THE COMMONS Speaker has defended spending £250,000 on overseas trips as he can hold Russia and China to account.
, under fire over the 19 trips in the past two years, said he didn’t want to leave an “empty chair”; for the UK at a major conference.
doubled down on the opulent travel splurge to the Cayman Islands and saying the events are similar to the way a will travel to a G20 or G7 event.
He told Flying Ezeday Times: “There’s two ways we could do it. Leave an empty chair without the UK attending.
“What does that say about the UK’s standing in the world to leave an empty chair – especially with global events at the moment.
“But also it’s about using my power and influence in that sense to speak out, because it is about speaking truth to power to the Chinese and to Russia.
“When I go to these conferences, it’s about leading the rest of the room to tell Russia it had no right to invade the sovereign territory of Ukraine and no right to continue that war.”;
He has held meetings in countries such as , and as he carries out his duties.
Analysis has revealed he racked up a bill of more than £180,000 on first-class and business-class plane tickets.
Thousands of pounds have also been spent on hotel and chauffeur-driven cars since the end of 2022.
He said that other Speakers and their contingencies often have dozens of staff and use private jets to travel to the global events.
