Liz Truss’s lunches & dinners at 5 Hertford Place. A sense of class & place rather than fine dining

Liz Truss’s lunches & dinners at 5 Hertford St. A sense of class & place more than fine dining

Questions have been asked about why Liz Truss has not declared the cost of a dinner she held for Tory MPs at 5 Hertford Place on 26^th October 2021:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62424931?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Bbbc.news.twitter%5D-%5Bheadline%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D&at_custom2=twitter&at_medium=custom7&at_custom4=twitter&at_custom1=%5Bpost+type%5D&at_campaign=64&at_custom3=%40BBCPolitics

It’s a West End club she appears to frequent in various capacities

Her claim for £1400 to cover a 2021 lunch for herself a US Government official and it would seem some others rightly raised considerable criticism. Coming from the Government that has cut Universal Credit and thinks £96 a week sick pay acceptable the hypocrisy is outrageous but not surprising.

The significant cost of the lunch appears to have been more for wine and gin than the food. Obviously 5 Hertford St is not the kind of place I frequent or would be allowed into (although I have been in some similar West End clubs over the years by invitation for some event or other- the beer is always crap). Its owner is Robin Birley a donor to UKIP and the Tory Party and it seems to be frequented by assorted members of the upper class and Tory MPs.

Given that it’s a members club- yearly cost £1800 (possibly more now) that’s not surprising and nor is any detail of what its actually like easy to find. There are it seems several bars, a downstairs night club and a cigar room. What reviews that can be found suggest that the cocktails are decent (if expensive) but the food (the point of lunch I would suggest) seems to be thought at best OK and certainly over-priced even compared to similar places in the West End.

The wages paid to those who actually keep the place running is another matter. Mirror reporter Dan Bloom tweeted that kitchen porters are paid £10.55 an hour. An advert for an assistant chef ( 4 shifts 9am-11pm a week) indicated a salary of ‘up to’ £25,000- that’s a year btw not a week.

None of that unfortunately is out of line with the notoriously poorly paid hospitality sector.

Clearly 5 Hertford St is somewhere that people go to be seen and to see others of a like-minded world outlook. A reminder of what a Truss Premiership would be like- for the few not the many