Sunak swoops in to save VIP helicopter deal for ministers
THE Prime Minister personally intervened to prevent the scrapping of a contract providing VIP helicopter transport for himself and senior ministers.
Earlier this year, Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary, ended a £40million contract for two private helicopters used by politicians and senior defence staff.
The contract for the helicopters, crewed by RAF personnel and based at the Northolt airbase in west London, was due to end in September.
Grant Shapps, Mr Wallace’s successor as Defence Secretary, then acted to stop the contract from being scrapped.
At the time no reason was offered for the change – but an article in the RAF’S in-house magazine revealed the order came from Rishi Sunak.
The Prime Minister has faced criticism for taking flights for short trips rather than cheaper, less-polluting alternatives like trains.
In May he took an expensive helicopter flight from London to Southampton for a journey that would have taken 75-minutes each way and cost £30 return on public transport. In the RAF magazine Northolt Approach, Tom Woods, the leader of the squadron that looks after the helicopters, said the termination of the contract would have “marked the end of an era in which the Royal Air Force and in particular No32 (the Royal) Squadron have operated the AW109 helicopter in that role from RAF Northolt since 2006”.
“However, in mid-september 23, the new Sofs [secretary of state for] defence, the Rt Hon Grant Shapps, reversed the decision at the request of the prime minister.”
Mr Woods wrote that there was “frenetic activity… to rapidly ensure all the key elements required to allow A109 to continue service were in place”.
“I’m extremely pleased and very proud to say everyone’s hard work paid off and the… capability was able to seamlessly continue operations through Sep into Oct 23 and beyond.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: “All ministerial and senior defence official travel is undertaken using efficient and cost-effective travel arrangements.
“This contract was extended primarily in order to provide travel for the command functions of the Ministry of Defence. As a whole, domestic flights within the United Kingdom allow ministers to visit more parts of the [UK].”