Revealed: how DTI staff lived high life

Fast cars, cocktails and tropical beaches:life in the DTI fast lane

Staff at the Department of Trade and Industry lived in a "culture of excess", spending nights in expensive hotels, con­suming large quantities of cocktails and hiring expensive luxury cars, all at the tax-payers' expense. The details are high-lighted in a confidential Ernst & Young report leaked to the Guardian, which shows how some DTI officials spent their afternoons on the beach in Barbados, instead of carrying out market research into British export prospects. The inquiry into the DTI's export agency q|j has already led to the sacking of one senior official and the suspension