Fact check: The Foreign Office spent £521,527 on restaurants and bars
Claims circulated online that the spending was solely made by the Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
Social media users have claimed in widely-shared posts that Foreign Secretary David Lammy has spent £521,525 on food and drink expenses since taking up the role in July.
One said: “David Lammy has been in his role as foreign secretary for 233 days racking up £521,525 in food and drink expenses.”
Another said: “£521,525 on restaurants and bars in the first four months of being in government. David Lammy won’t need to ask for reparations ever again since it looks like he’s already has his.”
Evaluation
This is not the figure for Mr Lammy’s personal expenses. It is the total spent by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) as a whole on restaurants and bars for the four months from July to October 2024.
The facts
The Government publishes departmental spending of more than £500 via certain payment systems.
At the time of writing, the latest month of FCDO spending data published is from October 2024. Data has also been published for July, August and September. Mr Lammy was appointed Foreign Secretary on July 5 2004.
The spending is split into different categories in the spreadsheet, and one of those categories is “restaurants and bars”.
This shows that spending above £500 in restaurants and bars was £136,443.92 in July, £93,005.02 in August, £108,422.64 in September, and £183,655.84 in October.
That adds up to £521,527.42 – very close to the figure in the claims made about Mr Lammy – but is attributed to the whole department, which has around 17,000 staff.
