Plane bound for the Caribbean flew from Stansted to the North to collect the Prime Minister
Andy Burnham and wife Marie-France van Heel board a plane for a trip in September (Image: Getty)
Andy Burnham forced a government jet to make a detour to Manchester to pick him up for a journey to the Caribbean. The VIP Airbus A321 departed London Stansted at about 6am for the journey with UK delegates to the Commonwealth leaders’ summit. But instead of going straight to St John’s, in Antigua, the plane travelled to Manchester to pick up the Prime Minister. The cost of the plane making a detour is estimated at about £20,000, given that a similar flight to Paris – about double the distance – cost £40,000. The Government will eventually publish details of how much the trip cost.
Mike Wood MP, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, said: “Labour promised a crackdown on private jet use. Yet when it comes to Air Miles Andy, it seems to be one rule for him and another for everyone else.” Mr Burnham insists on spending at least one day every week at No 10 North, the office he has set up in Manchester. Downing Street today defended the travel arrangements and insisted they reflected where the PM was carrying out official government business.
Andy Burnham’s spokesperson said: “He spent the day in Scotland on Friday. He returned to Manchester and worked from No 10 North in the evening.”
“In terms of costs – travel costs will be published in the usual way.”
Asked if it would have been cheaper for the Prime Minister to travel to Stansted instead, the spokesperson said: “As I say, decisions related to travel are made on security and operational grounds, neither of which we comment on.
“I’ve said that the travel arrangements of the prime minister, as with any prime minister, are made on the basis of security operational requirements and value for money for the taxpayer, and they’re a reflection of where he’s carrying out government business at the end of last week.”
The Prime Minister is due to land in St John’s later on Monday before attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. He has said he is open to calls for a formal British apology for its role in the slave trade.
Mr Burnham expressed his “sorrow and regret for the pain and suffering of so many millions”, but, in keeping with his predecessors, rejected calls for financial compensation. He wrote in The Guardian: “We are offering a structured dialogue with those affected by the transatlantic slave trade.
“Listening to calls for a formal apology on behalf of the British state will form an important part of this process, and I am open to them.” By contrast, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has criticised demands for an apology.
She said: “Slavery was an evil in which people from every continent and region participated. We should be honest about the whole history, not select the parts that are politically convenient today, especially given Britain’s leading role in ending the transatlantic slave trade.
“If Caribbean countries are asking Britain for a formal apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, will they also be asking the same of the descendants of African kingdoms, rulers and merchants who captured, sold and profited from the trade?”
She added: “As Prime Minister, Andy Burnham should be Britain’s greatest defender. Instead, he is writing articles saying we need to confront our history (as if we haven’t done enough of that) and considering another formal historical apology.
“Tony Blair already expressed Britain’s deep sorrow and regret for our role in the slave trade nearly twenty years ago. There is no need to do so again.”
The King arrived in the Caribbean nation on Friday before his Tuesday summit opening address, which will receive heightened interest after the Prime Minister’s intervention. But Charles, who as head of state is above party politics, is not expected to offer an apology or reference the change in government policy.