Britain’s shortest-serving Prime Minister may not have lasted long in the top job, but Liz Truss certainly claimed her fair share of air miles throughout 2022. Official government figures reveal that the ill-fated figurehead racked-up a bill of almost £2 million on private jets last year.
How much did Liz Truss spend on private jets?
Some of her journeys matched the farce of her short premiership: In July 2022, she chartered a private government flight to the G20 meeting in Indonesia – only to perform an abrupt u-turn and head back to the UK immediately, in the wake of Boris Johnson’s resignation.
As reported by The Mirror, Liz Truss may have even made it home earlier, if not for the mandatory rest time the pilots and crew were required to take. In hindsight, her decision to fly back for the Tory leadership campaign wasn’t the smartest one.
A separate trip to Australia, which occurred in January 2022, cost the taxpayer almost £500,000. Those pork markets don’t sell themselves, we suppose. In total, Truss is reported to have taken 69 private government jet flights within a 12-month period.
Wallace, Cleverly also indulge in private flights
The eye-watering figures come at a time when the Tories are already facing staunch criticism for their environmental policies. Rishi Sunak, who replaced Truss almost one year ago, has scrapped a number of green targets, and elected to pursue North Sea oil projects instead.
Truss, who was Foreign Secretary before her brief stint in 10 Downing Street, has argued she needed to avoid commercial airlines, in order to get her work done while in the air. However, her jet-setting is estimated to have cost £1.8 million last year.
To put this into perspective, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace was the second-highest spender, and his private government air-fare reached a total of £197,000 – just over 10% of Liz Truss’ expenses. James Cleverly also chalked-up a six-figure bill, with £141,000 placed on his slate.