Liz Truss spent £285 of taxpayer cash helping one of her staffers brush up their CV after losing her seat at the general election.
The former prime minister claimed the £285 sum in August – a month after her election defeat – explaining that a “staff member asked if the cost of this could be covered and took training or help to assist with their CV”.
Labour MP Terry Jermy, who took Ms Truss’s South West Norfolk seat in the July election, said the expense claim “shows yet again how she treats public finances”.
“I’d give her former staff member some free CV advice and maybe not mention having worked for the ex-PM,” he told The Independent.
“Liz Truss is claiming the £115,000-a-year public fund awarded to former prime ministers after only being in office for 49 days, while having crashed the economy while in No 10 after announcing £45bn of unfunded tax cuts.
“I think Liz Truss would need to spend more than £300 to try and rectify her own CV and I am not sure she would get many references from the constituents of South West Norfolk.”
Nine former MPs claimed back the cost of supporting their staff with CV training through expenses, with most spending between £200 and £300. Ms Truss’s deputy prime minister Therese Coffey, who also lost her seat at the election, was also among those making a similar claim, citing £570 of spending for “career transition and CV writing” services.
When an MP leaves parliament all of their staff are made redundant, with more than 2,000 people losing their jobs after Labour’s landslide election win in July.
Outgoing MPs are allowed to use funds left over in their staffing budgets to help with career-related training for staff, including CV writing and interview preparation.
Expenses watchdog IPSA said the rules recognise the fact staffers’ jobs can be suddenly put at risk when a general election is called.
Ms Truss’s tenure in Downing Street lasted just 49 days after her disastrous so-called mini-budget triggered mass market turmoil and saw the pound tank to a 37-year low against the dollar.
Ms Truss and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced the biggest raft of tax cuts for half a century in the statement, but were quickly forced to climb down over their plan to scrap the top rate of income tax for the highest earners.
She has since admitted her plan to cut the 45p top rate of tax may have gone too far but insisted it was not fair to blame subsequent interest rate rises on her mini-budget.
A spokesperson for Ms Truss declined to comment.