Civil servants blew £7,000 hiring celebrity lookalikes for a party to mark the Queen’s birthday.
The British Embassy bash in Sweden – which took place as the cost of living crisis gripped the UK – featured ‘stars’ such as David Bowie and Baby Spice.
Other performers in the Entourage Productions troupe even include a Boris Johnson doppelganger, who appears in the troupe chained and caged in a straitjacket.
But a Foreign Office source insisted no-one at the June party to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee came as the former Prime Minister.
A Labour Party source said: “The Tories must not realise we’re in the middle of a cost of living crisis or they must not care.
"Either way, they need to take their £7,000 dance troupes and exit stage right.”
It’s believed about 60 people attended the costly knees-up at Ambassador Judith Gough’s residence in Stockholm – with officials inviting guests who had “in some way helped us strengthen the ties between the United Kingdom and Sweden.”
Guests were treated to bagpipe music as well as British pop hits, and were fed Jubilee cakes and a British sausage barbecue.
According to the Embassy, Britain’s Ambassador to Sweden Judith Gough paid tribute to the Queen “with some help from Paddington” although it’s not thought anyone dressed up as the marmalade sandwich-loving bear.
The Foreign Office source insisted parties such as this are an “important opportunity” to promote “UK influence on the world stage and bilateral links between countries”. Foreign Office minister David Rutley said some of the cash for the bash came from private sponsors, but did not reveal how much.
Asked about the event by Labour MP Emily Thornberry in a written Commons question, Mr Rutley added that the cabaret troupe from Entourage Productions – which also offers performers dressed in bondage gear, pig masks and mermaid outfits – was “felt to represent the best value for money in terms of lowest cost and the range of services provided.”
The Labour source added: “Fetish gear, pig heads, and Boris in a cage: this would all be a good laugh if it wasn’t such a grotesque waste of taxpayers money."
