Chancellor Philip Hammond 'BANNED from using RAF jets and helicopters after running up six-figure bill'
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Loading... - Veronica Gutierrez
- 06 Dec 2020
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Chancellor Philip Hammond has been banned from taking RAF jets and helicopters until he settles an enormous bill run up by his department, it has been reported.
The Ministry of Defence has ordered officials to stop taking requests from the Treasury department until the six-figure sum is paid, the Times reports.
Hammond used (No 32) the Royal Squadron at least twenty times this year for trips to destinations such as Manchester, Dudley, Leeds and Paris which are all much more cost effective journeys by rail or budget airline.
The Ministry of Defence bills the Treasury for flights on the jets, which offers a top-class service including alcoholic drinks and a three-course meal.
The prime minister, foreign secretary and Brexit secretary are also allowed to use the service which flies out of RAF Northolt in West London.
But the treasury's bill remains unpaid and the MoD has now said it will take no more VIP bookings from Hammond until it is settled.
A defence source told the Times: "At the same time as claiming our brave armed forces don’t need any more money and that the army only needs 50,000 troops, it is a huge double standard to willingly use the armed forces' facilities at the same time as refusing to pay for them."
