Boris Johnson has suggested that Britain’s post-Brexit trade prospects could be bolstered if he had his own Foreign Office plane.
Speaking in Buenos Aires, where he was on the second leg of a five-day visit to South America, the foreign secretary said the official Voyager aircraft, on which the prime minister travels, was rarely available – and not colourful enough.
“The taxpayers won’t want us to have some luxurious new plane, but I certainly think it’s striking that we don’t seem to have access to such a thing at the moment,” he said.
“What I will say about the Voyager, I think it’s great, but it seems to be very difficult to get hold of. It never seems to be available. I don’t know who uses it, but it never seems to be available. And also, why does it have to be grey?”
Johnson’s remarks follow his public support for a new royal yacht and a series of commemorative stamps, to “show the world we’ve got Brexit licked”.
“Look, I’m on record, I definitely think that we should have a flagship,” he told journalists. “But if there’s a way of doing it [getting a plane] that is not exorbitantly expensive, then yes, I think we probably do need something.”
Johnson is using commercial airlines throughout his trip, apart from a flight from Lima into the Amazon rainforest, on which he travelled in the Peruvian president’s plane, equipped with walnut panelling and embellished napkins.
He will spend Wednesday in Chile,…
