LORD Hanningfield spent £287,000 on a taxpayer-funded credit card – including £7,700 on a trip to the Bahamas, £467 in a Gordon Ramsey restaurant and £544 to settle his bar bill in Parliament.
Documents released by Essex County Council reveal their former leader spent the money on his corporate card in just five years, despite taking home nearly £60,000 a year in allowances and expenses.
The peer – who was jailed last year for fiddling his parliamentary expenses – used his card 1,106 times between 2005 and 2010, visiting 24 different countries and dining in some of Britain's finest restaurants.
The council is now considering legal action against the peer after police dropped their criminal investigation last week.
But Lord Hanningfield is also considering counter-suing Essex County Council – accusing them of hanging the blame solely at his door.