28 February 2024 , 16:01
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Top Tory Grant Shapps had an RAF helicopter pick him up from near his home three times in six weeks, The Mirror can reveal.
The Defence Secretary, who was in charge of the nation's transport for three years when Boris Johnson was PM, is accused of turning the VIP chopper into "Britain's most expensive Uber". Flight records show three occasions in January and February when he was collected from a field near his house.
Mr Shapps has been criticised for getting RAF pilots to whisk him to engagements in Yorkshire, Manchester and Plymouth, and faces questions over whether he broke ministerial rules. The frontbencher is alleged to have got helicopters to pick him up from his Welwyn Hatfield constituency for his personal convenience.
On January 11 a GZ100 helicopter flew over 20 miles from Denham Airport to pick up the Cabinet member before taking him up to Manchester. He spent five hours at the HQ of a systems manufacturer before a 13 minute flight to Preston to visit an arms company's assembly and testing facility.
The chopper flew back to RAF Northolt in London - but made a brief stop at Elstree Aerodrome, around seven miles from Mr Shapps' home. Less than a month later, on February 2, he was picked up again by a helicopter which travelled around 25 miles from RAF Northolt to pick him up from the same field.
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The helicopter then flew back in the direction it had come from before continuing to Plymouth. And on Monday this week a helicopter took him to Yorkshire for a Cabinet meeting, where Rishi Sunak's top team discussed improving public transport.
He was then whisked back to London to address the Commons. Labour's Shadow Paymaster General, Jonathan Ashworth, said: "We all thought Rishi Sunak was bad, but Grant Shapps seems to be turning the RAF's VIP helicopter into Britain's most expensive Uber.
"The ministerial code clearly says that the government's taxpayer-funded jets and helicopters should only collect ministers from their homes when the time factor is critical, not for their own personal convenience. Mr Shapps urgently needs to provide evidence of why the time factor was critical in these three instances, or he will have a case to answer before the ethics adviser."
The ministerial code says non-scheduled flights can only be diverted when the time factor is critical. In these cases a Minister can be picked up from an airfield near their one "provided that the only extra cost results from the extra flying time needed to carry out the additional landing and take-off".
A source close to Mr Shapps, who was Transport Secretary from 2019 to 2022, said they were confident the ministerial code hadn't been broken.
An MOD spokesman said: “The RAF provides travel for the command functions of the MOD and where there is spare capacity, provision is also made for senior Ministers and members of the Royal Household to travel to fulfil their official duties. These arrangements are long-standing and have been operated under successive governments of all political colours. Any travel undertaken is in accordance with our rules and procedure as set out clearly in the Ministerial Code which is available on gov.uk ”