Tony spends 2m jetting around

The cost of Prime Minister Tony Blair's overseas travel has more than doubled to £2,023,909 in the year to April, official figures have shown.

He made 22 visits overseas in the year to April 2006, compared with 21 costing £809,152 in the previous year.

This year's bill included two journeys - to Riyadh and to Australia - which each cost nearly £500,000. The figure includes travel and accommodation.

A third of the cost of all ministerial travel (£6.1m) went on the PM's trips.
2012 Olympic bid

Number 10 has already announced that Mr Blair and the Queen are to lease two aircraft for use on official trips, replacing the Royal Flight and privately chartered planes.

Mr Blair's most expensive trip (£482,880) was a flying visit to Riyadh last July for private talks with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, en route to Singapore to lobby International Olympic Committee members on London's successful 2012 bid.

The next most costly was a visit to Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia in March, at a cost of £437,921.

On that occasion the prime minister and his wife Cherie visited the Melbourne Commonwealth Games before going on to talks in Canberra, Auckland and Jakarta.

His EU China and India summits, which also included bilateral talks, racked up £189,000, and the UN Millennium Summit in New York cost the taxpayer £139,000.

Ed: I wonder if Tony thinks this is money well spent? And what sort of trouble would we be in if he actually stayed in the country longer?