'Height of hypocrisy!' Starmer lambasted after foreign plane trips cost taxpayers £700k during first THREE months as PM

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GB News
Susanna Siddell

By Susanna Siddell


Published: 09/02/2025

- 08:25

David Lammy's flights cost more than £900,000 over the same period

Sir Keir Starmer's trips abroad cost British taxpayers £700,000 during his first three months as Prime Minister.

The sum of the Labour leader's foreign flights cost £161,000 - more than that of the combined total of his Tory predecessors Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss within the same timeframe as PM.


Starmer has also spent more time overseas in his first six months as PM than the three who came before him, the Mail on Sunday reports.

He has been put on blast for his affinity for overseas travel, causing him to acquire the nickname "Never Here Keir".

Keir Starmer

Keir Starmer has been put on blast for his affinity for overseas travel

PA

Tory MP Paul Holmes said: "This is the height of hypocrisy from the Labour Party who banged on about flights in opposition."

Polling company More in Common's Luke Tryl said that Starmer "hasn’t done a good job of explaining why his trips benefit people at home".

Government documents show that the PM's trips have included one flight to New York for the UN General Assembly, costing £236,020 - almost twice the cost that it took to take Truss to the same event two years prior.

When he travelled to Germany with a family member via private jet to see the Euro 2024 final, he was slapped with accusations of hypocrisy for his previous attacks on Rishi Sunak for using his private jet for his travels.

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In total, Starmer’s flights between July and September cost the taxpayer £697,198, including visits to Paris for the Olympics, Washington DC for a Nato summit, as well as further visits to Rome, Berlin and Dublin.

Sunak's, Johnson's and Truss' flights across a similar timeframe cost £536,085.

Tryl said: "It is striking that people in our focus groups since the autumn have been raising concerns that Keir Starmer “always seems to be abroad".

"Perhaps most importantly Keir hasn’t done a good job of explaining why his trips benefit people here at home."

David Lammy; Keir Starmer

David Lammy's flights cost more than £900,000 from July to September

PA

Flights for foreign secretary David Lammy cost more than £900,000 from July to September, which is similar to those of his predecessors David Cameron and James Cleverly, according to a government source.

A Downing Street source said: "Since taking office in July, the Prime Minister and his Cabinet have worked tirelessly to rebuild the diplomatic bridges burned by the Tories during 14 years of chaos and decline which have weakened Britain’s influence abroad and made us more vulnerable at home."

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "The Foreign Secretary’s job requires him to travel abroad to pursue the UK’s interests.

"This Foreign Secretary remains committed to ensuring the most cost-effective way of travel, delivering best value for money for the taxpayer."

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