Downing Street is standing by its decision to send the UK government's official jet from London to Manchester on Monday to pick up Prime Minister Andy Burnham, instead of having him travel south to board it for a Commonwealth summit in the Caribbean.
Number 10 said security, cost and operational needs were all taken into account. The move drew a backlash on social media, where critics questioned whether it was good value for money.
The Airbus A321neo, registered G-GBNI, left London Stansted Airport at about 06:00 with no prime minister on board. Flight tracking data shows a 35-minute hop to Manchester, where the plane waited on the tarmac for 90 minutes before leaving at 08:00 for St John's, the capital of Antigua and Barbuda.
Number 10's explanation
Burnham's official spokesperson said the arrangements followed where the prime minister had been working at the end of last week. He spent Friday in Scotland, then went back to Manchester that evening to work from Number 10 North.
Neil O'Brien, a Conservative MP and shadow cabinet minister, accused Labour of burning public money and jet fuel for the sake of posturing. He argued that ordinary people pay heavily for energy because of the government's Net Zero agenda while ministers play by different rules.
You have to pay through the nose for energy and fuel to pursue their Net Zero obsession… But when it's them, the rules are different,
Neil O'Brien, Conservative MP and shadow cabinet minister
Cost of the detour unclear
Neither the price of the London-to-Manchester leg nor whether such a detour has been made before is known. The Cabinet Office publishes transparency figures for the aircraft only every quarter and lists only overseas journeys, so no Burnham trips appear yet.
The most recent release, covering April through June 2026, records four return journeys by Burnham's predecessor, Keir Starmer. Among them, an Armenia trip to the European Political Community Summit, with 21 officials aboard, came to £121,000, and an April flight to Paris cost £39,000.
Individual flight costs shift with the size of the traveling party, fuel prices and landing fees. It is also not clear whether moving the prime minister, his security team and staff to Stansted by train or car would have saved much.
Summit agenda in Antigua
Burnham is scheduled to meet Commonwealth leaders on Tuesday as the King's Caribbean tour draws to a close. He has said he is open to the UK formally apologizing for its role in slavery.
The aircraft replaced an earlier official plane, an RAF Voyager, which received a £900,000 repaint in 2020 before it was retired from the role.
