Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle charged taxpayers more than £500 to take an extra suitcase on a lavish trip abroad as part of a six-figure, two-year campaign of foreign travels on the public purse.
The suitcase expense was claimed during a nine-day visit to South Africa and St Helena, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic.
The revelation comes as part of a wider examination of the Speaker's travel expenses by the Daily Mail - which includes first-class flights and stays at luxury resorts.
The total cost of the trip amounted to £23,643, with £21,300 spent on first and business class flights with British Airways and South African carrier Airlink.
Documents reveal that "£504 was paid to bring an extra suitcase onboard" during the journey - on which two members of Hoyle's staff joined him.
Hoyle's office explained the expense was necessary because the baggage allowance on the Johannesburg-St Helena leg was smaller than on the London-Johannesburg portion.
They stated the case "contained necessary resources to support the trip" but refused to elaborate further.
Former Tory Brexit Minister David Jones has piled the pressure on the Speaker - he asked: "How many clothes do you need for St Helena? It's in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and I wouldn't have thought there'd be many black tie events there."
The probe revealed the Speaker has spent more than £180,000 of taxpayers' money on flights alone in just two years.
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His overall travel expenses total over £250,000 across 19 international trips since October 2022.
By comparison, his predecessor John Bercow took a decade to accumulate the same bill for "non-regular" foreign travel.
Records show Hoyle consistently flies first or business - even for short-haul journeys to Dublin and Italy.
A trip to Australian capital Canberra in January 2023 cost more than £40,500, including over £33,000 on First and Business Class flights for Hoyle and two staff.
And a visit to Qatar last September cost nearly £13,000, with almost £11,000 spent on business class flights.
During this trip, he stayed at the five-star beachside St Regis hotel in Doha, where one "subsistence" bill reached £811.
The Speaker also chartered private planes during a visit to Montserrat in the Caribbean.
A December 2023 trip to Gibraltar cost taxpayers £5,000, including £2,000 for BA business class flights.
The four-day visit was to attend a graduation ceremony at the University of Gibraltar, where Hoyle serves as chancellor.
Other expensive journeys included nearly £19,000 on Business Class flights to Jakarta and Singapore, more than £21,000 to Tokyo and nearly £15,000 to Jordan.
The Speaker also spent over £3,000 on chauffeur-driven cars in Los Angeles and more than £4,500 on similar services in Canberra.
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The suitcase expense was claimed during a nine-day visit to South Africa and St Helena, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic.
The revelation comes as part of a wider examination of the Speaker's travel expenses by the Daily Mail - which includes first-class flights and stays at luxury resorts.
The total cost of the trip amounted to £23,643, with £21,300 spent on first and business class flights with British Airways and South African carrier Airlink.
Documents reveal that "£504 was paid to bring an extra suitcase onboard" during the journey - on which two members of Hoyle's staff joined him.
Hoyle's office explained the expense was necessary because the baggage allowance on the Johannesburg-St Helena leg was smaller than on the London-Johannesburg portion.
They stated the case "contained necessary resources to support the trip" but refused to elaborate further.
Former Tory Brexit Minister David Jones has piled the pressure on the Speaker - he asked: "How many clothes do you need for St Helena? It's in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and I wouldn't have thought there'd be many black tie events there."
The probe revealed the Speaker has spent more than £180,000 of taxpayers' money on flights alone in just two years.
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His overall travel expenses total over £250,000 across 19 international trips since October 2022.
By comparison, his predecessor John Bercow took a decade to accumulate the same bill for "non-regular" foreign travel.
Records show Hoyle consistently flies first or business - even for short-haul journeys to Dublin and Italy.
A trip to Australian capital Canberra in January 2023 cost more than £40,500, including over £33,000 on First and Business Class flights for Hoyle and two staff.
And a visit to Qatar last September cost nearly £13,000, with almost £11,000 spent on business class flights.
During this trip, he stayed at the five-star beachside St Regis hotel in Doha, where one "subsistence" bill reached £811.
The Speaker also chartered private planes during a visit to Montserrat in the Caribbean.
A December 2023 trip to Gibraltar cost taxpayers £5,000, including £2,000 for BA business class flights.
The four-day visit was to attend a graduation ceremony at the University of Gibraltar, where Hoyle serves as chancellor.
Other expensive journeys included nearly £19,000 on Business Class flights to Jakarta and Singapore, more than £21,000 to Tokyo and nearly £15,000 to Jordan.
The Speaker also spent over £3,000 on chauffeur-driven cars in Los Angeles and more than £4,500 on similar services in Canberra.
Find Out More...