While millions of Britons are trying to get their heads around the confusion over travel and whether to book and holiday this summer, Boris Johnson, who continues to maintain that his government is working on opening up air bridges while the rest of Europe is about to take to the skies, is going to have his own plane. Well, he is going to share it with senior royals as well.
The plane used by Boris Johnson and members of the royal family for international travel is being repainted in the colours of the Union flag to “better represent” the UK abroad.
The red, white and blue “rebranding” will cost about £900,000, No 10 said - that could cover the cost of a plenty of much needed medical equipment and COVID test kits right now, but never mind.
The RAF Voyager, an Airbus A330 jet, was re-purposed for use by the UK government in 2015, at a cost of £10m. It was first used to take David Cameron and other ministers to the Nato summit in Poland in July 2016.
At the time, the government defended the expenditure, saying it was cheaper than chartering flights and would save about £775,000 a year. That may be the case, but right now, anyone using that plane will have to spend 14 days in quarantine on returning to the United Kingdom - so the money could have been better spent in the short term.