Tory party chairman Brandon Lewis is under fire from allies of Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt for organising seven helicopter flights and a private plane charter for the leadership contest.
On at least one occasion, Mr Lewis had a helicopter of his own to be whisked between events, sources disclosed to the Standard.
As the rivals were flown by private plane to a hustings in Belfast today, questions were being asked why so much money was being “splurged” on chartered aircraft instead of scheduled flights when the Conservatives are pursuing environmentally-friendly policies in government.
Mr Johnson told a hustings in Carlisle it was “a national scandal” they were not sharing helicopters.
Both Mr Johnson and Mr Hunt were asked to contribute £150,000 each to the costs of the 16 hustings, including transportation between events held on the same day.
Flights include:
- Helicopters each for the two candidates to dash from Carlisle to Manchester at the weekend, with Mr Lewis travelling separately in a third aircraft.
- Separate helicopters for a trip from Bournemouth to Exeter last week — and another helicopter trip in the pipeline this weekend from the East Midlands to Wales.
- A shared charter plane to whisk candidates from Farnborough to Northern Ireland this morning.
One campaign source said: “The idea that the party chairman gets a third helicopter seems bizarre.”
Friends of the Earth’s Mike Childs said: “Zipping around on chartered flights and helicopters will… do little to boost confidence that either candidate is taking the climate emergency seriously.”
A Conservative spokesman declined to comment. Both the Johnson and Hunt spokespersons said it was a matter for party HQ.
