Liz Truss asked for public money to cover ?3,000 lunch

Liz Truss, the current favourite to succeed Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservatives among party members, hosted a lunch at an expensive private club owned by a Tory donor after overruling civil service advice to look for a cheaper venue.

Leaked correspondence has revealed the foreign secretary "refused to consider anywhere else" and asked that public funds should pay for a £3,000 event with Joe Biden's trade representative.

Civil servants were so concerned at the cost and the venue's close links to the Tories that the proposal was referred to the most senior official at the Department for International Trade.

According to the correspondence, Truss, then the trade secretary, "explicitly asked that we book 5 Hertford Street", which is owned by Robin Birley, a £20,000 donor to Boris Johnson's leadership campaign and the half-brother of Zac Goldsmith, the environment minister.

The venue agreed to reduce the bill to £1,400, but on condition of immediate payment - which meant civil servants had to use an emergency process to pay up straight away.

The correspondence, disclosed by the Sunday Times, comes as Truss's supporters conduct a campaign for her to succeed the prime minister should he be toppled by Tory MPs.

Truss and her companions drank two bottles of dry gin, three £153 bottles of Pazo Barrantes Albariño, a Spanish white wine and two bottles of the French red Coudoulet de Beaucastel at £130 a bottle, it was reported.