![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/3_RAF-Voyager-paint-makeover.jpg\")
The RAF Voyager is now mainly used for air to air refuelling duties over the North Sea(Image: PA)<\/p>\nThe RAF Voyager repainted at a cost of \u00a3900,000 under former PM Boris Johnson to fly top royals and politicians with “better branding” has not been used by VIPs since 2023<\/p>\n
07:00, 12 Jul 2025Updated 09:09, 12 Jul 2025<\/p>\n
The RAF Voyager is now mainly used for air to air refuelling duties over the North Sea(Image: PA)<\/p>\n
The RAF plane repainted red, white and blue by former PM Boris Johnson<\/a> at a cost of nearly \u00a31m has been sidelined from VIP duties, we can reveal.<\/p>\n David Cameron<\/a>\u2019s Tory government spent \u00a310million customising the transport aircraft to fly ministers and royals around the world in 2015. Five years later, then-PM Boris Johnson ordered the grey Vespina Voyager to be repainted red, white and blue at a cost of \u00a3900,000 to \u201cbetter represent the UK around the world<\/a> with national branding\u201d in 2020. The so-called \u201c Brexit<\/a> Plane\u201d has not flown VIPs for two years and appears to have been solely used for refuelling other RAF jets over the North Sea since Labour<\/a> came to power last year.<\/p>\n The resprayed Voyager was unveiled five years ago and used to fly the Prime Minister and senior royals on long-haul trips around the world – though the \u00a3900,000 rebrand was criticised as a waste of money. We can reveal that in recent months the aircraft, based at RAF Brize Norton, has been used for refuelling other aircraft over the North Sea.<\/p>\n The RAF has confirmed that it has not been used for VIP transport since 2023. An RAF spokesman said: \u201cThe RAF Vespina Voyager continues to be available for all roles including its primary role of AAR [air to air refuelling] and when required VIP flights.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, the Government\u2019s smaller Airbus A321-2NX was used by the King and Queen on a state visit to Italy earlier this year. The Airbus is also being used on longer haul trips, such as taking Prime Minister Keir Starmer<\/a> to the G7 in Canada and Foreign Secretary David Lammy<\/a> to meetings with his counterparts in Washington last month.<\/p>\n When former Prime Minister Boris Johnson flew to New York in 2020, he used the repainted RAF Voyager. When Mr Starmer attended the Pope\u2019s funeral in Rome in April, along with official visits to Norway and Albania, he took the Airbus.<\/p>\n The Ministry of Defence<\/a> told us the Voyager was only every tasked in the VIP role for the most senior Royals and politicians. It’s primary role was for air to air refuelling but last month, on route back from those North Sea duties, it took part in the flypast over central London to mark the King’s birthday. Buckingham Palace<\/a> and Number 10 declined to comment.<\/p>\n The Airbus, which is also painted red, white and blue, has been leased by the Cabinet Office since 2021 and has been described as a second \u201cBrexit Plane\u201d. The respray cost another \u00a3783,940, but it has since been replaced with an identical jet by owners Titan Airways with the same livery.<\/p>\n The Airbus was involved in an accident in October 2023 when three window panes fell out at 14,000 feet, after it took off from Stansted Airport on a flight to Florida.<\/p>\n The VIP Voyager was not affected when two other RAF Voyager aircraft were damaged at RAF Brize Norton in a demonstration allegedly carried out by members of Palestine Action last month. Four people have been charged over the incident on 20 June which caused about \u00a37m worth of damage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The RAF Voyager repainted at a cost of \u00a3900,000 under former PM Boris Johnson to fly top royals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[5109,802,748,2633,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,11740,285,519,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-258847","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-boris-johnson","9":"tag-brexit","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-buckingham-palace","12":"tag-eu","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-european","15":"tag-european-union","16":"tag-great-britain","17":"tag-ministry-of-defence","18":"tag-politics","19":"tag-royal-family","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114840137093812181","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/5_Boris-Johnson-visit-to-US.jpg\")
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson boards the RAF Voyager ahead of trip to Washington in 2021(Image: PA)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2_A-flypast-of-34-Royal-Air-Force-aircraft-takes-place-over-Buckingham-palace-which-includes-a-Lanca.jpeg\")
The RAF Voyager takes part in a flypast to mark the King’s birthday last month(Image: MOD Crown Copyright 2025 \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_SWNS_ROYAL_TATTOO_11.jpg\")
The RAF Voyager with the Red Arrows(Image: SAC Abigail Drewett\/MOD CC\/SWNS)<\/p>\n