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Somalia Prez’s luxury trip at your expense: £50k for London jaunt

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
Trip ... Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (second left)


The Sun
Sunday, May 12, 2013


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HARD-UP taxpayers are footing the bill for an African leader’s five-star London trip, we can reveal.

Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud enjoyed business-class flights, a chauffeur-driven car and rooms at the posh Dorchester hotel — at UK expense.

Five of his ministers and 14 flunkeys were flown to Britain and put up to attend a conference which saw millions more in aid handed to the war-torn country.

PM David Cameron joined other nations to back a £50million pot for Somalia at the gathering in Lancaster House last week.

Britain already provides £80million a year in aid. President Mohamud, 57, and his entourage had four nights at the Dorchester — where rooms start at £318 a night and the most expensive suite at £9,318 a night.

If the delegation stayed in the cheapest rooms, the hotel bill would have hit £25,440. Air fares are another £24,158. And a chauffeur-driven limo costs £400 a day — making the estimated bill at least £50,798. The Taxpayers’ Alliance said: “It’s ridiculous.”

The Foreign Office refused to reveal the cost but said the conference was “vital”.

DIPLOMATS and Foreign Office penpushers trousered £91MILLION in bonuses and top-up pay last year, figures reveal.

An allowance system saw them given extra cash for working abroad AND for working in London — plus money for extra luggage.

School fees and danger money were among 18 taxpayer-funded handouts unearthed by Tory MP Priti Patel.

She said: “Taxpayers will be shocked to see officials being bribed just to work in London.”

David Cameron and Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
Luxury ... PM David Cameron, left, with Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud



 





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