Somalia Prez’s luxury trip at your expense £50k for London jaunt

Exclusive

By CRAIG WOODHOUSE Political Correspondent

HARD-UP taxpayers are footing the bill for an African leader’s five-star London trip, we can reveal.

Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud enjoyed business-class flights, a chauffeur-driven car and rooms at the posh Dorchester hotel — at UK expense.

 

Luxury ... PM David Cameron, left, with Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud

Five of his ministers and 14 flunkeys were flown to Britain and put up to attend a conference which saw millions more in aid handed to the war-torn country.

PM David Cameron joined other nations to back a £50million pot for Somalia at the gathering in Lancaster House last week.

Britain already provides £80million a year in aid. President Mohamud, 57, and his entourage had four nights at the Dorchester — where rooms start at £318 a night and the most expensive suite at £9,318 a night.

If the delegation stayed in the cheapest rooms, the hotel bill would have hit £25,440. Air fares are another £24,158. And a chauffeur-driven limo costs £400 a day — making the estimated bill at least £50,798. The Taxpayers’ Alliance said: “It’s ridiculous.”

The Foreign Office refused to reveal the cost but said the conference was “vital”.


DIPLOMATS and Foreign Office penpushers trousered £91MILLION in bonuses and top-up pay last year, figures reveal.

An allowance system saw them given extra cash for working abroad AND for working in London — plus money for extra luggage.

School fees and danger money were among 18 taxpayer-funded handouts unearthed by Tory MP Priti Patel.

She said: “Taxpayers will be shocked to see officials being bribed just to work in London.”