By George Day • Published: 31 Mar 2020 • 11:55
OVER £400,000 of taxpayers’ money was spent by Whitehall on food, entertainment and press conferences during President Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK last June.
Figures released by the Foreign Office show that £100,000 was spent on entertainment, £108,000 for a Buckingham Palace state banquet and £242,000 to cover ‘venue/production’ costs for events.
In addition, the Metropolitan Police spent almost £3.5 million on the visit in security costs. Figures previously released by The Met show the force’s total costs came in at £3,419,905, with more than 6,300 officers deployed across the visit.
A breakdown from The Met shows more than £800,000 was spent on overtime for police officers, £215,000 on infrastructure, £31,385 on fleet costs, £23,000 on hotels, £34,481 on catering and £41,000 on mutual aid.
Over £31,000 was spent on accommodation costs associated with the trip with the president said to have booked a floor of the luxurious Corinthia Hotel in Westminster for himself, Melania Trump, the First Lady and his accompanying party.
Highlights of Mr Trump’s visit included D-Day commemorations in Portsmouth and a state banquet held by the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
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