Ministry of Defence bigwigs stay in £1,000-a-night hotels while troops are housed in sub-standard barracks
MILITARY bigwigs stayed at five-star hotels costing up to £1,000 a night while troops were housed in sub-standard barracks.
The Ministry of Defence paid out £150million-plus in a year on rooms, meals and transport.
The 2019/2020 bill — including top brass trips to the likes of Lapland, Honolulu, Washington, Dubai and Australia — was up from £116million the previous year.
A freedom of information request also revealed many of the dearest stays were in the UK.
A booking of 98 room nights in Barrow-in- Furness, Cumbria, cost £44,700 or £455 each.
Chunks of the expenditure went on rooms in London, close to the MoD’s HQ in Whitehall.
Officials stayed at five-star Royal Horseguards Hotel, with one three-night stint costing £3,100.
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The revelations come after the National Audit Office was critical of barracks standards — noting “decades of underfunding” and repairs of £1.5billion needed.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “Public sector staff shouldn’t be lounging in luxury hotels.”
An MOD spokesperson said: “We try to keep costs to a minimum.”