Ken Clarke blast’s Johnson’s ‘silly’ flagship
Boris Johnson's plan for a successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia is "silly populist nonsense", former chancellor Ken Clarke has said.
Lord Clarke said the £200 million national flagship demonstrates that some in No 10 believe there is "free money" despite the stretched state of the national finances.
Cabinet minister Matt Hancock insists the vessel will pay for itself by boosting British trade with countries where it can dock.
Lord Clarke's criticism came as official figures showed that government borrowing stood at £24.3 billion in May – down from £43.8bn a year earlier at the height of the pandemic, but still the second highest figure for the month on record and £18.9bn more than in 2019.
Conservative peer Lord Clarke told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the new vessel is a "complete waste of time, silly populist nonsense" and "we have no money" for it.
"It's a symptom – £200m is not going to cause problems, but it shows there are people in No 10 who just think there's free money and who think that waving a Union Jack and sending yachts and aircraft carriers around the world shows what a great power we are.
"We have no money for that kind of thing."
But Downing Street rejected the criticism, the Prime Minister's official spokesman saying: "Obviously we totally reject that, the new national flagship will boost British trade, drive investment and will sail all over the world promoting British interests."
No 10 said the initial costs for the ship would be met by the Ministry of Defence, despite it being a trade vessel.