Tagged: private jet

The PM’s fascination with private jets and helicopter rides.

Rishi Sunak has clocked up another private short haul flight.

He is saving the tax payer having to foot the bill for this one-way helicopter flight from London to Leeds/Bradford because a Tory party donor is picking up the £15,900 tab.

Other private helicopter flights have been been funded by different Conservative donors

His fascination with these VIP flights show:

  1. a complete disregard of the current climate crisis
  2. a lack of enthusiasm to travel on public transport. Why can’t he get the train like the rest of us?
  3. a preference to take the VIP option when most people are facing cost of living challenges that he is totally detached from.

What a state visit.

I have been giving Rishi Sunak some stick for flying around the UK using private jets and helicopters at the tax payers expense.

The Prime Minister does not pretend to have any real green credentials and he is consistent in his travel choices. We all know that he has no shame about the environmental damage he is causing.

King Charles on the other hand is well known for his environmental campaigning. So his decision to fly rather than take the train to Paris for his recent state visit raised a few eyebrows.

The Eurostar was good enough for his Mum when she traveled to France on state visits in the past.

To top it all the King had his Bentley transported over to Paris in order to pick him and the Queen up from Orly airport. Not sure how you measure the carbon footprint for that trip.

The King did plant a tree during his visit. Maybe this was part of the carbon offsetting for his travel plan.

Compare and Contrast.

A picture says more than 1000 words

Last week Rishi Sunak flew on a private jet to Leeds and back. He also did a quick trip to Scotland for lunch meeting with Nicola Sturgeon using the same method of transport. The taxpayer picked the tab for these two trips.

The “PM” clearly is doing his “green credentials” no good at all. Flying in private jets is not recommended by climate change experts

Meanwhile Greta Tuneberg was protesting in Germany against the expansion of a huge, lignite (brown coal), opencast mine.

Greta got arrested, but she was later released. Sunak got back home in time for tea.

Update – The UK prime minister has continued to use a private jet at the taxpayers’ expense. Trips to Indonesia, Egypt, Latvia and Estonia have clocked up a bill over £500,000.

Meanwhile at the same time Sunak has been tearing round the globe his Government has halved Air Passenger Duty (APD) a decision which encouraged Ryanair to add an extra 9 domestic routes to its flight schedule.

It makes you want to weep.

It just goes on and on. Today the press is reporting that Sunak has used a private helicopter to fly from London to Southampton and guess who pays the tab. A journey that takes just over an hour by train and costs about 30 quid for a ticket.