Thursday 23 February 2017

St Helena Airport: Lord Ashcroft's Latest


Lord Ashcroft, Leading supporter of St. Helena Airport photographed on his recent visit

One thing which any follower of Conservative politics knows is that Lord Ashcroft is not a great fan of David Cameron. He spent a lot of money, 8 million is often quoted, on the 2010 election campaign, Cameron failed to win a majority, went into coalition with the Liberal Democrats, and failed to offer Lord Ashcroft a significant job. Some say that instead Ashcroft was offered his wish of an airport on St. Helena.

Lord Ashcroft and St. Helena Airport 2nd April 2012

Some ten months ago on this blogI pointed out the revelations of a former airline pilot, Brian Heywood, who had in 2010 written to David Cameron warning against building the airport. Lord Ashcroft has now taken to the pages of Conservative Home to attack the former Prime Minister for ignoring that letter.

I am not a great fan of David Cameron, but I do wonder if I was faced with pressure from a disgruntled, billionaire party donor to build an airport, and a letter from an unknown former airline pilot advising against doing so, which path I would have taken!