Former senior civil servants say culture of deference meant excessive expenses claims were waved through
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor charged taxpayers for the cost of massages and excessive travel expenses while he was the UK’s trade envoy, it has been reported.
Former senior civil servants said they were shocked to see the claims, and that there was a culture of deference towards the former prince within Whitehall that allowed them to proceed.
“I thought it was wrong … I’d said we mustn’t pay it, but we ended up paying it anyway,” a former civil servant told the BBC, referring to a claim that followed a visit to the Middle East.
The source, who worked in the UK’s trade department in the early 2000s and is now retired, said he was annoyed by Andrew’s request to cover the cost of “massage services”, and refused. But he claimed he was overruled by senior colleagues.
