Following the Downing Street party held during lockdown, the Conservative Government faced further scrutiny as UK Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, was accused by the British public for wasting taxpayers’ money for using a private plane for travel to Australia.
The private Government Airbus A321 was reported to have cost around £500,000, whereas a commercial flight would have been quicker and drastically cheaper.
Questions were raised as the ministerial code states that Ministers can only authorise non-scheduled flights “when a scheduled service is not available, or when it is essential to travel by air, but the requirements of official or Parliamentary business or security considerations preclude the journey being made by a scheduled service.”
However, the Foreign Office supported Truss’ decision as they confirmed the trip was within the rules which enabled Truss and her delegation to have “private discussions on sensitive security matters”.
They said that all commercial flights were fully booked at the time Truss was travelling and would have separated her from her protection team.
The Foreign Secretary visited Australia to pursue UK interests around security, trade and technology. Truss defended her actions as she said that the Government plane allowed her to “do the work overseas which is ultimately delivering for the British people”.
Labour’s Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner, was disgusted by the decision as she said it showed the public “how little respect this Government has for taxpayers’ money”.
With the ongoing pressure for UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, to resign over the failures of adhering to lockdown regulations, Liz Truss was named as one of his successors.
Latest reports from the investigation revealed that Downing Street Covid lockdown parties find “failures of leadership and judgement”.