Helicopter-loving Rishi Sunak intervened to cease a contract price as much as £40million permitting him to make use of “VIP” choppers being scrapped, it has emerged.
The Prime Minister – who was blasted on the weekend after diverting an RAF aircraft to whisk him to a far-right political competition in Italy – rejected plans to desert the deal. The Ministry of Defence had been set to cease renting two non-public helicopters utilized by the PM, however in September Mr Sunak blocked the transfer.
He had beforehand come underneath hearth for utilizing choppers to make quick journeys, together with one to Southampton – simply 75 minutes from London by practice. In July former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace stated the MoD would cease renting the helicopters from Northampton-based Sloane Helicopters so it may guarantee “available funds are prioritised on key areas”.
But in September his successor, Grant Shapps, reversed the choice – and it is now turned out this occurred as a result of Mr Sunak stepped in. The two choppers are stored at RAF Northolt, with flights run by No32 (The Royal) Squadron.
Its chief Tom Woods wrote in an in-house journal: “In mid-September 23, the new Secretary of State for Defence, the Rt Hon Grant Shapps, reversed the decision at the request of the Prime Minister.”
This brought about “frenetic activity” to maintain the helicopters obtainable, he stated, whereas a brand new five-year contract is prone to be agreed subsequent 12 months after a contract is opened to competitors. The helicopters are utilized by prime military brass in addition to the PM and senior ministers.
The five-year contract is estimated to be price between £30million and £40million, in keeping with Government procurement paperwork – a median of £8million a 12 months. During his time in Downing Street thus far, Mr Sunak has used non-public jets and helicopters to zip across the UK greater than another Prime Minister. In his first seven months in workplace he used RAF plane for home flights each eight days on common.
Last month he used a non-public chopper to get to Lincolnshire, the place he visited a faculty. The plane took off from RAF Northolt on a journey that might have taken simply an hour by practice from London Kings Cross to Grantham. A return ticket would have value round £50.
In October he flew lower than 60 miles to Clacton-on-Sea, and in May he flew to Southampton in a chopper. And this weekend it emerged an RAF jet was diverted so Mr Sunak may head to a political occasion in Italy.
It flew to Durham on Friday afternoon and stayed in a single day, earlier than selecting Mr Sunak up on Saturday morning for his flight to Rome. This would incur further prices for in a single day lodging for the jet’s RAF crew.