Our man in Paris tops embassies spending table with £350,000 on dinners

A "Ferrero Rocher league" of hospitality spending by UK embassies abroad is revealed today.

Paris tops the table after spending almost £350,000 in a single year on dinners and receptions - almost twice as much as second-placed Washington DC.

The bills in Berlin, Tokyo, Rome and the UK mission to the United Nations all topped £100,000, while the top 10 was rounded off by Moscow, Brasilia, New Delhi and Britain's EU base in Brussels.

In total the 10 outposts spent almost £1.4million on hospitality - enough to buy 5.5million of the gold-wrapped chocolates promoted with the advertising line "ambassador ... you are really spoiling us".

Critics said the figures, uncovered by the Evening Standard which relate to 2009/10 when Labour was in power, were "shocking". Coalition ministers have ordered a review and told ambassadors they must justify every penny they spend this year.

A Foreign Office source said: "The most recent figures represent the spend under the last government. We have made sure that all expenditure is kept under rigorous scrutiny to ensure best value for money for British taxpayers."

Officials said the money went on a "wide range" of activities to cultivate contacts with senior political and military leaders, and host business delegations to push British trade.

They also insisted a "sizeable proportion" of the money was recouped from other government departments or sponsorship, including up to two-thirds in the case of Paris.

Sir Peter Westmacott, the UK Ambassador in Paris, and his wife Susie were thought to have been at some of the events.

"The work of our embassies is vital to our security and to boosting British business abroad as well as our economic recovery," the source said.

But Nadhim Zahawi, Tory MP for Stratford-on-Avon, said: "We have got to be smarter about how we use our embassies for business development.

"Under Labour it was more of a tick-box exercise - how many events can we hold, how many functions can we put on - rather than what we were getting out of them."

Matthew Hancock, Tory MP for West Suffolk, added: "Of course our embassies do an important job but when money is tight at home we can't lavish it around overseas."

Emma Boon, campaign director at the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "It's shocking that the hospitality bill at foreign embassies is so high. There's nothing wrong with a little light entertaining but ambassadors must show restraint in times of austerity."

Top 10 costliest UK embassies

Paris - £347,452
Washington DC - £176,413
Berlin - £153,067
Tokyo - £132,023
Rome - £108,509
UK mission to the UN (New York) - £108,045
Moscow - £98,382
Brasilia - £91,460
New Delhi - £88,486
UK permanent representation to the EU (Brussels) - £86,767