Grant Shapps got RAF helicopter to pick him up for meeting on public transport

26 February 2024 , 17:04

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Grant Shapps was picked up by an RAF helicopter ahead of a Cabinet meeting in Yorkshire (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Top Tory Grant Shapps had an RAF helicopter fly from London to a field near his home to pick him up for a Cabinet meeting - to discuss improving public transport.

The Defence Secretary was collected by a chopper in his Welwyn Hatfield constituency before making the hour-long journey to Breighton Airfield in Yorkshire. Ironically the PM's top team met up in Yorkshire to discuss reallocating HS2 cash into local transport in the North.

Mr Shapps, who was Transport Secretary under Boris Johnson, was then flown back to London in order to give a statement in the Commons. Rishi Sunak is understood to have got a train back from Doncaster - a journey that takes less than two hours into London.

Flight records reveal the RAF VIP Leonardo AW109 helicopter which transported Mr Shapps left RAF Northolt shortly after 9.20am. It landed close to Hatfield in Hertfordshire to pick him up before taking off again at around 9.45am, arriving in Yorkshire at 10.50am.

Simon Lightwood, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Local Transport, said: "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."

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The helicopter left Yorkshire at around 1.30pm. A source close to Mr Shapps said the Defence Secretary had to get back for a statement in the Commons on the Red Sea crisis. He began addressing the House shortly after 3.40pm. The source said the chopper would have had to fly up to Yorkshire anyway to pick him up.

Mr Sunak opened the cabinet meeting by saying the Government's latest transport plan is "levelling up in action". No10 said reallocating £4.7billion from the scrapped HS2 leg between Birmingham and Manchester showed the Government has a plan to deliver "greater transport links that people need right across the UK".

An MoD spokesperson said: "Value for money is always a primary consideration when considering travel arrangements for ministers. In this case, the Secretary of State had to attend several events throughout the day so a helicopter was the most efficient way to achieve this."

Dave Burke