"You're only writing about this because it involves a yacht," the Tory aide told me as she gave me a ticking off over my story today over David Cameron's free flights and previously undisclosed meeting with Rupert Murdoch on a Greek island in August. Well, maybe. But, as we used to say in the playground, who started it? To which the answer is: George Osborne.
The shadow Chancellor's gossiping about what Lord Mandelson allegedly said to him during their "private" dinner in Corfu, and follow-up media stories about Mandelson's relationship with the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, upset Osborne's host Nat Rothschild and put the spotlight on his own links with Deripaska. All week, politicians have been moaning to me that this sort of media coverage demeans politics. Yet they can't resist feeding the media beast with titbits about the other side. Hypocrisy or what? I'm glad to be taking a break from politicians for a week's holiday. Unlike Cameron and Osborne, I'm not on a freebie.
Unlike Blair and his missus then.
Posted by: sheepdip | Friday, 24 October 2008 at 10:34 AM
I don't claim to know the full story but Cameron (and 3 Aides )actually flew to Istanbul on BA0680 Depart 17:25 on Friday 15th August ..I was on the same flight in row 1 on the Aisle , He was sat on row 1 by the window ,he drank water but enjoyed a wine with his meal before kicking off his shoes and socks to enjoy the in-flight movie of "Kung Fu Panda" .. for the record he was also unfazed when the plane hit some very rough turbulence that had the aircrew scrambling to their seats .
Now i don't know who paid for the BA tickets for his party but as your article suggests the conservative party paid for the flight to Gerogia it's quite possible it also paid for the LHR to IST leg as well ? . In Your "exclusive " you seem to imply he magically appeared in Istanbul but that clearly isn't the case so I hope my post gives a sense of balance to your story .
Posted by: Tony Henshall | Monday, 27 October 2008 at 03:51 PM