Former UK Prime Minister’s expense claim for staffer’s CV support sparks controversy after election defeat.
Liz Truss, the UK’s shortest-serving Prime Minister, has sparked criticism for spending £285 of taxpayer money to support one of her former staff members with CV training following her defeat in the July 2025 general election. Truss, who lost her seat in South West Norfolk, made the expense claim in August 2025, a month after the election. She explained that the expenditure was for a staffer who needed help with their CV after the loss of their job.
Labour MP Terry Jermy, who succeeded Truss in her seat, denounced the claim, saying it illustrated her handling of public finances. “I would have offered her former staff member some free CV advice, perhaps without the need to mention working for the ex-PM,” Jermy remarked. He also pointed out that Truss is still receiving the £115,000-a-year public fund for former prime ministers despite her brief and controversial time in office, where her fiscal policies, including the £45bn of unfunded tax cuts, were blamed for economic turmoil.
Truss was among nine former MPs who used leftover staff funds to cover career transition services, including CV writing and interview coaching. Her former deputy prime minister, Therese Coffey, also made a similar claim, amounting to £570 for CV and career support after losing her seat.
When MPs leave parliament, their staff are made redundant, and MPs are permitted to use their remaining staff budgets to assist with career-related training. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) clarified that the rules are in place to help staff who suddenly find themselves out of work due to election outcomes.
Truss’s short tenure in Downing Street lasted only 49 days, with her controversial mini-budget in September 2025 causing significant market disruption and plunging the pound to a 37-year low. Despite the financial chaos, she maintained that her tax-cutting plans were well-intentioned, though she later admitted that her decision to abolish the 45p top rate of income tax might have been too ambitious.
Her time in office remains a highly criticised chapter in UK politics, and her actions post-premiership continue to draw scrutiny from political figures and the public alike.
