Liz Truss’s trips abroad as foreign secretary and international trade minister saw her make demands resembling a rock star “rider”, according to a new biography of the ex-prime minister.
Labour has questioned expenses claims made on behalf of Ms Truss for her overseas travel following extracts from the book Out of the Blue: the Inside Story of the Unexpected Rise and Rapid Fall of Liz Truss.
Ms Truss asked bottle of sauvignon blanc in the fridge of any accommodation, and wanted Bagels or sushi for lunch – with “absolutely no mayonnaise on anything, ever”.
She was exacting about coffee, according to extracts serialised in the Sunday Times, expecting double espressos served in a flat-white-sized takeaway cup.
Former aide Kirsty Buchanan said Ms Truss drank “about 42,000 espressos a day or she used to when I worked for her … she would sit there with a massive meatball sub or eat three croissants for breakfast”.
Labour’s shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry questioned the government declarations made on behalf of Ms Truss – saying she would “keep digging away” based on details in the book.
The senior MP said on Sunday she had been “pursuing answers” from the Department for International Trade (DIT) about why “zero non-travel expenses were declared for these trips”.
Ms Thornberry tweeted: “The DIT was claiming that – across these three trips, amounting to a full fortnight overseas – Truss had incurred not a penny of costs on hotels, meals, drinks and other expenses.”
She added: “On the back of today’s extracts, you can judge how credible that is.”
The book also details the time and energy spent on arranging desired photo shoots for Ms Truss on overseas trips.
One source said a shoot at the Shibuya pedestrian crossing in Japanese capital Tokyo was “so dangerous”, adding: “There was traffic everywhere and she just kept bowling through it, take after take, even when the traffic was still coming.”
Freedom of information requests revealed a freelance photographer was hired for a trip to Australia at the cost of £1,483 for photos such as the picture of Ms Truss on a British-made Brompton bike with a Union Jack umbrella in front of Sydney Harbour.
