Only the Queen should travel in style, Boris

I AM against the transformation of an RAF Airbus into a cheap copy of Air Force One. Prime Ministers – unlike US Presidents – are not heads of state, and shouldn’t pretend to be. Our head of state is the Queen.

The flashy painting of a union flag all over the tailplane makes Al Johnson’s vanity project look as if it belongs to a slightly dodgy holiday airline. And it draws attention to the fact that Britain no longer makes passenger jets of its own.

Years ago I used sometimes to travel on Margaret Thatcher’s flights abroad. These took place in an unadorned VC-10 of RAF Transport Command, in which we all had to fly facing backwards because that is what the RAF do (it is much safer).

The ancient, graceful, wholly British plane was impressive precisely because of the absence of silly grandeur and self-promotion.

If there’s money to spare for this sort of thing, can we please have the Royal Train back, preferably hauled by the beautiful modern steam locomotive Tornado or the soon-to-be finished Prince of Wales? I’m sick of the way Her Majesty is now forced to travel in dreary railbuses, and we’re all supposed to applaud.

A Monarch ought to be grand, and politicians ought to be drab.