Monday, September 01, 2008

Cheap flight?

Have just read an interesting little factoid from 2006. Remeber the transatlantic liquid bomb plot? Well apparently, on the day that John Reid made a statement about it (August 10th), he was accompanied by the hten Transport Secretary "wee" Dougie Alexander.

Alexander didn't really say much, but was there thanks to his use of the Queen's Flight (also known as 32 Squadron) by helicopter. That flight only cost the taxpayer £13,895.55. Had he used a scheduled flight (and enjoyed the chaos other travellers were facing) it would have been a mere couple of hundred, a train would have been as effective too.

8 comments:

Events dear boy, events said...

Read this twice and could I ask what is the point of this post? It has beaten me.

dizzy said...

Does it need one?

Anonymous said...

To be fair to him (although is that possible?), he was on the Isle of Arran.

Anonymous said...

So Secretaries of State sometimes need better access to reliable transport than joe public (especially during a major terror alert) and sometimes this costs money.

Intresting, very intresting.

Anonymous said...

Wee Dougie is a complete cypher, a mere catspaw for the Grim Gobbler. He will always do as he is told.
Shame no-one in the media ever looks closely at how he got his seat in the first place.
The "suicide" of his predecessor, the widely admired and popular Gordon McMaster was never investigated properly and the stink has never gone away.

Anonymous said...

Dizzy you are better than this - leave this type of thing to Guido.

T England. Raised from the dead. said...

He should have asked Prince William for a lift!

How many times has a story like this been revealed? Too many, & yes I believe this story is worth telling when our hard earn't is being wasted!

Anonymous said...

To be brutally honest, this is one of the occasions where particular transport measures might be justified. If ministers need to travel, rather than using other modes of communication, then when the service is disrupted and the security services were very concerned about potential threats, it is only sensible to use something reliable and secure.

Yes I would like ministers to use cheaper transport (and I query whether so many government trips are required at all), but sometimes these things are justified.