Home Office spends £13,000 to fly in ex-pat police adviser

The Home Office has spent almost £13,000 of taxpayers' cash flying a police delegate to meetings in Britain from his home in Abu Dhabi.

Sir Ronnie Flanagan is chairman of the senior police appointments panel despite living in the United Arab Emirates. Figures in Police Review magazine show that so far this year his flights have cost the public £12,793.17, or £2,558.60 per flight.

The former HM chief inspector of constabulary, right, was approached by the Home Secretary to take the role. He is paid £1,000 a month to identify a "pool of talent" among senior officers.

TaxPayers' Alliance spokesman Mark Wallace said today: "This is utterly excessive. If Sir Ronnie doesn't even live in Britain how can he possibly select which senior officers are needed to catch criminals on Britain's streets.

Sir Ronnie, who expects to stay in the post until next June, said: "I seek out the cheapest business-class flight available." A Home Office spokesman said his experience was "invaluable".