Boris Johnson Afghan trip to avoid Heathrow vote cost taxpayer £20K
Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s trip to Afghanistan the day of a crucial vote on Heathrow’s third runway cost the British taxpayer at least £20,000, it was reported on Thursday.
Johnson, who claimed he was opposed to the plan and told fellow critics he would “lie down with you in front of bulldozers”, spent nine hours in Kabul in June to avoid voting. The reasons for, or the benefits of, the trip remain unclear, but he did meet with the president, Ashraf Ghani, and had lunch with the deputy foreign minister, Hekmat Karzai.
Using Freedom of Information legislation, the Ferret investigative news website discovered that the cost to the taxpayer for three staff to accompany Johnson was £19,366.
This included three flights at £6,322 each, a total of £18,966. The FCO refused to give the costs of Johnson’s flights or any other expenses, citing exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act, the report stated.
Critics have now alleged he “misused” public money in order to avoid the vote on 25 June and to prevent personal political embarrassment.
Heathrow is close to Johnson's Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency. The government won the vote by 415 votes to 119 – a majority of 296. Labour MPs were allowed a free vote.
Under collective responsibility cabinet ministers must vote with the government on key issues, meaning Johnson would have had to resign his post to oppose the project. He subsequently resigned in July over the Brexit compromise agreed by Theresa May’s cabinet at Chequers.