The Hindu Business Line : Mr Blair's slip is showing

Sometime during the past few days, the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, is reported to have used a low-budget airline scheduled flight to return home from a holiday with his family in Tuscany, Italy.

The British papers carried the news not to publicise the egalitarian qualities of the New Labour leader but to draw attention to the fact that the Prime Minister had made a welcome change at least for the Italian sojourn compared to his penchant for using official transport even when on holiday.

According to one report, official figures published in April (garnered under the UK Freedom of Information Act) had showed that the British Prime Minister "had taken 677 flights on Queen Elizabeth II planes since coming to power in 1997 for both official business and family holidays" — that is, around 75 flights a year on an average, or about six flights a month.

This apart, the report had said that the Prime Minister "regularly commandeers the Queen's fleet — the Royal Air Force Royal Squadron — to fly him to and from his constituency in northern England as well as Labour Party conferences."

Further, about "130,000 pounds of taxpayers" money was spent on a string of family holidays, including to Egypt, France, Italy and the Athens Olympics."

In all fairness to the position of the British Prime Minister — indeed, the Prime Minister of any country for that matter — it cannot be argued that his security can be treated at the same level as that of any other British citizen.

If this is accepted, it would also mean that the security drill associated with a person holding that position would be nothing short of absolutely unnecessary (and therefore quite annoying) if applied to a citizen not holding such an important position.

In these circumstances, it would be only sensible if the Prime Minister's travel arrangements were made separately so as not to inconvenience the vast majority of travellers — whose general welfare is looked after by the Prime Minister and his team of Ministers.

All this is common sense. The question is: Why then did Mr Blair choose to fly private when returning home from his recent Italian holiday?

What was he trying to prove when the world knew that by doing so he would only be inconveniencing other, equally bona fide, travellers, which was not the right thing to do — specially for someone who should always be setting an example?

If he was trying to teach his critics a lesson by showing what happens if he takes an ordinary scheduled flight, it is safe to say that the time has come for Mr Blair to relinquish office.

If he cannot stick his neck out on such a silly matter, he surely cannot do it for other, more serious issues affecting his nation as a whole and the lives of its citizens.

Ranabir Ray Choudhury