DOWNING Street last night defended Tony Blair’s decision to spend at least £15,000 of taxpayers’ money flying on holiday to Egypt.

The Blairs used an RAF 32 Squadron jet, also used by the Royal Family, to travel to Sharm el-Sheikh for their new year’s break.

Although the Prime Minister is obliged to contribute the cost of a domestic flight — which is how his family travelled to Egypt for a similar holiday last year — this is likely to be about one-seventh of the total bill.

Downing Street said that the jet was needed on this occasion because of security advice. The aircraft is equipped with defensive missiles and armour-plating.

“He is the first Prime Minister to even go on scheduled flights for his holiday — his predecessors never dreamt of travelling commercially,” an aide to Mr Blair said, “but when security gets tough, things need to be a bit different.”

The Conservatives suspect that the case may fit a pattern in which Mr Blair timetables a small amount of official business into his holiday plans in order to justify using the official aircraft.

This year Mr Blair made official visits to the kings of Jordan and Bahrain. In 2000 the Royal Flight was used to ferry the Blair family between Tuscany and the south of France, with Mr Blair fitting in lunch with the European Union President in order to classify the trip as official business.

Chris Grayling, the Tory MP for Epsom and Ewell, is demanding full details, under the new Freedom of Information Act, as to the extent of Mr Blair’s use of the Queen’s flight and how much he has paid towards it since 1997.

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