Four unique things about travelling abroad with a prime minister
BBC By Chris Mason
Political editor, BBC News
This week I've been on a visit to the US with Rishi Sunak. Like all prime ministerial trips abroad, it wasn't exactly typical.
Here are four things that make travelling with the prime minister a unique experience.
1) You don't need a ticket and you won't see a baggage belt
For years the debate raged. Was it legitimate for the prime minister to have a plane they could call their own?
The issue made headlines during Tony Blair's premiership - when, inevitably, the prospect of such a thing was called Blair Force One. In 2006, a plan was announced. But in 2008, when Gordon Brown was prime minister, it was scrapped.
Is a private jet ostentatious? Does it help with the practicalities of being a frequently flying leader? Does it project an image of the UK abroad that you wouldn't get turning up on a chartered plane?
For now at least, the debate is over: the prime minister does have access to his own plane. And I type these words sitting on it, somewhere over the Atlantic.
