Natalie Jeffers, from Brighton, is the 'co-founder' and 'organiser' of Black Lives Matter UK and also runs an organisation called Matters of the Earth

One of the key leaders in the Black Lives Matters group in Britain missed the group's protest at London City airport because she was flying to a conference in Brazil, paid for by a government department.

Natalie Jeffers, from Brighton, is the 'co-founder' and 'organiser' of Black Lives Matter UK and also runs an organisation called Matters of the Earth, in which she tries to bridge 'the gap between the academic and creative worlds'.

According to The Sunday Times, her work with Matters of the Earth has been funded in part by a £50,000 grant from the Department for International Development.

When a small group of activists caused London City airport to grind to a halt, Ms Jeffers was flying to the Costa do Sauipe resort in Brazil to speak at a feminist conference.

From an account for Matters of the Earth, which is run by Ms Jeffers, she retweeted a message about the London City airport protest. She was flying to Brazil when the protest happened

From her Matters of the Earth account, she retweeted Black Lives Matter's message: 'At London City Airport a small elite is able to fly, in 2016 alone 3,176 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean.'

According to the Times, a source close to the international development secretary, Priti Patel MP, said the minister was angry about the spending and would be demanding to know why the courses were commissioned in the first place.

Nice work if you can get it: The £200-a-night Costa do Sauipe resort in Brazil

A spokesman for the Dfid said: 'In 2015, one of our subcontractors commissioned Matters of the Earth to produce small-scale and specific pieces of work. The money was not used for wider agendas.'

Ms Jeffers was attending the Association for Women's Rights in Development congress which had been moved from May to September over fears about the Zika virus.

Ms Jeffers has received £50,000 in funding from a contractor of the Department for International Development and missed a Black Lives Matter protest at London City Airport because she was flying to Brazil

Ms Jeffers has stated she did not use the money for Black Lives Matter or its work.

The group caused outrage when nine activists disrupted flights from London City Airport by lying on the runway for hours before they were removed by police.

Several critics noticed from the photos posted by the group that all the activists involved were white, but the group defended itself, saying they were allies.

Campaigner and journalist Wail Qasim, an activist with Black Lives Matter, said white people protesting had given black people a voice.

Ms Jeffers has stated she did not use the money for Black Lives Matter or its work.

He told MailOnline: ‘This shows the sort of responsibility that white people should be taking. They should be willing to put bodies on the line for black rights.

‘You’ll notice that white activists have not been giving comment to the media. Really what’s happened is that black voices have been able to speak off the back of the actions of the white activists.

‘It should absolutely always be black leadership, not white leadership.’

As part of a piece about her background for a conference last Autumn, Ms Jeffers described herself as 'a Black feminist who draws positive energy from travelling the world, building community, cooking and sharing tasty food with empowered souls, loving friends and family'.