Liz Truss is contesting a government bill relating to her use of the grace-and-favour country house she had access to as foreign secretary. The former Conservative prime minister has been asked to foot a bill of about £12,000 for costs incurred at Chevening House in Kent.
The bill covers the period last year when Ms Truss was running to be the leader of the Conservative Party. Ms Truss was foreign secretary when she used Chevening House in August 2022 as she prepared for power during the Tory leadership contest.
The BBC has been told that Ms Truss’s Chevening bill - which was first reported by the Mail on Sunday newspaper - covers missing items, including bathrobes, which she is happy to pay to replace. But the former prime minister is maintaining that the majority of the invoice relates to using Chevening for government business, meaning she should not be liable for most of the bill.
Those close to Ms Truss have stressed that she will account for all personal expenses incurred. A spokesman for Ms Truss said: "Liz always paid for the costs of her personal guests at Chevening.
“The latest invoice contains a mixture of costs for her personally and costs for official government business with civil servants including [Cabinet Secretary] Simon Case and senior officials from other departments who met at Chevening during the transition preparations. The latter constitutes the majority of the bill. It would be inappropriate for her to pay the costs for officials as it would have breached the Civil Service Code for civil servants to accept hospitality during the leadership campaign. She has therefore asked for this to be billed separately.”
Bathrobes, eh … 
Maybe a few other “souvenirs” … 
