The BBC has forked out £18million on trains, taxis, and hotels in just three years.
Kemi Badenoch reacted in disbelief to the eyewatering figure spent on staff and contributors as the Tory leader said: ‘I’m not sure how they’ve managed to spend so much.’
The multi-million-pound spend – equivalent to 100,000 licence fee payers – is a 30 per cent rise since 2022. The figure was unearthed following an investigation by LBC.
One 15 mile taxi ride from Ruislip to central London cost the corporation a staggering £288, with the most expensive journey from Salford to Oxford seeing the broadcaster being billed £484.
Train journey spend reached £2.8million in the financial year for 2024/25, with a 16 per cent rise in hotel costs.
Ms Badenoch said that ‘if taxpayers have to tighten their belts, then everybody else should too’.
‘Whether it’s the BBC or government departments, it is taxpayers who are paying for these services,’ she said.
A spokesperson for the BBC said ‘we are inevitably going to incur travel costs’ as the broadcaster is a 24-hour media organisation.
The BBC has forked out £18million on trains, taxis, and hotels in just three years (Pictured here is the BBC headquarters in London)
‘Rising prices across the travel and accommodations sectors in recent years, which have been impacted by rising inflation, have posed a challenge to many businesses,’ they said.
‘We continue to be mindful of how money is spent and have policies in place to ensure it is proportionate and appropriate.
It comes amid BBC bosses facing ‘serious questions’ over their handling of an internal report on impartiality as the corporation stands accused of ‘pushing Hamas lies around the world’.
The report, which was sent to BBC director general Tim Davie and chairman Samir Shah last month, has plunged the corporation into a fresh crisis with Ms Badenoch arguing ‘heads should roll’.
Last night pressure was mounting on Mr Davie to fall on his sword after a former senior BBC executive called for the top boss to go after ‘three scandals too many’.
The memo on impartiality said the BBC chose to ‘minimise Israeli suffering’ in the war in Gaza while ‘painting Israel as the aggressor’ during the conflict.
It said corporation staff ‘raced to air’ to make allegations against Israel without adequate checks and suggested there was ‘a desire always to believe the worst about Israel’.
The report also found that BBC Arabic, which is part of the World Service, gave a platform to journalists who had made extreme anti-Semitic comments.
A BBC spokesperson said: ‘While we don’t comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully.
‘With regard to BBC News Arabic, where mistakes have been made or errors have occurred we have acknowledged them at the time and taken action.
‘We have also previously acknowledged that certain contributors should not have been used and have improved our processes to avoid a repeat of this.’
The BBC has also this week been criticised by The White House after an internal report revealed that the broadcaster doctored the Donald Trump’s speech on January 6.
Michael Prescott, who spent three years as an independent adviser to the corporation before leaving last June, sent a dossier to its board last month after repeated warnings to the standards watchdog were ‘dismissed or ignored’.
The 19-page document, obtained by the Daily Telegraph, has sent shockwaves through the highest levels of British politics.
The BBC, which is funded by the UK taxpayer, is also accused of widespread bias in its coverage ranging from anti-Israeli commentary on the Gaza war to ‘censorship’ of the transgender debate.
Prescott explained how the BBC – often described as the world’s ‘most trusted’ broadcaster – ‘completely misled’ viewers during an episode of the program Panorama which aired a week before the election by showing the President telling supporters he was going to walk to the Capitol with them to ‘fight like hell’.
In reality, Trump said he would walk with them ‘to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.’
‘Trust in the media is at an all-time low because of deceptive editing, misleading reporting, and outright lies,’ White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Daily Mail.
‘This is yet another example, of many, highlighting why countless Americans turn to alternative media sources to get their news.’
The BBC added: ‘Michael Prescott is a former adviser to a board committee where differing views and opinions of our coverage are routinely discussed and debated.’
