Taxpayers spent nearly £20,000 furnishing Rachel Reeves’ Downing Street flat after the original government furniture went missing – and no one in Whitehall can say where it went.
The flat was empty when Chancellor Ms Reeves moved in after the election in July 2024, with four government departments unable to say where the original tables, chairs and sofas had gone.
The Cabinet Office, Treasury, Government Property Agency and Downing Street’s Facilities Team all failed to account for the missing items or say if they were in storage or being used elsewhere.
The £19,759.61 spend – revealed this week after a written Parliamentary question – included £5,000 on nine tables, £3,450 on two sofas, £850 on a TV unit, £695 on a chair and £475 on a chest of drawers.
Taxpayers also covered a £750 installation and handling fee and a £300 delivery charge.
Rishi Sunak and wife Akshata paid to give the No 10 flat a huge makeover when he became Chancellor in 2020, splashing out on velvet sofas and opulent curtains and getting rid of the old furnishings.
After resigning as Chancellor in July 2022, the Sunaks moved back in to No 10 that October when he became prime minister.
But they took their furniture with them when he lost the election in 2024, leaving Ms Reeves, the next occupant, with an empty flat.
Pictured: Chancellor Rachel Reeves at the flat refurnished by the taxpayer
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The four government departments were all asked to account for the missing items – but none could say whether the original furniture was in storage, had been sent to another government residence or had been disposed of.
TaxPayers’ Alliance chief executive John O’Connell said: ‘The possibility that usable furniture has been left in storage for years makes the whole Reeves furniture affair look even more wasteful.’
The Parliamentary question was tabled by Mike Wood, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office.
Exchequer Secretary Dan Tomlinson replied that items purchased were ‘permanently retained by government’ and the spend was ‘funded from within HMT budgets for 2024-25’.
Chancellors and premiers may spend up to £30,000 of public funds furnishing Downing Street flats.
Boris Johnson was investigated after a Tory donor paid £112,000 towards redesigning his flat, overseen by designer Lulu Lytle, when he moved in as PM in 2019.
He was forced to repay the money from his own funds.
