Tony Blair flies commercial??
 

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/26/blair.plane/index.html

What the heck? This shocks me.

Does he have to take his shoes off for security?

Re: Tony Blair flies commercial??
 

Wow, I just read that was wondering the same thing! I understand not having an air force one equivelant, but commercial? Hope he had least gets to travel in first class.

Re: Tony Blair flies commercial??
 

Does he have a bunch of guards? I would be worried about this whole "assassination thing" being a leader of a nation or whatever.

Re: Tony Blair flies commercial??
 

This is because Tony Blair is not a "Head of State". Traditionally, the Head of State is the ceremonial ruler of the country. They are the ones who get to do cool stuff like ride in Air Force One. In Britain, the Head of State is the Queen.

Tony Blair is the "Head of Government". This meand that while he holds political power, he is considered an ordinary person and doesn't get to do the cool stuff. The reason Bush gets Air Force One, State Dinners and such is that he is the Head of State and the Head of Government.

Re: Tony Blair flies commercial??
 

Thanks. That was informative and I guess it makes sense (if you're a brit and love the queen). But what if something happened to Tony Blair? Would it be as devastating to the country, economy, etc., as if something happened to our vice president? Like I said, I understand not having an air force one, but at least charter a jet for the guy.

Re: Tony Blair flies commercial??
 

Its a wonderful thing in some ways: The PM is not held up as some divine dear leader.

Of course the first time I saw Buckingham I thought "Looks like the people lost the class war"

Re: Tony Blair flies commercial??
 

iron,

Your post is incorrect. The Prime Minister, like the royal family, uses a mix of Royal Squadron planes, chartered planes, and commercial travel. I suspect that since some budgetary controversies regarding use of the royal planes, the PM has perhaps flown commercial more often when going on holiday. But, in general, your Head of State/Head of Government distinction is just plain false when it comes to stuff like travel on special government planes.

Re: Tony Blair flies commercial??
 

I think you're right. I know that various Heads of Government get to fly military jets and such. I was trying to explain why Blair would be caught dead flying commercial and I got carried away when I said that they don't get to do that kind of thing.

Re: Tony Blair flies commercial??
 

iron,

OK. My point was specifically wrt your characterization of the UK PM as some "ordinary person" who "doesn't get to do the cool stuff" like that. To the contrary, he's pretty much just like the US President wrt stuff like that. Of course, the US is a lot bigger and has far more security concerns, so some things are viable for the PM that aren't for the President.

Here's an example of the type of stuff that is pretty standard for an "ordinary person" like that: dinner

Re: Tony Blair flies commercial??
 

iron,

Here's an article re: what I referenced in my earlier post: Blair royal plane holiday controversy

Apparently it has been pretty standard for PMs to use the Royal Squadron planes even on holidays, but sounds like even the royal family has been cutting back, so I suspect the reason for this commerical flight was more for political reasons than anything else.

Re: Tony Blair flies commercial??
 

<font color="blue">"We find it extraordinary that while senior Royals have pulled in their horns to save public money, Mr Blair can take his family around Europe in this extravagant manner," a Buckingham Palace aide was quoted as saying in The Mail on Sunday. </font>

LOL!!! I find it EXTRAORDINARY that an entire country still wastes their time on royalty! Talk about a waste of government funds... What do they spend pampering those blue bloods anyway?

I know I'll get flamed by those from the UK, but catering to so-called royalty is insane! Of course, that's just my opinion and I'll be the first to admit we waste tons of money on stupider stuff right here in the good old USA!

Re: Tony Blair flies commercial??
 

L,

I haven't spent much time in the UK in the last few years, but when I was last spending a lot of time there (up through 2001), a lot of people in the UK felt the same way as you re: the royalty.

Re: Tony Blair flies commercial??
 

There's also the, often used, argument that having the monarchy generates a lot of tourist income. Unless I'm mistaken, the royal family now receive fairly small (around £8million in total I think) amounts of cash from the government.

Admittedly that must just represent the cash part and not all the extras they get free.

But very true, few people in the UK idolise the queen.

Re: Tony Blair flies commercial??
 

The BBC says the royal family costs the country "cost" £37million

Re: Tony Blair flies commercial??
 

Mr. Blair also gets the privilege of the US secret service while he visits the states.

Re: Tony Blair flies commercial??
 

There was some fuzz in Sweden with the prime minister chartering a plane and it was for a private visit, then it became a small media hype about it in several countries and put some politicians in a bad light, so I think it is mostly a PR-issue to avoid headlines like "PM's vacation cost 20k of taxpayer's money", nobody would critizise him doing it on a state visit. To fly commercial the way they fly it can't be cheap though, I know the Norwegian government has an agreement with several commercial airlines that if the PM or ministers want to fly they will always get a seat, no matter where and when.