A Scottish Labour MP flew to New York for a five-day junket with other female politicians, before heading to Saudia Arabia just over a week after arriving back in the UK.
Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy MP Melanie Ward is part of the Women Parliamentarians Programme of the Munich Security Conference, which is supported by the Gates Foundation.
Her trip to New York was worth £3,482, including flights, accommodation, meals and transport, and took place from September 17 to 21. Then on September 30, Ms Ward flew to Saudi Arabia to take part in the Munich Leaders Meeting on the Middle East.
This four-day trip to Al-Ula was worth £2,246 and it came at the same time as the UK Labour conference in Liverpool, which may have caused some raised eyebrows among Ms Ward's party colleagues.
READ MORE: Scottish Greens take on Bayern Munich ahead of Celtic clash as they fume at travel plans
Both have now been declared by Ms Ward in the MPs register of interests, along with a previous trip to Munich in February (worth £681) and a £5,955 junket to Doha in December 2024 courtesy of the Qatari government.
According to the Munich Security Conference website, members of the Women Parliamentarians Programme from 12 countries took part in the annual meeting in New York from September 18 to 20.
MP Melanie Ward
MP Melanie Ward (Image: Facebook)
They included Iceland's Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir and former Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin was among the special guests. Another Labour MP, Laura Kyrke-Smith, was also representing the UK.
Meetings of the Munich Security Conference take place once or twice a year in different cities around the world, with world leaders coming together to debate global security and defence policies.
The Women Parliamentarians Programme is designed to connect "young female decision-makers globally" and address the "gender gap" in female politicians in the areas of foreign and security policy.
Ms Ward, who was parliamentary private secretary to former Scottish Secretary Ian Murray before he was sacked in Keir Starmer's September's reshuffle, worked for global aid charities before becoming an MP in 2024.
The high point of her Westminster career to date was speaking out in defence of Fife nurse Sandie Peggie in her tribunal with NHS Fife, telling MPs: "Women's sex-based rights are hard fought, and we give them up at our peril."
For more news, follow us on Facebook and X but never miss the latest top headlines and sign up to our daily newsletter here.