TONY BLAIR was accused of using the Queen’s Flight as his personal taxi service after it emerged that he had spent more than £130,000 of taxpayers’ money on a string of family holidays.

In the first detailed breakdown of government air travel, it was revealed that the Prime Minister uses the royal flight up to 60 times a year and regularly commandeers it to fly him to and from his Sedgefield, Co Durham, constituency. He also uses it to go to Labour Party conferences. About half the flights were domestic, ranging from Birmingham to Devon and Scotland.

The Prime Minister’s four holiday trips included his Christmas 2004 holiday to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt with his wife and children, for which the flight cost £31,000. Downing Street insisted that the Prime Minister had been willing to go on a standard commercial flight to Egypt but had been overruled by security advisers. The week-long holiday included a meeting with President Mubarak of Egypt and with King Abdullah of Jordan.

His holiday in Italy in August 1997 cost £17,000; in France £18,000 in August 1998; in Italy £19,300 in August 1999; and Italy again £16,000 in August 2000. In 2004 Mr Blair and his family combined his holiday to Italy with a trip to the Athens Olympics at a cost of £18,000.

In contrast, the Queen uses the ageing royal fleet of planes, operated by 32 Squadron at RAF Northolt, around eight times a year. “She often uses a scheduled train too,” a Buckingham Palace official said.

Margaret Beckett, the Environment Secretary, whose department is responsible for reducing both carbon emissions and air travel across Government, is one of the next highest users in the Cabinet. She has cost the taxpayer over £100,000 on 110 flights in three years.

Downing Street last night rejected any suggestion of impropriety by the Prime Minister, but officials conceded that the row could stiffen his resolve to press ahead with plans for a new £30 million business jet for senior ministers and the Royal Family.

Any move for a “Blair Force One” could be vetoed by Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, who regularly uses the Queen’s Flight with his officials for EU meetings in Brussels.

The option for a prime ministerial jet, modelled on the US President’s Air Force One, is being considered in a review of ministerial air travel by Sir Peter Gershon, the government efficiency adviser. Supporters argue that Britain is the only G8 leading industrialised nation without a plane for the exclusive use of the head of state and the head of government.

The Ministry of Defence released details of the costs of ministerial flights on the royal fleet after a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

A No 10 official said: “The Prime Minister repays to the Treasury the rate the flights would cost in the commercial market.” Challenged about how much he had repaid, and whether it was for standard or first-class seating, the official declined to comment.

Chris Grayling, the Conservative transport spokesman, said: “It is now clear that the Prime Minister and his ministers are using the Queen’s Flight as their own personal taxi service.”

The Ministry of Defence also listed more than 30 flights to and from Teesside, the Prime Minister’s constituency airport, at a cost of £35,000. The No 10 official said: “The flights were not all necessarily involving trips to his constituency but all of them would have involved business in the North East. Sometimes he flew because he had been delayed by government business.” Mr Blair also used the Queen’s Flight for two Scottish party conferences and a Labour local government conference in Blackpool.

The Prime Minister’s royal flight bill since 1997 is £1.2 million. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, has run up almost £600,000 between 2002 and 2004.

A Whitehall source said: “It is clear that some ministers are using the royal flight as their own personal car port.”

The Labour Party last night insisted that John Major had used official flights for his holidays but there are no figures available to show the costs.

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