Oliver Dowden flew on a near-empty RAF plane to the UN general assembly in New York this week, the Guardian has learned, prompting criticism that he wasted taxpayers’ money and caused unnecessary damage to the environment.
The deputy prime minister travelled on a 158-seat RAF Voyager with only a few advisers and defence personnel, sources said. The aircraft is usually used to transport senior ministers with large delegations of officials, journalists and occasionally business executives.
