What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Pampered politicians have racked up nearly £600,000 in bills for luxury flights and hotel stays on plum junkets as trade envoys, bombshell figures reveal.

Dozens of MPs and peers have jetted off on cushy missions to schmooze foreign regimes in the hope of drumming up business for Britain over the past four years.

They include 15 Tory MPs and five Conservative peers, according to a Freedom of Information response handed to the Mirror.

Millionaire Tory former Environment Minister, Richard Benyon, dubbed the country’s richest MP, hit taxpayers for more than £20,000 on junkets to Ethiopia, the Congo and Mozambique over five visits, according to the figures uncovered by the Best for Britain campaign.

(Image: Mirror Screen Grab)

(Image: Gethin Chamberlain)

Yet UK exports to the trio of African countries total just £300million - including zero business with the Congo, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Mr Benyon’s fellow Conservative millionaire Adam Afriye – once tipped as the first black PM – notched up £21,000 during 13 days spread over five jollies to Ghana, where Britain sells £1billion of goods and services.

(Image: PA)

Lib Dem Baroness Northover hit the public purse for more than £29,000 in 24 days in Angola and Zambia, spread over seven trips.

And shamed sex toy MP Mark Garnier, sacked as a Trade Minister in the New Year reshuffle despite being cleared by a Cabinet Office inquiry, cost the public purse more than £10,500 on three trips to Burma, Brunei and Thailand.

He triggered outrage at the height of last year’s Westminster harassment scandal when it emerged he asked his Commons secretary to buy him two vibrators.

Four Labour peers and one Labour MP were among those delegated by the Government to boost trade abroad.

A breakdown of costs reveals that in 2013-14, taxpayers forked out £63,492 in funding Government trade envoys, doubling to £126,164 the following year.

(Image: South Wales Echo) (Image: REUTERS)

In 2015-16, the cost was £74,108, rocketing to £222,377 in 2016-17 after the Brexit vote to quit the EU.

The cost for the financial year 2017-18 has already hit £95,654.

Best for Britain champion and Green party co-leader Caroline Lucas called on International Trade Secretary Liam Fox to “review the roles” of trade envoys.

She said tonight: “Some serious questions need to be asked about the effectiveness of the Government’s trade envoys so we can be reassured that the thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money is doing more than boosting the use of champagne in business class lounges across the world.

“Liam Fox should do one useful thing while he’s in charge of trade, and review these roles immediately.

(Image: REUTERS)

“And if the Government is serious about protecting Britain’s role as a trading nation then they should scrap their foolhardy plans to drag us out of the Single Market too.”

In its FoI response, the DIT said: “The role of trade envoy was launched by Prime Minister David Cameron in November 2012.

“Due to logistical and budget allocation planning, no trips were undertaken until the following year.

“No first class plane or train tickets have been bought since the trade envoy programme began.”

A Department for International Trade spokesman said: “ The Trade Envoy programme is an unpaid and voluntary cross party network, who help promote trade and investment in global markets.

“They have contributed to business wins worth around £19.5billion.”