Cabinet rift as Boris Johnson ‘regretful’ new Royal Yacht for the Queen is not government priority
Foreign Secretary wants rich Tories to come up with £120million for the vessel after the Government ruled out using taxpayers' cash
A Cabinet rift opened last night over a new Royal Yacht for the Queen after the Foreign Secretary said it was a “regretful” it was not a “government priority”.
Boris Johnson vowed to green light a new Britannia if rich donors raised £120 million to fund it.
The begging bowl plea came after The Sun revealed Mr Johnson was gagged from backing a new Britannia in his speech at the Conservative Party Conference last week.
BoJo said today that “if a consortium of philanthropists wished to give Her Majesty a yacht and pay for it, then that’s not something I would impede.”
But he reaffirmed the government’s position that a new boat “is not a Government priority, I must tell you regretfully.”
He added: “And I must also inform you, alas, that the former Royal Yacht Britannia is, I’m told, incapable of being refloated because its engine has been removed, its propellers have been taken off and a hole carved in its side to make it into a museum, so we can’t do that.”
More than 100 Tory MPs are calling for the Government to relaunch a Britannia-style Royal Yacht as a post-Brexit floating trade embassy.
Senior Tories think bringing it back would drum up trade around the world.
On Tuesday MPs debated a replacement for the much loved Royal Yacht that was decommissioned in 1997.
The Government declared they were “very keen” to see costed plans for the new yacht for the Queen.
But the Department for International Trade ruled out spending any taxpayers’ money on the project that was first revealed by The Sun.