue at just one of our local food banks in the days leading up to Christmas and it is at the food bank that doesn't like people to queue as they feel it is demoralising.

I suppose people might be fed up of the double standards of use the food bank if on universal credit versus boozy lunches at top restaurants. I imagine lots of people who are working poor would get the sack if they drank half a bottle of wine on their lunch break

Sashabel

So according to the bill, the total came to £1,400 for a lunch for 10 people in a London establishment and not the £3,000 as exaggerated in the press. Maybe £140 per head is a little high in some circumstances, but when hosting a high profile lunch like this and at London prices, it doesn't seem that high to me.

London prices have gone up extensively since Covid.

Of all the things this Government has done wrong I really cannot see the problem with this. It’s media hype.

If they had gone to a lower priced restaurant the media headlines would have been ^poundshop U.K.^or similar.

Business is carried out in top restaurants all over the world, I am amazed that GN members are unaware of this practice and therefore posting faux surprise.

Visgir1

GrannyGravy13

The lunch was for 10 people including the US trade representative, would you rather she hosted them at the local McDonalds, KFC or Wetherspoon’s?

We have spent more per person on a Lunch in Edinburgh and we weren't after a trade deal.

You know what?

I don't think that a £300 per head lunch (the original cost) is going to have much effect on US trade representatives. They know the UK is at the back of the queue for a trade deal and when they get round to it they're going to screw us...

In the meantime; hey! A free lunch. Who's going to turn that down?

GrannyGravy13

The lunch was for 10 people including the US trade representative, would you rather she hosted them at the local McDonalds, KFC or Wetherspoon’s?

That’s still £300 each.

If that’s the cost of a working lunch in London (as a country mouse I can honestly say that a tenth of that would buy a reasonable lunchtime special in my neck of the woods) then maybe Truss needs to have a rethink about the level of minimum wage to allow her fellow Londoners to support local eateries? I seem to remember that keeping Pret and Starbucks afloat was reason enough to expect workers to risk public transport and return to work in crowded offices, so keeping them beyond the fiscal reach of the average Joe must be an oversight, surely.

Or maybe the HOC should move its base to somewhere cheaper? I gather that the cost of a flat in the smoke is inflating the expenses budget in time of austerity too, and we’re all in this together (or is even that pretence out of the window these days?)

MaizieD

Lucca

The Times reported 2 bottles of Tanqueray gin…

Here is the bill:

Since when did a whole bottle of Tanqueray gin cost £11.50 in a high end restaurant? Those are single shots...

The press are just copying and pasting; no critical thinking involved

Ok. Only saying what I read. ?‍♀️

So according to the bill, the total came to £1,400 for a lunch for 10 people in a London establishment and not the £3,000 as exaggerated in the press. Maybe £140 per head is a little high in some circumstances, but when hosting a high profile lunch like this and at London prices, it doesn't seem that high to me.

JaneJudge

That is a shit load of booze for a lunch? how many of them were there?

It’s reported that there were 10 at the lunch.

so they had half a bottle of wine each in the middle of the day?

Bodach

For several years, during the Blair and then Brown PM-ships, I was a member of a government department dealing with certain aspects of international trade. We regularly wined and dined visiting foreign delegations, often using the most exclusive (and therefore expensive) London restaurants. This was reciprocated when we visited their countries - particularly when ministers on either side were involved. There's nothing unusual about this level of expenditure, nor is it a Tory-specific thing.

I don't think your defence stands, Bodach, when it was her department's civil servants who were advising her to go somewhere a bit less expensive.

GrannyGravy13

The lunch was for 10 people including the US trade representative, would you rather she hosted them at the local McDonalds, KFC or Wetherspoon’s?

We have spent more per person on a Lunch in Edinburgh and we weren't after a trade deal.

Lucca

The Times reported 2 bottles of Tanqueray gin…

Here is the bill:

Since when did a whole bottle of Tanqueray gin cost £11.50 in a high end restaurant? Those are single shots...

The press are just copying and pasting; no critical thinking involved