Miliband uses Queen's Flight more often than the Queen
David Miliband faces questions over his use of £2,000-an-hour RAF jets after it was revealed he has travelled on the Queen’s Flight – military aircraft usually reserved for the Royal Family’s use – at least 16 times in the past year. Cabinet Office rules say Ministers should use the planes only when no scheduled service is available. But many of the Foreign Secretary’s trips were to short-haul European destinations such as Paris and Berlin, which are served by dozens of commercial flights each day. The planes Mr Miliband used are based at RAF Northolt in West London and are part of 32 (The Royal) Squadron, which provides transport for the Queen, members of her family and senior military officers. The Liberal Democrats yesterday demanded to know if ministerial rules had been broken while the Tories accused Mr Miliband, a possible contender for the Labour leadership, of a ‘scandalous’ use of limited military resources. Aircraft of the Queen’s Flight offer a degree of luxury that would be hard to find on a commercial airliner. snip The Foreign Office was unable to say how much Mr Miliband’s journeys had cost the taxpayer. However, the Royal Household accounts revealed that the hourly rate for use of the four-engined BAe 146, which Mr Miliband used five times, is £2,342. The hourly cost of the smaller HS 125, which he used on 11 occasions, is £973. This price does not include the cost of aviation fuel. BA Business Class flights from London to Paris start at £319. snip http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1053173/Miliband-uses-Queens-Flight-Queen.html And think of the CO2 emissions (although doubtless he will have used some more of our money to "offset" those)

And further down the Daily Mail article, it states...... 'Since becoming Foreign Secretary in June last year, Mr Miliband has used the Queen’s aircraft for trips to 13 European destinations. On July 18 last year he went to Paris and Berlin, followed by two days in Brussels the following week. There were also visits to Bucharest, Ankara, Istanbul, Rome, Madrid, Portugal, Luxembourg, Florence and Davos in Switzerland. All these destinations are served by numerous airlines. On an average weekday there is a choice of 25 passenger flights from London to Paris, 20 to Brussels and 15 to Berlin.' Wrong. Try getting a scheduled flight to Davos. Not possible. Believe me, I've tried. But back in the 60's you could - just. To fly into Davos - you have to use a helicopter - either your own, a taxi or - 'one you can rent'. Please don't let it be that he used a helicopter of the Queen's flight to land in Davos. They'd have to fly the helicopter all the way from the UK - for a take off from Zurich most probably - for the 20 minute flight to Davos.

Do we want our Foreign Secretary flying in Tourist Class when he goes abroad? I don't! I want him arriving in a Royal Air Force jet, with a saluting Air Loadmaster at the bottom of the steps, where the red carpet should have been laid down by the foreign gummint! The real question here is why Her Majesty does not make more use of the Flight we provide her ... and, come to that, when are we going to build her a new Royal Yacht?