Sir Fred among Chequers visitors

Sir Fred's pension pot angered ministers

Controversial former bank boss Sir Fred Goodwin was among visitors to the PM's country home, Chequers, last year.

He visited at most six months before quitting as RBS boss in October 2008, after the bank got a £20bn bailout.

Downing St has provided a list of people given official hospitality at the Buckinghamshire retreat in 2008-9.

In other figures released on Thursday, the bill for No 10 special advisers is up to £2m this year and Gordon Brown's international travel cost £4.6m.

In Mr Brown's first eight months as prime minister he spent £950,000 on international travel but last year his costs came to nearly half of the total £9.4m spent by all ministers on overseas travel in 2007/8.

'Huge cost'

Mr Brown's whirlwind tour of countries ahead of the G20 summit in April proved particularly costly.

The figures show the trip, in which he gave a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, held talks with the UN secretary general in New York and met the presidents of Brazil and Chile in South America within five days, cost £743,341.

THE BROWNS' FAMOUS GUESTS Bruce Forsyth Davina McCall Jimmy Carr Matt Lucas David Walliams Emma Thompson Dame Kelly Holmes John Motson Kay Burley Lorraine Kelly Alan Rickman

That figure covered travel and accommodation for Mr Brown and 27 staff.

Lib Dem transport spokesman Norman Baker criticised the figures and said the PM should have travelled by charter flights and RAF planes, or used the Channel Tunnel.

"Gordon Brown's travel has been at needlessly huge cost to the taxpayer and left a vast carbon footprint," he said.

But a Downing Street spokesman said international responsibilities were important at a time of a global financial crisis.

"Ministers have been on the front foot engaging with their international counterparts to prepare the ground for the successful London G20 summit as well as doing all possible on an international level to help stimulate economic growth for the benefit of employers and people in this country."

Record loss

In the annual list of visitors to Chequers, also published by Downing Street on Thursday, there were cabinet ministers, including Alistair Darling, Lord Mandelson, Liam Byrne, Shaun Woodward, journalists, religious leaders, activists, captains of industry and TV stars including Bruce Forsyth, Davina McCall, comedian Jimmy Carr and Little Britain's Matt Lucas and David Walliams, and film stars Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman.

Former Metropolitan Police chief Sir Ian Blair, Former Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Menzies Campbell, Sky News presenter Kay Burley, TV presenter Lorraine Kelly, ITV political editor Tom Bradby, the editors of a number of national newspapers and their political correspondents, football commentator John Motson and fashion designer Ozwald Boateng were also among the Browns' weekend guests.

Others included Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Jock Stirrup and Labour activist Derek Draper, who quit as editor of a Labour blog in May following the row about a proposed smear campaign, and his wife GMTV presenter Kate Garraway.

Outgoing Lloyds chairman Sir Victor Blank, who has been criticised for the decision last year to buy HBOS, the troubled owner of Halifax, was also on the guest list published on Thursday.

Sir Fred's visit came months before RBS had to be bailed out by the government and he became a target for ministers' and public anger.

Special advisers

His resignation as Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive came after the bank had to be bailed out by the government after coming close to collapse. It posted a record loss of £24.1bn for 2008.

The fact he secured a pension of £703,000 a year caused a huge uproar and prompted threats from Gordon Brown that he would to take legal action to get the money back saying the deal was "unacceptable".

Later Sir Fred reduced his pension by taking a lump sum of £2.7m and last month agreed to reduce it further by £200,000 a year. He now receives £342,500 a year.

Among other details published on Thursday is the bill for political special advisers which is up to £5.6m this year.

There are 23 such advisers in Downing Street and 74 in total across Whitehall. Special advisers first appeared in Whitehall in the 1970s but have increased hugely since 1996 when there were only 38.

However, the total has fallen from a peak of 84 in 2004.