A British opposition party has accused Tory leadership favourite Liz Truss of breaking the ministerial code of conduct by using a government-owned mansion.
The Liberal Democrats, the fourth-largest party in Parliament, wrote to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, urging him to launch an investigation.
That was after the Sunday Times and other newspapers reported that she had hosted fellow MPs and members of her campaign team at Chevening House in Kent, the semi-official residence of foreign secretaries last weekend.
Lib Dem chief whip Wendy Chamberlain claimed using the stately home for the Liz For Leader campaign "could constitute the use of Chevening for party political activities."
"It would be wholly inappropriate for the Foreign Secretary to be using her official residence for campaigning purposes at the taxpayer's expense," she wrote. "I therefore urge you to launch an investigation into whether the Foreign Secretary has broken the Ministerial Code."
The code stipulates that "Government property should not generally be used for constituency work or party political activities." Regarding official residences like 10 Downing Street and Chequers, "where Ministers host Party or personal events in these residences it should be at their own or Party expense with no cost falling to the public purse."
"Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak are continuing their leadership melodrama, while around the country people are suffering due to the cost of living crisis, and it is only going to get worse," said Chamberlain, the MP for North East Fife in Scotland.
The Liberal Democrats have tried to score procedural points against the Conservative government since the British news media splashed on the so-called 'Partygate' affair late last year.
The small opposition party has managed to increase its share of Parliamentary seats to 15 after disaffected Tory voters stayed at home in by-elections to replace disgraced MPs.
In June the Lib Dems announced they would table a Parliamentary motion of no-confidence in the Prime Minister — but crucially not against the government, a move that could have forced a snap general election, which Tory MPs would not relish.
However, it was a walk-out by members of Johnson's own cabinet — led by former health secretary Sajid Javid and former chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak, now in the running to replace him — that forced Johnson to resign, not the opposition.