LONDON — Rishi Sunak’s spokesperson insisted there is “a lot of pressure” on the U.K. prime minister’s time after he took a helicopter to Southampton instead of making the short train journey there from London.
Sunak — who has attracted criticism in the past for taking publicly-funded flights around the country — traveled to the southeastern port city Tuesday to launch a plan aimed at cutting waiting times for doctors’ appointments.
But No. 10 faced a grilling Tuesday evening after the Mirror tracked Sunak’s flight and found a train journey would have taken around the same time.
The outlet reported that a government helicopter departed RAF Northolt at around 8:53 a.m., travelled to Westminster to pick up Sunak, and then touched down at Southampton Airport at 9:47 a.m. A train from London Waterloo to Southampton would have taken less than an hour-and-a-half, it pointed out.
Fielding questions from reporters, Sunak’s official spokesperson said the PM had “a series of meetings” in the afternoon that he needed to attend, and said his transport plans “will vary depending on his time and where he’s going to make the best use of both his time and in the interest of the taxpayer.”
They added: “Obviously there’s a lot of pressure on his time and he wants to make the most effective use of that time … Sometimes wanting to get to and from places quickly is the best use of his time.”