Foreign Secretary's Trip To Australia Leaves Taxpayers £500,000 Out Of Pocket

Foreign secretary Liz Truss flew by private jet to Australia at a cost of over half a million pounds to the taxpayer, rather than using scheduled flights that would have been faster and far cheaper.

- Simon Calder

Instead of travelling from London to Sydney on one of the daily Qantas departures, Ms Truss flew the 22,000 miles to, from and within Australia aboard the private government Airbus A321.

The Ministerial Code makes clear that only the foreign secretary could authorise such a flight.

The aircraft type holds 235 passengers on easyJet flights, but the government’s version is kitted out with a VIP interior – including lie-flat beds.

The mission to Australia and back this week burnt an estimated 150 tonnes of fuel and generated nearly 500 tonnes of CO2. Scheduled flights were available for the same itinerary, but it is understood the private flight was chosen for “security considerations” amid fears that conversations could be overheard by other passengers.

A leading environmental campaigner has described the foreign secretary’s choice as “an outrageous source of emissions in the current climate emergency”.

Ms Truss began her journey at noon on 18 January with a flight from London Stansted to Dubai. It took off two hours after the regular Qantas departure from Heathrow, which went nonstop to Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory and continued to Sydney. After a 90-minute refuelling stop in the UAE, the foreign secretary’s plane flew overnight to Kuala Lumpur, where it took on more fuel.

Flight XT645, as it was coded, touched down at Sydney shortly after midnight on 20 January – five hours behind the Qantas scheduled flight from London. The plane sat on the ground at Sydney for two days while the foreign secretary met Australia government offiials, before flying across to Adelaide where Ms Truss gave a speech.