Up to his neck in sleaze, Blair orders new jet

independent: Tony Blair is to announce within weeks that he has overruled Gordon Brown and will push ahead with the purchase of a £30m long-haul business jet.

The Prime Minister is determined to replace the ageing fleet of aircraft that ferries senior ministers and the Royal Family around the world.

Mr Blair was criticised last week for using the Queen's Flight "like a personal taxi service" after freedom of information disclosures showed the frequency with which he uses RAF 32 Squadron. The fleet has carried him and his family to a string of private holidays as well as to party political events, according to Ministry of Defence figures.

However, far from being abashed by the revelation, Mr Blair remains determined that Britain should update its VIP air arm to include at least one long-range corporate jet.

He is being backed strongly by the Royal Family in a battle with the Treasury, which has balked at the £30m price tag. Mr Brown let it be known last November that the cash would have to be found from No 10's coffers.

A senior Downing Street source gave a strong hint that Mr Blair had won the tussle and that the announcement was imminent. "It won't be a matter of months, not least because the current fleet is now so old," he told The Independent on Sunday. Read more

db: Surely his friend and fellow corruptor Berlusconi can lend him one - he must have some spare capacity in the fleet now.