Personally, I always think that we’re very hair shirt in this country about transport for our political elites. There was a period (after the demise of the VC10s as VIP transports in 2001 perhaps?) where our leaders were ferried around in any old aircraft chartered from any old airline. Gordon Brown went to the US on a Titan B757 and was greeted with full military honours. I’m hoping that the wonderful Gene Willson was at the controls, none better to ferry our PM around, but it was an odd to see the British going for a bit of chartered affordable luxury (VIP config with leather seats!) in the home of the superpower. And I would definitely have replaced HMY Britannia - the whole world loves and respects our queen, so why not give her the tools to do the job of representing us abroad that she does so well. I’m also glad we have our VIP Voyager.
But, how can I say this.... Based on our CV19 experience, there seems to be a lot of evidence that Johnson isn’t much good at the basics of his job of governing the country. Maybe he’ll get better, he’s new after all. But the new Voyager paint job has been so widely reported that it’s obviously a political stunt. That’s what politicians do. However, I’m sure people will just be asking why a government that has made so many basic administrative errors in recent months is wasting its time on trivia like this.
My prediction: when Johnson finally gaffes his way to his inevitable and fast approaching demise, his successor will blanch at the thought of pictures of him/her emerging from Boris’ red white and blue airborne folly de grandeur. The A330 will emerge from a “routine” trip to the painters in a lovely, forgettable, ignorable matt grey.