Rishi Sunak personally intervened to stop the scrapping of a contract providing VIP helicopter transport for himself and senior ministers, it has emerged. Earlier this year, Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary, ended a £40m contract for two private helicopters used by politicians and senior defence staff, which are crewed by RAF personnel and based at the Northolt airbase in west London. The contract was due to come to a close at the end of September. Sunak has faced sustained criticism over his fondness for taking flights and helicopters for short trips rather than cheaper, less polluting transport. In May, the Guardian reported that Sunak took an expensive helicopter flight from London to Southampton for a journey that would have taken 75 minutes each way and cost £30 return on public transport. A month later, he used an RAF helicopter to travel from London to Dover for a speech on small boat crossings, a journey that can be done in just over an hour on high-speed trains. Opponents said these two examples showed the prime minister had no understanding of “the state of public transport” in the UK. Grant Shapps, Wallace’s successor as defence secretary, then acted to stop the contract from being scrapped. At the time no reason was offered for the change.
A report on page 12 of the latest edition of Northolt Approach, an RAF in-house magazine, has revealed that the reversal came following a request from the prime minister. Tom Woods, the leader of the squadron that crews and looks after the helicopters, said the termination of the contract “marked the end of an era in which the Royal Air Force and in particular No32 (the Royal) Squadron have operated the AW109 helicopter in that role from RAF Northolt since 2006. “However, in mid-September 23, the new SofS [secretary of state for] defence, the Rt Hon Grant Shapps, reversed the decision at the request of the prime minister.” Woods wrote that there was “frenetic activity … to rapidly ensure all the key elements required to allow A109 to continue service were in place”. “I’m extremely pleased and very proud to say everyone’s hard work paid off and the … capability was able to seamlessly continue operations through Sep into Oct 23 and beyond.” Emily Thornberry, Labour’s shadow attorney general, said she had been trying for months to establish when the contract was extended and on whose authority. “Since October, ministers have been refusing to give straight answers to my questions in parliament about why this contract was extended, how that decision was taken, and at what cost,” she said. “Now we know why.” Thornberry has accused Sunak of having “an addiction to helicopters and private jets”. The prime minister’s intervention to stop the scrapping of the contract was revealed at the weekend by the Sunday Times. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said: “All ministerial and senior defence official travel is undertaken using efficient and cost-effective travel arrangements. This contract was extended primarily in order to provide travel for the command functions of the Ministry of Defence. “As a whole, domestic flights within the United Kingdom allow ministers to visit more parts of the United Kingdom in the time available, particularly areas further away from London, and reduce the need for overnight accommodation for ministers and accompanying staff. Security considerations are also taken into account.” The extended helicopter contract is with Northamptonshire-based Sloane Helicopters. The prime minister’s official spokesperson has previously defended helicopter flights as being the most “efficient and best use” use of his time.