Cameron flies into 'perfect storm'

LONDON - Conservative Party leader David Cameron's attempts to detoxify his party were dealt a further blow yesterday with details revealed of his travel by private jet and helicopter funded by multi-millionaire businessmen.

The Leader of the Opposition in Britain has accepted more than 60 flights by luxury plane and helicopter from 10 industrialists and plutocrats with a combined fortune of £3 billion ($7.3 billion), the Independent on Sunday reported.

Many flights were for short trips in Britain that could have been made by road or rail, although together the air mileage would have taken Cameron to Sydney and back - casting his commitment to the environment in a poor light.

They also undermined Cameron's attempts to rebrand the Tories and shake off the perception that it is heavily dependent on a small band of the super-rich. One of the millionaire businessmen, steel industrialist Andrew Cook, told the newspaper yesterday how he helped to shape Cameron's energy policy.

The revelations capped a difficult week for Mr Cameron in which Tory frontbencher Alan Duncan complained that MPs were forced to live on "rations" and Tory MEP Daniel Hannan attacked the National Health Service as a "failure".

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, on holiday in the Lake District, sought to exploit the Tory difficulties by effectively firing the starting gun on the election campaign: he said Labour would put the NHS centre stage in the battle to win a fourth term.

The unexpectedly turbulent few days are all the more difficult for the Tory leader because he has put the NHS and the environment at the heart of his project to rebrand the Conservative Party. He has also led the way on reforming the much-derided parliamentary expenses system.

The ongoing storm over the Tories' new alliance with the right-wing Polish Law and Justice Party and their leader in the European Parliament, Michal Kaminski, also continues to trouble Tory strategists.

While Labour is still odds-on to lose when polling day comes, the "perfect storm" for the Tories gave Labour's supporters a glimmer of hope that they stand a fighting chance of avoiding a landslide defeat.

In the Register of Interests, Cameron lists the names of donors who pay for his flights, but not the details of every trip. The detailed list, which he has submitted to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, shows 60 flights since he became leader in December 2005.

The newspaper calculated that he has flown 20,454 miles (33,000km), creating 9.6 tonnes in carbon emissions. The figures do not take into account free travel provided by the billionaire Tory financial backer Lord Ashcroft, who leaves his private jet at the disposal of Cameron and the shadow cabinet. A spokeswoman for Cameron said yesterday: "He is totally committed to the environment. All flights are carbon offset and he tries to avoid flying where possible."

It also emerged that several of Cameron's key shadow cabinet members had put their name to a manifesto criticising the NHS and calling for it in effect to be dismantled.

Cameron's close ally Michael Gove and Hannan are listed as co-authors of a book, Direct Democracy, which says the NHS "fails to meet public expectations" and is "no longer relevant in the 21st century".

Cameron's shadow chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, was forced to issue a statement reiterating the Tory leader's commitment to increase NHS spending.

Osborne said: "Let me make it absolutely clear - the next Conservative Government will deliver a real-terms increase in NHS spending - no ifs or buts."

- INDEPENDENT, OBSERVER