Cameron accused of ‘swanning round the world like a Kardashian sister’
As he returns from his Central Asian tour in a £42m jet...
DAVID Cameron has been accused of ‘swanning around like a Kardashian’ after he hired a £42million private plane for a tour of Central Asia.
The Foreign Secretary chartered an Embraer Lineage 1000 at the taxpayers’ expense for his five-day trip to Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.
The plane – described as ‘one of the best luxury private jets money can buy’ – is estimated to cost £41.8million new or £11,850 per hour to hire.
The aircraft sleeps nine, has an onboard wine selection picked by a sommelier and provides a menu suitable for ‘the most demanding passengers’, according to The Mirror.
Last year Lord Cameron’s predecessor James Cleverly ran up a bill of £422,747 when he used the same type of plane for a week-long tour of the Caribbean and Latin America.
The Government said Lord Cameron’s motivation was to ‘increase engagement with this pivotal region’.
But Labour accused him of ‘swanning around like a Kardashian’, referring to the wealthy reality television stars.
Shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry said: ‘Sometimes, on a trip
‘Unacceptable extravagance’
like this, ministers will need to use nonscheduled flights, and if the Government’s dedicated RAF jets are unavailable, they may have to charter a plane.
‘That is all fine but in no world do those circumstances justify hiring one of the most expensive, most luxurious private jets on the market to ferry the Foreign Secretary round Central Asia.
‘That is an unacceptable extravagance. It’s less than a year since James Cleverly was caught spending £422,000 on the same type of jet, but instead of learning from that debacle, David Cameron has used it as a template.
‘They are public servants and they’re supposed to use taxpayers’ money as carefully as possible, not swan around the world like a pair of Kardashian sisters at the British public’s expense.’
In 2015, Mr Cameron claimed to be related to Kim Kardashian.
Asked by Heat magazine if he watched the show Keeping Up With The Kardashians, he said: ‘No but I’m related. Did you know I’m 13th cousins with them?’
An official spokesman said the plane was ‘ the most time-effective way’ for the Foreign Secretary to travel on the trip.
He added: ‘Value for money is taken into account in all travel decisions and costs are published.’
The Government spent £10million refitting an RAF plane dubbed ‘Cam Force One’ when Lord Cameron was Prime Minister. But he only used it once before leaving No 10 in 2016.