Tony Blair's security team cost the taxpayer £250,000 a year
Bodyguards hired to protect former prime minister Tony Blair are costing the taxpayer £250,000 a year in expenses, according to reports.
The bills for an elite protection squad, which travels with Mr Blair on luxury holidays and international business trips, are almost twice those submitted by officers protecting his successor Gordon Brown while he was still in office, it has been alleged.
Reports in The Mail on Sunday describe claims of more than £1,200 a night for accommodation at some of the world's finest hotels, as well as for limousine hire and thousands of pounds in cash for overseas trips without receipts.
During a two week break to Borneo last summer, officers ran up a total bill of more than £22,000.
Soon after, a three-man police team accompanied Mr Blair and his wife for a week long visit to a luxury health retreat in Bali, the reports said.
Other expenses included £3,000 cash for a trip to Sierra Leone, for which no receipts were obtained.
Total spending on Royal and diplomatic protection has reached more than £1.5 million so far this year, the newspaper said.
While many of the expenses from the force were for luxury hotels, other claims submitted included those for Percy Pig sweets, chocolate chip cookies and a £38 Little Chef meal, including a chocolate milkshake.
One male Royal protection officer who travelled with Princes William and Harry to the World Cup in South Africa claimed for two ladies' blouses and a pair of ladies' shorts, according to the report.
The claims for protection for the former prime minister were almost twice the £135,000 submitted for protection of Gordon Brown during his last year in office.
Last night Conservative MP Richard Bacon, a member of the Commons public accounts committee called on Mr Blair to make a contribution from his "considerable earnings" towards the cost of his security.
The former Prime Minister can earn up to £80,000 an hour for a speaking engagement.
Mr Blair now spends much of his time abroad, either in his international diplomatic role as a UN Middle East envoy, on business dealings or on holiday.
Whenever he goes, a team of up to five personal bodyguards from the Metropolitan SO1 Specialist Protection unit - which provides armed personal protection for Ministers, public officials and visiting dignitaries at risk from terrorism - travel with him.
According to the newspaper, on New Year's Eve several members of Mr Blair's protection team were deployed in Oxford. One officer claimed £984 for five nights at the Malmaison Hotel, while the team claimed a £213 restaurant bill.
Other claims were said to include:
- £464 a night to stay at the Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan;
- £3,020 cash to cover expenses in Sierra Leone;
- £6,693 for one officer to fly from Jerusalem to Jeddah, then on to Kuala Lumpur, then Indonesia, Singapore and Washington DC to assess security for future trips by Mr Blair. The visit included one night at the Jeddah Hilton which cost £1,264.
A spokesman for the Home Office, which oversees the funding of the diplomatic and Royal protection squads, would not discuss their budgets.
Source: The Telegraph
The bills for an elite protection squad, which travels with Mr Blair on luxury holidays and international business trips, are almost twice those submitted by officers protecting his successor Gordon Brown while he was still in office, it has been alleged.
Reports in The Mail on Sunday describe claims of more than £1,200 a night for accommodation at some of the world's finest hotels, as well as for limousine hire and thousands of pounds in cash for overseas trips without receipts.
During a two week break to Borneo last summer, officers ran up a total bill of more than £22,000.
Soon after, a three-man police team accompanied Mr Blair and his wife for a week long visit to a luxury health retreat in Bali, the reports said.
Other expenses included £3,000 cash for a trip to Sierra Leone, for which no receipts were obtained.
Total spending on Royal and diplomatic protection has reached more than £1.5 million so far this year, the newspaper said.
While many of the expenses from the force were for luxury hotels, other claims submitted included those for Percy Pig sweets, chocolate chip cookies and a £38 Little Chef meal, including a chocolate milkshake.
One male Royal protection officer who travelled with Princes William and Harry to the World Cup in South Africa claimed for two ladies' blouses and a pair of ladies' shorts, according to the report.
The claims for protection for the former prime minister were almost twice the £135,000 submitted for protection of Gordon Brown during his last year in office.
Last night Conservative MP Richard Bacon, a member of the Commons public accounts committee called on Mr Blair to make a contribution from his "considerable earnings" towards the cost of his security.
The former Prime Minister can earn up to £80,000 an hour for a speaking engagement.
Mr Blair now spends much of his time abroad, either in his international diplomatic role as a UN Middle East envoy, on business dealings or on holiday.
Whenever he goes, a team of up to five personal bodyguards from the Metropolitan SO1 Specialist Protection unit - which provides armed personal protection for Ministers, public officials and visiting dignitaries at risk from terrorism - travel with him.
According to the newspaper, on New Year's Eve several members of Mr Blair's protection team were deployed in Oxford. One officer claimed £984 for five nights at the Malmaison Hotel, while the team claimed a £213 restaurant bill.
Other claims were said to include:
- £464 a night to stay at the Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan;
- £3,020 cash to cover expenses in Sierra Leone;
- £6,693 for one officer to fly from Jerusalem to Jeddah, then on to Kuala Lumpur, then Indonesia, Singapore and Washington DC to assess security for future trips by Mr Blair. The visit included one night at the Jeddah Hilton which cost £1,264.
A spokesman for the Home Office, which oversees the funding of the diplomatic and Royal protection squads, would not discuss their budgets.
Source: The Telegraph