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Prime Minister scraps plans for 'Brown Force One'
Sam Coates, Chief Political Correspondent
26-03-2008
Gordon Brown is risking the wrath of the Queen by scrapping plans for a new
"Brown Force One" to take ministers and members of the Royal Family on
overseas trips.
Jim Fitzpatrick, a junior transport minister, slipped out the surprise
announcement earlier this afternoon. He said the Government had abandoned
the £100 million plans to lease two new aircraft because of the rising
running costs and Mr Brown's new guidelines insisting ministers take
scheduled flights where possible.
Instead the Government and Royal Family will be allowed to buy a smaller
jet, with between 10 and 15 seats, to be used only inside the United
Kingdom. This could anger the Queen, who is long understood to have been
pressing for a new aircraft, but Mr Fitzpatrick insisted his department had
worked closely with the Royal Household, No 10 and the Foreign Office to
reach the decision.
He said: “I am today recommending that the needs of the users of this
service can best be met through procuring a small aircraft for official
travel within the UK, chartered air services for longer journeys involving
small parties, and a continuation of existing arrangements with UK airlines
for journeys involving large parties.
“This approach ensures better value for money for the taxpayer whilst also
minimising the environmental impact of royal and ministerial air travel,
producing an estimated 10 per cent saving on O2 emissions.”
The statement to MPs said there had been “substantial increases in the cost
of buying and operating commercial aircraft” since the idea was first raised
in 2006. It also pointed out that the new Ministerial Code - introduced by
Mr Brown when he entered No 10 last summer - sets out that scheduled flights
should be used wherever possible.
“An increasing proportion of overseas journeys, including a number of those
undertaken by the Prince of Wales and the Prime Minister, are now routinely
made on scheduled flights,” said Mr Fitzpatrick
For overseas trips, both ministers and members of the Royal Family will use
either scheduled flights or charter commercial aircraft. The jet will be
paid for by the Department for Transport and ministers will be allowed
access for British flights. Currently ministers and the Royal Family use 32
(The Royal) Squadron, but this will be unavailable from April 1 next year.
The Gershon Review in 2004 recommended that the Government buy two dedicated
aircraft: an Airbus seating 70 to 80 and a smaller executive jet for 15 to
20 passengers, to be used for European travel.
The idea of a "Blair Force One", along the lines of the US President's Air
Force One, had been considered at different times throughout Tony Blair's
premiership. Mr Blair agreed to the plans, which would have cost around £100
million, last May as one of his last acts as Prime Minister.
He approved the decision after, in 2006, he was put in the awkward position
of having to fly to a European summit in Brussels on a carrier displaying
Austrian livery. Before Christmas, Mr Brown travelled to the Middle East in
a private Swiss jet.
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