Tory leadership contest: Party chairman Brandon Lewis under fire for hiring seven helicopters and private plane for hustings

Chairman of the Conservative Party, Brandon Lewis
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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.

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