MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd May, 2023) UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has been touring Latin America in the luxury of one of the world's priciest private jets chartered for around 10,000 Pounds ($12,500) an hour, the Guardian has learned.
Cleverly has so far visited Jamaica in the Caribbean, Colombia and Chile as part of his eight-day trip and will next fly to Brazil before returning to the United Kingdom.
German VIP plane company Air Hamburg, which owns the Embraer Lineage 1000E, told the British daily that it costs about 400,000 Euros ($432,500) to charter this jet for a 10-day round trip to Latin America.
The model is described as one of the best luxury jets money can buy. It includes a VIP bedroom with a queen-size bed and an ensuite bathroom as well as a lounge area with a big-screen tv.
Emily Thornberry, the shadow attorney general from the opposition Labour Party, questioned the timing of Cleverly's decision to go for a jet used by billionaires and pop stars when the country is still battling the cost-of-living crisis.
"This sort of ludicrous extravagance at the public expense just shows how out of touch (Prime Minister) Rishi Sunak's government are. No wonder their response to the cost of living crisis has been so utterly hopeless," she told the daily.
A spokesperson from Cleverly's office argued, in a comment to The Guardian, that the foreign secretary's job required him to travel abroad to pursue UK interests and this was "the most time-effective way to do this in this instance."
An inquiry by Thornberry's team reportedly revealed that UK foreign secretaries used private business jets to travel overseas 31 times between 2021 and 2022, running up an estimated bill of 4.6 million pounds, which British taxpayers were left to foot.
