Why Blair takes flight

Tony Blair spent the princely (or prime ministerial) sum of £2,023,909 on diplomatic travel last year, despite a promise to spend more time at home. The howls of protest have begun from all the usual suspects. Liberal Democrat MP and rent-a-quote Norman Baker said, 'The massive increase in money he has spent suggests there is no cheque he will not sign providing it's a blank one on the taxpayer's bank account.' Meanwhile, Baker's party colleague and environment spokesman Chris Huhne fumed about the greenhouse gas emissions: 'The prime minister and other ministers would get to and from Brussels more quickly and more environmentally soundly if they took the Eurostar rather than the Queen's Flight.'

Political parties crying 'sleaze' is pretty cheap (unlike Blair's travel tab). But, as spiked has noted many times before, it's poetic justice for Blair who won office by portraying himself as whiter than white in contrast to a clapped out Conservative government in the nineties. In truth, it's entirely reasonable for the prime minister to jet around the world.

The really interesting point is that he can't help himself. Blair told last year's Labour conference that he had spent too much time on the international stage. 'I'm back and it feels good,' he told delegates. But in domestic politics, his administration is now every bit as exhausted as the Conservative one it replaced. Having replaced the politics of principle with managerialism, but having failed actually to make anything from the transport network to the Child Support Agency run any more effectively, Blair has to look abroad for a sense of purpose. Looks like he'll be living out of a suitcase for some time to come.

Blair's globe-trotting bill doubles despite pledge to stay home, Independent, 25 July 2006