Boris Johnson has suggested that Britain’s post-Brexit trade prospects could be bolstered if he had his own Foreign Office plane.

Speaking in Buenos Aires, where he was on the second leg of a five-day visit to South America, the foreign secretary said the official Voyager aircraft, on which the prime minister travels, was rarely available – and not colourful enough.

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“The taxpayers won’t want us to have some luxurious new plane, but I certainly think it’s striking that we don’t seem to have access to such a thing at the moment,” he said.

“What I will say about the Voyager, I think it’s great, but it seems to be very difficult to get hold of. It never seems to be available. I don’t know who uses it, but it never seems to be available. And also, why does it have to be grey?”

Johnson’s remarks follow his public support for a new royal yacht and a series of commemorative stamps, to “show the world we’ve got Brexit licked”.

“Look, I’m on record, I definitely think that we should have a flagship,” he told journalists. “But if there’s a way of doing it [getting a plane] that is not exorbitantly expensive, then yes, I think we probably do need something.”

Johnson is using commercial airlines throughout his trip, apart from a flight from Lima into the Amazon rainforest, on which he travelled in the Peruvian president’s plane, equipped with walnut panelling and embellished napkins.

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He will spend Wednesday in Chile, where he will visit an education project and a hospital being built with British investment.

On Tuesday the Argentinian foreign minister, Jorge Faurie, told Johnson that the two countries should seek to deepen their economic and political ties, despite their rival claims to sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.

Speaking at a press conference at the foreign ministry, Faurie said he could not imagine the continued dispute over the islands in the south Atlantic descending into war, as it did in 1982. “The UK, which throughout its history has been involved in many armed conflicts on a tragic scale in the history of mankind – you are well aware of the fact that going to war is not the best scenario. So the willingness of a government and a people is not to be at war.

“Each of us is aware of the respective positions we have with regard to the sovereign titles we believe we hold regarding Malvinas [Argentina’s name for the islands]. That is one aspect of our bilateral relations, but not the only one.

“In addition to that … there is a whole set of areas and subjects for cooperation in relation to which we want to rebuild trust. I think there [is a] general positive backdrop when it comes to the negotiation over sovereignty.”



Faurie said Argentina was “very satisfied” with the recent assistance the UK had offered in helping to identify the remains of troops killed in the Falklands War.

He also highlighted plans for a new flight from the Falklands with a stopover in Argentina. Bids have already been received from airlines in Chile, Brazil and Uruguay. The foreign secretary said he hoped to be one of the first passengers on the new service.



Throughout the tour Johnson has focused on the prospects of strengthening trade and investment ties with countries in the region. “There are big opportunities for UK business here. We don’t do nearly enough. There’s a low base, but we are going to build on it very fast,” he said.



David Cameron’s government fitted out an RAF Voyager A330, at a cost of £10m, for use by senior ministers and the royal family – but Cameron used it only once before resigning the day after the 2016 referendum. Headline writers now call it “Theresa-jet”. Theresa May was forced to intervene last year in a row between Philip Hammond and Gavin Williamson over the use of military jets for government business.

Johnson said: “I hope you all let the people of Britain know, we sweat the assets in the Foreign Office to such an extent, mainly we use the Queen’s Flight, but I think the planes are now 30 or 40 years old. They are superb BAE146s – they are masterpieces of engineering.”

