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Tories have attacked Labour over a so-called ‘secret helicopter contact’ – only for it to emerge that they signed it when they were in power
Bungling Tories have been left red-faced after they ranted about a “secret helicopter contract” – only to find they signed it themselves.
The Conservative government wasted taxpayers’ money by regularly flying ministers around the UK by chopper before they were booted out at the election. Rishi Sunak was heavily criticised for being flown around even on journeys that would take less than an hour by train.
This included a short trip to Clacton-on-Sea in Essex in October 2023 – just 60 miles from central London. When Labour came to power it cancelled a £40million Ministry of Defence helicopter contract that had been used by Tory ministers for VIP travel.
Despite this, Shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart wrongly claimed this month that ministers had signed a new contract so they could travel by chopper. He whined: “Labour’s new contract is the worst of all worlds – hypocritical, secretive and more expensive.”
And Joe Robertson, the Tory MP for Isle of Wight East, last week ranted about the “secret contract” in the House of Commons. He said: “To great fanfare the Government cancelled the previous Government’s contract for ministerial travel by helicopter, describing £40million as ‘grossly wasteful’.
“We now learn that the Government have signed their own contract for ministerial helicopter travel, but it is a secret contract – so secret that we do not know how much it will cost.”
But the pair have been left embarrassed after it emerged the supposedly secret contract was actually signed by the previous government – and hasn’t been used once for helicopter travel by Labour ministers.
In a letter to Mr Robertson, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden said: “Under the previous administration, there were concerns about significant costs to the taxpayer associated with helicopter use by ministers. As a result, this Government made the decision to end the prior Government’s Ministry of Defence contract for helicopter travel, effective 31st December 2024.
“You claimed in the House that this Government had signed a ‘secret contract’ for ministerial helicopter travel that is ‘so secret that we do not know how much it will cost’. This is untrue. The Government has not signed any new contract for ministerial helicopter travel.
“The Cabinet Office has a general travel contract in place provided by Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd that can arrange travel by various modes. The contract started in September 2022, under the previous administration. This contract has not been used for helicopter travel by this Government.”
A Labour source said: “The bungling Tories are clearly still dizzy from all the aviation fumes they inhaled when Rishi Sunak was in No10. The last government thought nothing of frittering away taxpayer’s cash on his VIP helicopter addiction.
“Unlike them, we know every pound of the public’s money must be spent well.” During his time in Downing Street, Mr Sunak used private jets and helicopters to zip around the UK more than any other Prime Minister in history.
In his first seven months in office he used RAF aircraft for domestic flights every eight days on average. By comparison Keir Starmer has not used a helicopter once since becoming PM more than seven months ago.
