Grant Shapps received RAF helicopter to select him up for assembly on public transport
Top Tory Grant Shapps had an RAF helicopter fly from London to a discipline close to his house to select him up for a Cabinet assembly – to debate enhancing public transport.
The Defence Secretary was collected by a chopper in his Welwyn Hatfield constituency earlier than making the hour-long journey to Breighton Airfield in Yorkshire. Ironically the PM’s high staff met up in Yorkshire to debate reallocating HS2 money into native transport within the North.
Mr Shapps, who was Transport Secretary beneath Boris Johnson, was then flown again to London with a purpose to give a press release within the Commons. Rishi Sunak is known to have gotten a practice again from Doncaster – a journey that takes lower than two hours into London.
Flight data reveal the RAF VIP Leonardo AW109 helicopter which transported Mr Shapps left RAF Northolt shortly after 9.20am. It landed near Hatfield in Hertfordshire to select him up earlier than taking off once more at round 9.45am, arriving in Yorkshire at 10.50am.
A Labour supply informed The Mirror: “Just when you think you’ve seen it all, the Government holds a special Cabinet meeting to discuss their plans for trains, buses and roads, and the former Transport Secretary chooses to attend by helicopter. But with record delays and cancellations on the rail network, 22 million more potholes, and a record-breaking collapse in bus routes, it’s no surprise that the man who helped break our public transport system now wants to fly above it all.”
The helicopter left Yorkshire at round 1.30pm. A supply near Mr Shapps mentioned the Defence Secretary needed to get again for a press release within the Commons on the Red Sea disaster. He started addressing the House shortly after 3.40pm. The supply mentioned the chopper would have needed to fly as much as Yorkshire anyway to select him up.
Mr Sunak opened the cupboard assembly by saying the Government’s newest transport plan is “levelling up in action”. No10 mentioned reallocating £4.7billion from the scrapped HS2 leg between Birmingham and Manchester confirmed the Government has a plan to ship “greater transport links that people need right across the UK”.
