Liz Truss fights back against £12,000 invoice from Government relating to time at Chevening retreat in Kent

Liz Truss is fighting back against a £12,000 Government bill relating to her use of a country house during her time as Foreign Secretary.

The South West Norfolk MP has been asked to cover the costs incurred while she spent time at the Chevening retreat in Kent last summer.

The invoice, which covers the period during which Ms Truss was battling to be named Prime Minister, is understood to have been issued a number of weeks ago.

It includes requests to pay for items such as slippers and a bathrobe which went missing while she was hosting senior Government officials at the venue.

However, Ms Truss insists that the “majority” of the invoice was incurred on official business, and that she should not therefore have to foot most of the bill.

A spokesman for the MP said: “Liz always paid for the costs of her personal guests at Chevening.

“The latest invoice contains a mixture of costs for her personally and costs for official Government business with civil servants including Simon Chase and senior officials from other departments who met at Chevening during the transition preparations.

“The latter constitutes the majority of the bill. It would be inappropriate for her to pay the costs for officials as it would have breached the Civil Service Code for civil servants to accept hospitality during the leadership campaign.

“She has therefore asked for this to be billed separately.”

A source told the Mail on Sunday newspaper that Ms Truss used Chevening House as a “mini Number 10, holding meetings with her inner circle which often turned into parties in the evening”.

But Ms Truss has requested that an “accurate invoice” be made before she makes any payment.