A GRANDIOSE mansion in Moscow and a 16-bedroom residence in Washington have become the showpieces of a “stealth” European Union diplomatic service.

The houses are part of a growing property portfolio housing a cadre of “ambassadors”, who include Tim Clarke, the brother of the home secretary, and John Bruton, the former Irish prime minister.

As Britain and other nations sell prime sites and slim down their diplomatic presence, so Brussels has almost doubled its spending. Its diplomatic budget rose from £168m in 2001 to £294m in 2005.

It has pressed ahead despite the rejection a year ago of the EU constitution, which would have given Europe a proper basis for a diplomatic service. The number of European commission staff working abroad has risen from 700 in 2000 to 1,000 in 2005.

The cost of the 122 ambassadorial residences — 25 of which are owned outright — sets back the European taxpayer £4.65m a year in rent alone. MEPs who have visited the properties say the EU’s top diplomats live in style, generally on a par with, if not in more luxury than, many national ambassadors. Some have butlers, chauffeur-driven cars with diplomatic plates and a panoply of servants.

The grandest residence is Bruton’s in the Sheridan-Kalorama neighbourhood of Washington. Built for a steel and railway tycoon in 1923 and renovated last year at a cost of £1.4m, it has 16 bedrooms, a grand dining room, and a hall of polished marble. At the back lies an Italianate garden, complete with palisade and classical statues in bronze.

In late April, with summer approaching, blossom from the ambassador’s cherry trees drifts across the uncovered surface of the swimming pool.

Inside, on the mantelpiece in the spacious living room, just to provide a hint of the occupant’s origin, is another bronze statue — of Michael Collins, the Irish republican leader. Bruton can entertain up to 150 guests there.

The house’s value on the open market is hard to judge, but for tax purposes it is assessed at £3.3m, which would mean an annual property charge — the equivalent of rates — of about £28,000.

However, an invitation from the ambassador to attend one of his regular dinner parties has not become one of Washington’s “hot tickets”.

Most of those who sit down to dinner, cooked by the ambassador’s Belgian chef, are trade officials and lobbyists.

The most expensive residence in Europe’s portfolio — home of Bernhard Zepter, the EU ambassador to Japan — costs £23,380 rent a month. It is in the exclusive Moto Azabu district, a hilltop area where Zepter’s neighbours include Carlos Ghosn, president of Nissan. Even by Japanese standards the rent is extortionate. It is about twice what the top end of Japan’s international banking community would pay, say local estate agents.

The residence of the British ambassador, Sir Graham Fry, costs £14,125 a month but this figure includes the office and staff accommodation. The EU’s offices are in another part of the city with a separate budget. The commission is now looking for somewhere that fits its “representational needs” better, and is seeking to buy land to build its own residence.

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