The Foreign Secretary has ordered a crackdown on overseas aid spending after taxpayers’ money was used to pay for a play in Haiti, a TV game show in Ethiopia and finding mates for fish in Madagascar.

Philip Hammond launched a review to make sure money is spent ‘wisely’ as it was revealed the UK had funded an anti-littering drive in Jordan and lessons on how to use Facebook for people in Laos.

The Foreign Office last year spent more than £300million on overseas aid schemes – including paying for schoolchildren in Haiti to see Hamlet.

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World map: Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has demanded a spending review after it emerged his £343million aid budget went on rare tropical fish, Hamlet in South America and an Ethiopian gameshow

Big spender: Some £3,400 was spent on finding female mates for the endangered Mangarahara cichlid fish

More than £2,000 worth of tickets were given away for the Caribbean production it was claimed would ‘promote UK culture’.

A further £5,000 went on Hamlet workshops in Ecuador.

As well as £7,000 to cut littering in Jordan, there was also more than £6,000 spent on school music lessons.

And a project to promote ‘safe and responsible’ use of Facebook in Laos, south-east Asia, cost £970.

Humanitarian groups last night said it was important overseas aid spending was concentrated on alleviating poverty.

Diane Sheard, director of the ONE Campaign founded by U2 singer Bono, said: ‘By law, UK aid must help to reduce global poverty. If money is being used to fund schemes that don’t meet this goal, then it shouldn’t be counted as aid.

Big bite budget: £3,104.09 was spent on English lessons for young football players in Urugay, hoping to follow the nation's biting hero Luis Suarez

Shakespeare in love: The FCO spent £5,000 last year on ‘Hamlet education workshops’ in Ecuador and gave £2,042-worth of free tickets to children for a Hamlet production in Haiti

‘The reports of Foreign Office aid spending raise legitimate questions.’

More than £13,000 was budgeted for a ‘Q&A game show’ to be shown on Ethiopian television with a ‘UK and Ethiopia theme’. A further £5,000 was spent in the African country on a 10k run.

Hundreds of leaflets were printed in Russian and Romanian – at a cost of £2,300 – to promote the EU in Moldova.

HEY BIG SPENDER: HOW FOREIGN OFFICE USED YOUR TAXES Here are just some of the projects on which the Foreign Office spent tax payers' money from their 2013/14 budget. £3,400 was spent on finding female mates for the endangered Mangarahara cichlid fish, in Madagascar. £3,104.09 was spent on English lessons for young football players in Uruguay. £13,888 spent on a ‘Q&A game show on National Television’in Ethiopia. £51,564 giving Serbians work experience in the UK. £5,000 last year on ‘Hamlet education workshops’ in Ecuador, South America. £2,042-worth of free tickets given to children for a Hamlet production in Haiti. Advertisement

And a scheme to find female mates for endangered Mangarahara cichlid fish in Madagascar cost £3,400.

Only three of the species, known as ‘gorgeously ugly’, were thought to exist in the world in 2013 and all were male.

In Bolivia £13,500 was budgeted for measuring the carbon footprint of the Dakar off-road car rally.

Last night Jonathan Isaby, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Taxpayers will be outraged at these damning revelations. It is totally inappropriate to spend taxpayers’ cash on pointless projects and propaganda.

‘Foreign aid is supposed to help the world’s poorest, not subsidise game shows. Until the Foreign Office can prove value for money for these projects, and they’ll struggle, this spending should stop.’

The Foreign Office last year spent £343million on overseas aid, while the majority of the UK’s £12billion annual aid budget is distributed by the Department for International Development. In March the Government passed a bill to enshrine in law its commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of the country’s annual income on aid.

But it has failed to commit to its Nato obligation to spend 2 per cent of its GDP of defence.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘The Foreign Secretary has ordered a review so that we can be sure that every last penny of the FCO’s aid spending around the world is effective and represents value for money. Building closer relationships with growing economies is important.

‘The vast majority of aid spending promotes UK prosperity and broader stability but there will be a crackdown on projects that cannot show taxpayers’ cash is being spent wisely.’