Boris Johnson flew to his last-ditch bid to save his premiership in Blackpool by private, taxpayer-funded jet.
The PM gave a desperate ‘levelling-up’ speech in the seaside town, promising a raft of policies to bring his wavering backbenchers back on side.
He spoke of tackling “increases in the cost of food, the spooling digits on the petrol pumps, energy bills growing seemingly ever larger.”
He promised to “get on with the mission on which this Government was elected and unite and level up across the country.”
And he outlined plans to shutter ticket offices in railway stations across the country.
But he dodged the three-hour train journey to the holiday hotspot - complete with an hour long leg from Preston to Blackpool on a local stopping service - in favour of his luxury government plane.
Aviation records show the PM’s Airbus A321 from London’s Stanstead Airport to Warton Aerodrome in Lancashire on Thursday morning - and back again in the afternoon.
Grand Central Railways scrapped plans to offer a direct route between Blackpool and London in 2020, saying changes to travel patterns due to Covid-19 had made them “unfeasible.”
The same day, Government minister Helen Wheeler branded Blackpool “godawful” at an event to launch the government’s new digital strategy.
Going off-script, she told an audience: “I was just at a conference in Blackpool or Birmingham or somewhere godawful.”
The Conservative Party held its spring conference in Blackpool in April, and is holding their main annual conference in Birmingham in September.
Ms Wheeler later apologised, claiming she “made an inappropriate remark that does not reflect my actual view.”
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said: "While a Tory Minister was insulting Blackpool as “godawful”, Boris Johnson was jetting in on taxpayers' money, skipping the train and dodging voters during a botched relaunch of his doomed premiership.
"This is a terminally out-of-touch Prime Minister who behaves like he’s on another planet and forces taxpayers to pay their hard-earned money for his privilege, all while the cost of living crisis bites.”
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “All travel decisions are made with consideration for security and time restraints.”
“We recognise the importance of better connections to Blackpool and we are working to evaluate how best to improve infrastructure.”
