Tony Blair flies commercial??

[JordanIB]

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?

[Lestat]

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.

[CrayZee]

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

[iron81]

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.

[Lestat]

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.

[canis582]

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"

[El Diablo]

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.

[iron81]

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.

[El Diablo]

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

[El Diablo]

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.