Londoner’s Diary
Sir Keir Starmer got some flak last week for taking a private jet from Wales to Scotland, where he spoke at a campaign rally about Labour’s “green prosperity plan”. But was it all a bit of a storm in teacup? We had imagined Starmer kicking back with a drink and enjoying the unbridled luxury of the jet-set lifestyle.
After digging through flight data, we were disappointed on finding the plane in question, pictured. More a crop-duster than a private jet, Starmer and his team flew in a King Air 200 — a prop plane that seats eight people minus leg-room. The cabin measures 4ft10 high. According to the private charter company which Starmer used, an 85-minute flight from Cardiff to Glasgow costs nearly £9,000.
The Labour leader defended the decision by saying that it was the most efficient use of his time, and that the carbon emissions will be offset. Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak’s penchant for helicopter rides seems to be going nowhere fast. The PM took a chopper from Devon to London last Wednesday with Castle Air, a helicopter charter service based in Cornwall. The 50-minute flight from a field near Honiton to a helipad in Battersea saved him two hours compared with taking the train.
Farage’s PR thinking with his head
Most people will only remember one image from Nigel Farage’s campaign launch in Clacton yesterday (the milkshake). But hats should be tipped to Reform UK’s indefatigable press man Gawain Towler, who stood with a speaker on his head for 20 minutes as Farage spoke. “We weren’t expecting that crowd, and people 100 feet back couldn’t hear,” Towler told us, “so I grabbed hold of it basically, and put it on my head. The security guard offered to do it, but he needed his two hands, in case someone tried to throw a milkshake at Farage or something”. He now says “my head is recovered”.
This was not the only quick thinking needed yesterday. Hacks riding on the top deck of Reform’s open-top bus say their heads were nearly “garrotted” by low-hanging branches. Towler stood on watch shouting “Duck!” when he spotted a looming bough.
Labour gets Owen’d
Is Left-wing columnist Owen Jones, infuriated by a Labour purge of Lefty candidates, burning too many bridges with his old party? He has compared former friend Chris Ward to a “vulture” for standing as a candidate, started an argument with Stella Creasy (she said he is “encouraging people to attack me”), made claims intended to embarrass Emily Thornberry, and has now chased down Thangam Debbonaire in her Bristol constituency, calling her “brittle” when she declined to speak to him. When Jones left Labour, he called it a “hostile environment”. We hear it certainly might be if he shows up at party conference later this year.
Watch party?
A not-so optimistic mood at last night’s debate watch party, hosted in Westminster by the Centre for Policy Studies, a Right-leaning think tank founded by Margaret Thatcher. The question of the evening was posed by Charles Moore, Thatcher’s official biographer: will the future of conservatism be a capital or lower-case “C” — ie, is the Tory party now finished?
Lord Moore said he remained optimistic after Rishi Sunak’s performance against Sir Keir Starmer in the debate. But inveterate Tory rebel Sir John Redwood, who has just stepped down as MP for Wokingham, says he will have to wait and see what happens on July 4 before answering the question.
