Lord Sassoon, a former Treasury minister, received the most expensive ticket among his colleagues: a £725 seat at the athletics.

Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt was given the most tickets, running up a bill of £605 for watching two cycling events, diving, football and gymnastics.

Commons Speaker John Bercow was given two tickets for the tennis that cost a total of £145, and a number of backbenchers from across the parties also attended on Government-funded tickets.

In total, the Government spent nearly £1.2 million on 8641 tickets for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

About 4000 tickets, costing £916,000, were paid for and distributed by central Government.

Of the remaining tickets, 2381 were bought by Ambassadors or staff who had worked long-term on the Games. London local authorities bought 2020 and tourism organisation Visit Britain bought 224.

The bill for Government-hosted receptions ahead of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games came in at £349,153 with some 503 guests attending.