Boris Johnson used a government private jet to fly home from a weekend with his family in Cornwall, prompting questions about use of taxpayer-funded resources.
The prime minister was in Cornwall and Devon on the weekend before the Tiverton and Honiton by-election, in which his party lost to the Liberal Democrats.
Records show that a government plane left London to fly to Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose, a helicopter base near the tip of Cornwall, not far from St Ives, early on the Monday morning. The use of the government plane was first reported by the Sunday Mirror.
The ministerial code states: “Ministers must ensure that they always make efficient and cost-effective travel arrangements. Official transport should not normally be used for travel arrangements arising from party or private business, except where this is justified on security grounds.”
Family are allowed to accompany ministers if it is “clearly in the public interest”, the code says.
A No 10 spokesperson said: “All travel decisions are made with consideration for security and time restraints. The PM is accompanied on government business by a delegation of staff, which is taken into consideration as part of ensuring taxpayer value for money. This was the sole reason for the plane being used to transport the PM and his staff back from this particular visit.”
Johnson’s use of government planes has long been under scrutiny. He was accused of “staggering hypocrisy” after it emerged that he flew back to London from the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow by private jet to go to a dinner at a men-only private members’ club.
He also took a private jet to Blackpool in February despite the train journey taking only three hours.
Well this member of the public thinks it was a good thing, imagine how much it would have cost the tax payers if they’d used public transport and the disruption it would have caused to passengers.
Have you the slightest idea of the cost of that flight? It’s bad enough to charter a small jet (Learjet) to go to Bern-Belp in Switzerland from Norwich which came in at £9000 round trip 3 years ago. I think the plane Bunter uses is an Airbus A330 kinda thing. They burn around 6000 kg jet fuel per hour which is just shy of 1500 gallons.
This was reported on many more news outlets than The Guardian - it is a matter of public interest if Johnson is using taxpayers money to fund Party or private expenses, so the allegations should be looked into.
If Johnson and his team were in Devon campaigning for the by/election, he was not on Government Business, so his travel costs should be borne by the Con Party Campaign funds - if the Con party are happy to fund his family travel expenses for their jollies at the seaside too, that’s their choice, although there’s probably campaign funding rules about that too - just as there is rules about Ministers not using Government planes for Party purposes or Private use.
His contempt for the rules and the voters is staggering
But if you let him get away with breaking the law and lying to Parliament, what do you expect?
He’s just taking the p. now and thinks he can get away with anything
And he can, because the Tory Fangirls and Fanboys keep defending him because they don’t like the alternative. No morals with some, just party politics and they are as much to blame as he is
Well done to the media and everyone else that keep up the catching him out and calling him out.
They are doing our country a great service by exposing what he really is and and not let him get away with it.
And by not letting his supporters sweep his crass behaviour under the carpet by trivialising it and trying to say it’s not important
I can’t remember why he was in Devon, but don’t think he went for the by-election because there was articles slagging him off for not being present. And although that article gives the impression he was there, it doesn’t actually say he was. And as Downing Street says:
Well, this is how it was reported in a Devon paper
“On the morning of Monday, June 13, Mr Johnson told reporters he’d been in Devon “all weekend”, including meeting Tory supporters in Seaton. He later visited a farm in the Tiverton and Honiton constituency with candidate Helen Hurford.”
That sounds like Party campaigning to me, not Govt business.
Was Johnson fibbing when he told people he’d spent the whole weekend campaigning in Devon? Perhaps it was an excuse to have an expenses paid jolly at the seaside with his family!
