Why weren't the shortly to be saying, 'Do you want fries with that?' Squadron not using the JHC EETU, established in Northern Norway specifically for this purpose?
To claim this was anything but a jolly will only rile the press and public more.
But so what, look at the junkets our lords and masters go on and MOD duty travel rate is 25 p per mile. If you are an MP you get 65p per mile, a positive incentive to drive as much as possible.
Do the kipper fleet still do a round the world on the OCU? Is this still deemed necessary?