Think this is the article..... can't believe I've sunk to the level of search for Mail on Sunday articles on t'interweb.......
News
BLAIR CRONY TO GROUND THE RAF'S TANKER FLEET...
BY JASON LEWIS
505 words
27 November 2005
The Mail on Sunday
049
English
(c) 2005 Associated Newspapers. All rights reserved
A CONTROVERSIAL multimillionaire businessman, given a Government job by Tony Blair after donating huge sums to Labour, is at the centre of a row over his plan to privatise the RAF's fleet of refuelling tankers.
Lord Drayson, Labour's Defence Procurement Minister, wants the RAF to rent the crucial aircraft from the French and Germans.
Yet senior RAF officers fear British jets could be left grounded by the £13billion deal to lease the tanker aircraft - a modified version of the A330 Airbus - from Franco-German aerospace firm EADS. Until now the RAF has had its own fleet of tanker aircraft to do the vital job.
They are also worried the deal will strip the service of its independence and hand vital decisions on the deployment of aircraft to a foreign-owned private company. The new aircraft could be withdrawn in a crisis if the French or German governments opposed British military action.
Lord Drayson is one of the Prime Minister's most controversial appointments. His vaccine firm PowderJect was awarded a series of Government contracts and, despite having no track record in politics, he joined the Government after the last Election. He has donated a total of £1million to party coffers.
Now he faces questions over the RAF project under which the new tanker planes - which can also carry troops and equipment - will be rented to private firms when not needed for military operations. The scheme has been beset by delays and there are major doubts that the aircraft will be ready in time for 2010 when they are due to go into service.
The Ministry of Defence and EADS are now in the final stages of negotiating the fine print of the contract and a financing agreement after the firm beat off competition from Boeing and British Aerospace.
But a senior Whitehall official last week questioned the whole idea of private finance initiative (PFI) deals for the supply of military equipment. The official said: 'This is simply a way of keeping the total cost of buying the aircraft off the MoD's budget.
'But by doing this, military planners will be forced to rely on the goodwill of a private company to make sure they have the aircraft they need at the time they need them.' The EADS planes will replace the RAF's fleet of ageing VC10 and TriStar aircraft which are at the 'end of their useful life'.
Declassified MoD documents, obtained by The Mail on Sunday, reveal full details of Government plans. They make it clear 'the RAF will have use of the aircraft when they need them'. But EADS will own and manage the planes.
However, the documents reveal: '...the contractor will be able to earn revenue by using spare aircraft for commercial operations.' The MoD said: 'Our Armed Forces deserve the equipment they require to do their job effectively. This programme will provide them with that and allow them to get on with the job.'
Document MOSM000020051127e1br0002d