Jeremy Hunt flying to Manchester for party conference? Well, that’s just plane silly....

Our train-dodging chancellor is not the first high-flyer to come under fire for choosing not to slum it on our creaking public transport, says Sean O’Grady. Was it a calculated move ahead of HS2’s cancellation?

Chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt flew from Heathrow to Manchester (Jordan Pettitt/PA) (PA Wire)

You can’t say you’re surprised that Jeremy Hunt took a plane to get to the Conservative Party Conference. It’s quicker, after all – especially if you’ve got a Range Rover with police escort whisking you to and from the airports.

And the chancellor is a busy man. Time is money. Arriving at a Manchester Piccadilly station, he might have been given what they call “a hostile reception”. He might have been given some funny looks on the train. Public clashes over the HS2 decision (it’s dead) is too painful to bear. A lot of hassle.

Still, it is a little disappointing. To be fair to Hunt, he went on a chartered flight rather than a private jet with gold fittings in the bathroom suite. Who knows, the economy class fare on BA1372 might have been lower than an open return on Trainline. He also saved about 90 minutes of chancellorial time, worth a few hundred quid, albeit he’s technically on party business.

But, as I say, it’s probably a mistake. You maybe have seen the pollsters’ “wordcloud” that was waved at Rishi Sunak on Laura Kuenssberg’s Sunday morning politics show; the word “rich” dominated the screen. It’s a Tory problem, too – out of touch, entitled, obsessed by perks and peerages, unable to comprehend the cost of living crisis or the crisis in the NHS, keen on inheritance tax cuts for the wealthiest families. That sort of thing.

Travelling from London to Manchester by plane simply doesn’t fit well. Economy class or not, air was also the most carbon-intensive method of transportation available to Hunt, aside from turning up in Salford on one of Elon Musk’s rockets via outer space.

The chancellor could have earned himself some facile but useful political capital, and could have set us all an environmental example, by using public transport – up to and including getting from the mainline station to the conference centre. That is what we may expect Rachel Reeves to do on her way to Labour’s Liverpool conference. Sometimes, what they call “the optics” matter more than the substantive arguments. This is one such example.

It was silly mistake – and from a man who is almost the only sensible member of the cabinet. One day, when this short-leasehold government is gone and the party will need to rebuild itself from the bottom up and re-connect with the voters, figures such as Hunt will be needed to lead that long march back to the centre – very much like he did when Liz Truss was forced to make him chancellor to sort out her mess. He should be more careful about his PR.

Plane or train? It is, admittedly, a dilemma that afflicts all sorts of people in public life, but it usually doesn’t go well if they opt to fly, and partially if they turn left when they get on board the flight. The general public likes to see those deemed accountable to them to be modest and careful; they dislike ostentation and excess, even if they themselves would be showing off like peacocks if they won the lottery.

Boris Johnson, a man to whom excess comes easily, used the JCB company’s £47m private jet and helicopter during a local election campaign, and thus pumped out 21 tonnes of CO2 – a fact not obviously consistent with the Cop26 chairmanship. Rishi Sunak’s helicopter habit has made him a figure of fun. The Duke of York being tagged “Air Miles Andy” was arguably the first stain on a mixed record of royal service. Harry, Meghan and any other celeb that bangs on about “our planet” but leaps on the Learjet with the slightest excuse gets hammered in the media.

I don’t suppose we can all emulate Greta Thunberg and travel to international conferences by boat, and the charge of “hypocrisy” – one of the most serious in the Press Penal Code, not far short of homicide – is obviously chucked around with such abandon it becomes meaningless.

However, Hunt’s choice of going to Manchester by plane – something that must never occur to “normal” people – was a silly error. He could make amends by reversing the cut in air passenger duty on domestic flights that he implemented earlier this year.

It’s the right thing to do, as Hunt likes to say.