Tory donor pledges £5 million towards cost of new Royal Yacht

Saturday, 21 January 2012 21:51
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Conservative donor Lord Ashcroft has pledged a donation of £5 million to the fund to buy the Royal Family a new yacht to celebrate the Queen's golden jubilee this year.  The new vessel will cost around £80 million to build, and corporate sponsors and individual donors will be asked to contribute after the UK government ruled out using public funds to pay for the project.

The idea was mooted by Conservative Education Secretary Michael Gove.  In an email leaked to the press earlier this year it was revealed that the Government was originally considering using public money to pay for the luxury yacht, as a 'gift' to the monarch.   Mr Gove's idea was met with anger as opposition parties and others pointed out that it was inappropriate to spend public money on such a project when vital public services are facing cutbacks due to spending cuts.

The plan was hurriedly changed and instead the Government announced that it would seek private sponsorship for the yacht.  MPs including Tories Caroline Dinenage, John Redwood and Peter Bottomley, Labour's Kate Hoey, and Lib Dems Mike Hancock, Andrew George and Bob Russell have signed a Commons motion in support of the project.

The Royal Yacht Britannia was decommissioned in 1997 and has since been berthed in Leith.  Recently the yacht began to list after developing a leak in a door seal and taking on water.  The yacht was moved to dry dock for repairs and on Saturday was returned to its usual berth at Ocean Terminal.  The yacht will be re-open for visitors on 1 February.

 

Comments  

 
# proudscot 2012-01-22 00:40
Disgraceful decision, no matter which sycophantic forelock-tugging millionaires donate towards its cost. Wait and see, they'll try to excuse this by claiming it will provide work for some of HM's peasantry.
 
 
# clootie 2012-01-22 09:33
The last one was classed as a "hospital"

I am at a loss to understand how anyone can even suggest this.I am even more baffled by the acceptance of a lineage to "Rule over us". Against everything the Scottish people believe in.

Their personal wealth is immense and HIDDEN. Canadian uranium / land (especially in London)/etc.

I will bet now that the donations will be deemed to have tax relief so 50% will be paid by us anyway to make up the shortfall.

The operating costs will be £10-15m a year - fuel / wages / repairs / maintenance - who will be paying that?
You will because it will be classed as a Royal Navy vessel.
 
 
# Angus 2012-01-22 01:33
Just patch up the auld bucket that they had, kind of a reflection of their union, eh?
Seriously though, what the fekk does she need a boat that size for?
 
 
# J Wil 2012-01-22 07:48
Apparently she is to get a whole flotilla of boats to sail down the Thames, to remind us all of the majesty of her majesty.
 
 
# Wee-Scamp 2012-01-22 10:55
I don't actually think there's a UK yard left that could build this yacht so it would probably have to be built overseas.
 
 
# edinburgh quine 2012-01-22 12:08
"don't actually think there's a UK yard left that could build this yacht so it would probably have to be built overseas."

Wouldn't it be nice if it was made in Germany. Lizzy Windsor would feel at home and we all know what the english folk feel about the Germans!
 
 
# velofello 2012-01-22 12:20
Maybe this proposal is serving as a comfort blanket for the Btirnats. Same with the high speed rail proposal London to Birmingham.
Tax breaks for donors probably, but where did their money come from, bank bonuses and dividends?
Just waiting for Labour's counter proposal, PFI funding and so the gift would be from the people.
 
 
# Alx1 2012-01-22 12:30
Who's going to pay the millions of pounds every year for its running costs?

Yep the taxpayer.
 
 
# call me dave 2012-01-22 13:06
The queen (bless her union jack cotton socks) is like some of us on here 'not too long for this world' Therefore no public funds should be considered for building;runnin g or maintaining the yacht.

I am sure that there are many here that would tolerate Lizzie until she goes but a republic after that please.

Anyway she can afford it!


They have gone from skint in Victoria's time to super rich in four generations.

Let them wither on the vine!
 
 
# Grenscot 2012-01-22 15:49
I wonder if anyone has bothered to ask Liz if she wants a new yacht? She had a deep attachment to the Britannia because of the family memories and the fact that it was one of the few places where she could escape the public gaze. Britannia was also a superb projection of Imperial Britain. Living as I do, in a former colony, there was nothing more impressive than to see the gleaming hull of the Britannia steaming into harbour flanked by a Royal Navy escort. Glittering receptions on board and the Royal Marine band performing dockside to impress the natives. These days are over and the Tory lords who want to bring it back are living in an imperial past that no one except them wants to bring back. The only possible reason that the Queen might need a Royal Yacht these days is to have a holiday. If she wants to get afloat then she can easily charter a mega yacht of Britannia proportions for a mere $500,000 per week. As for a Royal Navy escort? They don't have enough ships left for escort duty.The best they could do for Hague who is currently on a trip to the Caribbean for a UK/Caribbean summit is one Fleet Auxiliary vessel. A glorified floating lorry. Perhaps they could send an aircraft carrier with no planes or a Trident submarine since they are of very little use for anything else|
 
