Boris Johnson Wants His Own Jet to Sell Brexit Britain to World

(Bloomberg) -- Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson wants his own plane to fly around the world so that he can promote the U.K. as a global trading nation as it prepares to leave the European Union.

Britain’s top diplomat said Prime Minister Theresa May’s state-funded Royal Air Force Voyager is rarely available for use when he needs it, and complained about the aircraft’s drab color scheme. “Why does it have to be gray?” Johnson asked during a trip to Argentina.

“The taxpayers won’t want us to have some luxurious new plane, but I certainly think it’s striking that we don’t seem to have access to such a thing at the moment,” Johnson told reporters in Buenos Aires. “If there’s a way of doing it that is not exorbitantly expensive then yes, I think we probably do need something.”

It’s the latest eye-catching proposal from the man who led the pro-Brexit campaign ahead of the referendum in 2016 and now finds himself in charge of selling the idea to the U.K.’s allies and trading partners around the world.

He was speaking during a five-day tour of Latin America, taking in Peru and Argentina, a journey he’s making on commercial airlines.

Johnson has already given his support for a new yacht to be used to promote the U.K. as a business destination, and even proposed building a bridge across the English Channel to France.

Johnson stopped short of supporting a new national holiday in honor of the U.K.’s exit from the EU on March 29 next year, but said he would be celebrating when it happens. “I don’t think we can impose a celebration on people,” he said. “I will certainly be celebrating, I would encourage people to celebrate.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Tim Ross in Buenos Aires at tross54@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Emma Ross-Thomas

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.