It's the first time in living memory that I can recall a top civil servant / minister actually recalling there are airports outside London, let alone supporting them
What, you mean apart from the fact that the UK Government decided at least ten years ago to lift all regional airports out of the constraints of bilateral agreements and effectively declare them as "open skies", thus relieving them of any frequency or capacity issues at London that would have prevented the development of services at the likes of MAN, BHX, GLA, EDI, NCL etc? That was a conscious decision which had the interests of UK airports outside London very much at heart, so I think your jibe is entirely misplaced.