Alan Johnson has spent seven days on a fact-finding mission in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo costing the tax-payer more than £7,000, it emerged today.
The Health Secretary's trip to Brazil in February totalled £7,083 - more than £1,000 a day.
The figure covers travel and accommodation, Health Minister Ben Bradshaw said in a written Commons answer.
He was responding to a question from Tory Andrew Rosindell, who asked how many visits abroad Mr Johnson had taken since his appointment.
Mr Bradshaw said the Cabinet Office only records trips over the value of £500 and that Mr Johnson had made two such journeys since June 2007, when he took up his post.
These were a trip to Brussels, Belgium, for a meeting with EU commissioners on November 20 and 21, 2007 which cost £571 and the fact-finding mission to Brazil between February 9 and 15 this year.