LONDON — The British Foreign Office on Wednesday defended spending almost $16 million to buy an apartment for a diplomat in New York as “the best possible deal and value for money” and a way to promote Britain’s business interests in the city.

The British government paid 12 million pounds, or about $15.8 million, for the property, a full-floor penthouse on the 38th floor of 50 United Nations Plaza, a 43-story condominium building that is a stone’s throw from the United Nations headquarters on the East Side of Manhattan.

It will be home to Antony Phillipson, the British consul general in New York. Mr. Phillipson is also Britain’s trade commissioner for North America, responsible for strengthening the bilateral trade relationship between Britain and the United States, among other duties.

The price of the apartment did not sit well with some in Britain, who accused the government of wasteful spending while the country was still experiencing the hardships of austerity. The tabloid newspaper The Sun described the property as a “pencil-pusher paradise.”