Another day under a Labour government and – you guessed it – another U-turn. Now ministers are in the spotlight after it emerged that David Lammy used the government’s private plane to jet off to India today for international trade talks. The same private jet, Mr S would remind readers, that Sir Keir’s lefty lot bashed the Tories for using when they were in government. Rules for thee, but not for me…
When ex-prime minister Liz Truss dared to use the Airbus A321 plane to fly to Australia on official business, deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner could hardly contain her disdain. Slamming the then-Tory MP, Rayner remarked at the time: ‘Liz Truss shows the public exactly quite how little respect this Conservative government has for taxpayers’ money with her ridiculous waste of half a million pounds on a private jet trip. This government is brazen in its disregard for upholding decency.’ Crikey.
Truss wasn’t the only Tory to receive a telling off from the then-opposition over private planes. Former home secretaries James Cleverly, Suella Braverman and Priti Patel were criticised for their use of chartered flights – with Rachel Reeves even promising last year’s Labour conference that she would crack down on private jet use by ministers if her party got into government: ‘I will treat taxpayers’ money with the same respect that people treat their own money.’ That’s rather hard to believe when Lammy’s flight is expected to cost the taxpayer approximately £110,000 in fuel costs alone. And the Foreign Secretary isn’t the only guilty culprit, as Mr S pointed out last week. In fact, Starmer himself appears to have a penchant for private planes, despite his party’s supposed stance on the matter. They do say power corrupts…
Cleverly took to Twitter this afternoon to make a point about Lammy’s jet-setting, writing: ‘I’m not going to criticise David Lammy for using the government plane. The Foreign Secretary must be able to travel directly, flexibly and at short notice. But,’ he added, ‘the criticism of me from Labour when I flew on government business now reeks of hypocrisy.’ Indeed.
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