Guido has been busy firing FOIs on the UK’s ridiculously large delegation to COP29 in Baku. The government is on the defensive…
According to official UN figures the UK sent a whopping 448 official delegates to Azerbaijan for the event, which includes “officials and ministers, as well delegates from arm’s length bodies, parliament, devolved administrations, overseas territories, the media, sponsors, and external speakers.” The British delegation also included such important guests as two PHD students and “Youth Delegate”. For reference the United States sent only 383 people…
Hotels in Baku have been boasting of the bookings bonanza from the event. The Department for Transport complains in its FOI response that “hotel rates across Baku were inflated by as much as 9 x normal pre-COP prices” and “protocol means that delegates must stay in hotels that have passed a security check,” before revealing that the total spent across the four hotels by government departments was a cool £685,000. Plus the old 338-tonne carbon footprint in getting there…
Delegates stayed in four hotels:
- Fly Inn.
- Ibis Baku City.
- Mercure Baku City.
- Ramada by Wyndham Baku.
You can see why Starmer likes to keep himself abroad…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”
