Savvy Traveler

I hope he at least got his Starpoints for this trip!

Merry

whmere: Actually the NZ governement pay for their Queen to visist. They paid Air NZ. HM had the upper deck converted to a day room/dining room and retireing room. The forward Business Class section was for the household; ministers and civil servants.

Of course the whole thing was a bit of publiicity to show HM on her first scheduled flight, hence some cost saving. Therefore HM wanting the whole plane is a nonsense as it would then by definition become a charter and not a scheduled flight.

LondonElite

I guess we all saw the same episode of Airport. I was amused when she was checked in as Mrs Smith or Jones or soomething like that.

fraisse10

Apologies - actually Blair claimed he SAT behind the goal to watch, but seats weren't installed there until the 1990s. And, even if he could remember exactly who he saw at age 4 (!!), he was, apparently, in Australia between the ages of 18 months and six. And the relevance to the topic is that our public figures tend to have elastic/fuzzy memories when it suits them, and therefore topic-contributors may be looking for a flight that never existed!!

Fraser

Mrs. Muir

GUWonder

Journalists get stories wrong and do not always check the info provided by "credible" individuals. This is part of the reason why the Bush (and previous) Administration and most foreign governments' spin makes it into the press as straight talk instead of being more carefully scrutinized.

LondonElite

That's it!

LondonElite

This is a bit old but still relevant...


Sunday, January 17, 1999 Published at 16:21 GMT


UK Politics

Cabinet defends 'big-spending' minister

Last week Dr Cunningham flew to America on Concorde

The Cabinet office has come to the defence of Dr Jack Cunningham, known as the Cabinet "enforcer", after newspaper claims that he had been indulging in high living at taxpayers' expense.


Dr Cunningham faces calls for an inquiry
Dr Cunningham's alleged expenses made on ministerial business were described by The Sunday Times as "extravagant".

It reported that he was facing growing demands for a parliamentary inquiry into his spending habits after civil servants leaked details of his use of top class hotels, restaurants and flights.

Five-star hotel

The newspaper reports that he flew to the US on Concorde last week, stayed at the five-star Conrad Hotel in Brussels last July, and has eaten at a two-star Michelin restaurant - all at taxpayers' expense.

A spokeswoman for the Cabinet Office confirmed that Dr Cunningham had flown to the US by Concorde last Wednesday but said this was because it was the last flight of the day leaving London for New York or Washington.

"His diary that day, in particular the need for him to answer oral questions and to respond for the Government on a debate in the House of Commons that afternoon, meant he could not have been scheduled to catch any earlier flight," the spokeswoman said.

"He went to Washington at the invitation of the US Vice-President Al Gore to address an important international conference on modernising government."

Present at the conference were the US President, Bill Clinton, Mr Gore, the New Zealand Prime Minister Jenny Shipley and ministers from 20 other countries.

The spokeswoman said that Dr Cunningham attends a Cabinet committee on the issue and that the government was planning to publish a white paper on modernising government in the spring. "It was important that the UK should be represented at the conference at Cabinet level," she said.

Dr Cunningham had returned on a normal British Airways 747 flight, the spokeswoman said.

'We will respond to complaints'

The Home Secretary Jack Straw said he could not comment on the detail of the allegations about Dr Cunningham but said that any complaint would be investigated.

Jack Straw: "The rules are clear"
He told the BBC's On the Record programme: "There are clear rules for the use of aeroplanes and accommodation for Cabinet ministers, the clearest rules, and they are very clearly enforced, first of all by the Cabinet Secretariat and then by the National Audit Office and if there is any complaint they will be looked into."

He added: "There has now been a complaint about them and of course there will be a response to them."

Ministerial business

The newspaper report follows claims last week that Dr Cunningham decided to take private jets instead of scheduled flights to European Union meetings when he was agriculture minister.

A statement from the Cabinet Office on behalf of Dr Cunningham issued on Sunday justified these expenses.

"Dr Cunningham was required to stay overnight in Brussels and elsewhere frequently during his time as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, particularly during the UK Presidency of the European Union and in pursuit of lifting the EU beef export ban. He stayed at a number of hotels including the Conrad, which was also used by various of his EU ministerial counterparts," it said.

'Millionaire lifestyle'

The Shadow Agriculture Minister, Tim Yeo, said he will be calling for a Commons inquiry. "Jack Cunningham's ministerial expenses show just how far removed from the people's priorities Labour have become in government," said Mr Yeo.

"The British taxpayer should not be asked to subsidise Jack Cunningham's millionaire lifestyle.

He added: "Tomorrow, I will be writing to the chairman of the public accounts committee and the agriculture select committee asking them to investigate this waste of taxpayers' money."

fraisse10

JC is , and has historically been, known as
"Junket Jack". Smart money has him slipping back into Government/senior Labour Party machine, so we may be treated to his antics again soon.

Fly Boy

Gordon Brown is a Gold card holder with British Airways Executive Club.

dnw

...and I sat opposite Charles Kennedy on the Gatwick Express once and he had a BA Silver Card. I assume these must be comps or from 'private' flying?

Fly Boy

I doubt it. I flew with the Chancellor on a Shuttle flight and his account number was clearly stated on his boarding pass. I also worked with a senior politician who held status with BD.

iainbhx

Charles has to fly LGW-INV most weeks of the year. I'd guess that's how he made Silver.

virtualtroy

I quote from John Simpson's 'A Mad World, My Masters': "[I've] flown on Concorde with a BBC executive in the seat beside me swearing me to eternal secrecy about it"

My_head_is_spinning

This is the closest thread I could find on a search....


I see the Queen has arrived in Oz on a BA 777. Anyone know what happens with the seating arrangements?