Originally from: Natalie
                        
Another article from today's WMN – Natalie

EXCLUSIVE JASON GROVES

 The Royal Clarence Hotel

The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs ran up a £20 million hotel bill last year, as officials fighting the foot and mouth crisis were put up at some of the finest hotels in the Westcountry at the taxpayers' expense.

The WMN has learned that Defra's annual hotel bill increased 20-fold last year as staff were despatched to the countryside to oversee the handling of the foot and mouth crisis.

Hotels used by Defra officials in the Westcountry included the elegant Royal Clarence Hotel in Exeter, where top chef Michael Caines is in residence, and Nigel Mansell's luxurious Woodbury Park Country Club, in east Devon.

Westcountry MPs last night reacted with disbelief at the revelations. Although there was a general recognition that the department's accommodation costs were bound to rise during the crisis, MPs questioned the need to billet officials at such luxurious hotels.

Hugo Swire, Conservative MP for East Devon, described the decision as "excessive and insensitive".

Mr Swire said: "The Royal Clarence is probably the best and most expensive hotel in Exeter, while Woodbury Park is probably by far the most expensive hotel in east Devon. I am sure Defra can justify it in terms of what a certain grade of official is entitled to, but it is deeply insensitive when farmers and the rural community were suffering such a terrible crisis.

"It was also unnecessary – Exeter is full of cheap hotels and east Devon is full of bed and breakfasts. I do not believe that staying in great comfort will have helped them do a better job. In fact staying in a bed and breakfast might have given them a better taste of the problems faced by people running small businesses in the countryside."

The total UK subsistence bill at Defra rose from £1.16 million in 1999/2000 to £20.7 million last year.

A Defra spokesman said officials were entitled to a £55 per night accommodation allowance plus a £21 allowance for meals. Although these rates could be increased in areas where no cheaper hotels could be found, the spokesman said that "special rates" had been negotiated at Woodbury Park which fell within this band. He said "very few" officials had stayed at the Royal Clarence, although many more had stayed at Woodbury Park, in some cases for weeks.

The spokesman said Defra had had to find accommodation for a "massive number" of extra vets and officials and the accommodation payments had helped to provide some income to hotels suffering the indirect impact of the crisis.

He added: "Particularly during the early days of the crisis there were not many other people staying at some of these hotels. I am not suggesting that Defra staff kept hotels open, but the income did not hurt at a very difficult time."

Woodbury Park Country Club is one of Devon's most luxurious retreats, set in 500 acres of rolling east Devon countryside. The 57-room hotel boasts 24-hour room service with a fine restaurant and "the ultimate standards of accommodation and cuisine".

The Royal Clarence is Exeter's oldest hotel, situated in a prime location in Cathedral Yard, with many rooms overlooking the city's magnificent cathedral.

Lib-Dem rural affairs spokesman Colin Breed, MP for South East Cornwall, said Defra officials would have given a bigger boost to the rural economy – and saved money – if they had stayed at farmhouse bed and breakfasts.

Angela Browning, Conservative MP for Tiverton and Honiton, said that although she could understand the rise in Defra's hotel bill, the revelation highlighted the need for a full public inquiry.