 
# Woodside 2012-01-22 19:40
Quoting Grenscot:
I wonder if anyone has bothered to ask Liz if she wants a new yacht? She had a deep attachment to the Britannia because of the family memories and the fact that it was one of the few places where she could escape the public gaze. Britannia was also a superb projection of Imperial Britain. Living as I do, in a former colony, there was nothing more impressive than to see the gleaming hull of the Britannia steaming into harbour flanked by a Royal Navy escort. Glittering receptions on board and the Royal Marine band performing dockside to impress the natives. These days are over and the Tory lords who want to bring it back are living in an imperial past that no one except them wants to bring back. The only possible reason that the Queen might need a Royal Yacht these days is to have a holiday. If she wants to get afloat then she can easily charter a mega yacht of Britannia proportions for a mere $500,000 per week. As for a Royal Navy escort? They don't have enough ships left for escort duty.The best they could do for Hague who is currently on a trip to the Caribbean for a UK/Caribbean summit is one Fleet Auxiliary vessel. A glorified floating lorry. Perhaps they could send an aircraft carrier with no planes or a Trident submarine since they are of very little use for anything else|


She already charters a vessel most years for her holiday afloat- our very own Hebridean Princess which has just been granted a Royal Warrant this week -perhaps that is her answer to those trying to foist a new Royal Yacht on everyone.
 
 
# Grenscot 2012-01-22 20:59
The lady has commonsense.
 
 
# whitburnsfinest 2012-01-23 00:00
Yup. Have to say, I'm a proud Nat but still like the Queen. She's a good woman :)
 
 
# clootie 2012-01-23 21:57
My comments are to the institution not the individual.
I'm a republican so it baffles me.
 
 
# proudscot 2012-01-22 17:06
So Wee Willie Warmonger is attending a UK/Caribbean summit is he? Could such a non-urgent "summit" not have been scheduled for the next England Cricket Team's test series v the W.Indies? That way, Hague could have hitched a lift with them at considerable saving to the hard-pressed UK taxpayer.
 
 
# Clawd Baws 2012-01-22 19:30
Another fantastic suggestion by the gove puppet. Here's a thought: why doesn't the queen donate £80 mill to her impoverished subjects as a gesture of goodwill just in case the peasants start revolting?
 
 
# whitburnsfinest 2012-01-23 00:09
Oh, dear... I need sleep. I read that as "...the peasants ARE revolting" and was about to object to being insulted like that LOL
 
 
# Robert Louis 2012-01-22 23:49
Heck a man with too much money, if he thinks that offering 5 million pounds to buy a ship for the Queen is good value.

How much good could that man do for people who are living in very hard times. Some people right now, in this country through no fault of their own cannot always afford to eat. Yet he wants to donate 5 million pounds to buy a yacht for the Queen.

What a freaking obscenity. Seriously, what an utter, utter obscenity.
 
 
# whitburnsfinest 2012-01-23 00:12
Quoting Robert Louis:
How much good could that man do for people who are living in very hard times.....


Sing it, brother. Oddly enough, many people who have the means to help others just don't bother as they don't see that as a "worthy cause". It's just sad.
 
 
# Robert Louis 2012-01-22 23:59
Slightly O/T.

I am neither firmly against or for the Queen being monarch of Scotland, to be frank, I just don't care. I'm sure she is a nice person and very knowledgable, and so on. However, having said that, is it not time for the Queen to start reflecting how things are in Scotland. Is it not time, for example, that she formally announced that she should now be called Elizabeth I, Queen of Scots when she comes to Scotland?

Some people will celebrate her Jubilee this year, and whilst it's not my cup of tea, that is their free choice. Might I however, suggest, that for such events we start to see some saltires being waved, if she is indeed the Queen of Scots?? Let's stop making the Queen as the centrepiece of keeping the union. If she is going to be celebrated up here, there is no good reason (other than for politics) for the saltire not to be used instead of the union flag.

It is time for her and her advisors to start boxing clever up here in Scotland, if she still wants the job when we become independent. She has the Scottish crown, so perhaps it is time for her to show her respect for it and Scotland - something, incidentally she totally failed to do when she was crowned.
 
 
# brh206 2012-01-24 19:03
In the main I tend to not really care. My problem with the Royal Family though is that they are unelected. It's one of my issues with the SNP, even though I vote for them, they should have a policy of putting the head of state issue to the vote. My son has joint nationality, Ghana, so while he can dream of being president of Ghana should he wish to go for it he can never dream of being head of state here because he wasn't born in the right family. In this day and age that is a disgrace.
 
 
# Angry_Weegie 2012-01-25 00:26
At a time when Westminster are cutting the size of the Navy, the original proposal was as idiotic as building aircraft carriers without planes. The current idea is just as daft. As many have pointed out, we'll end up footing the bill for the runnung costs and maybe the tax relief on the "charitable" donations.

On the subject of the head of state, I don't have much time for the royals, but I certainly wouldn't want to see a US-style presidency with all the expense involved in an election and you end up with US-style numpties. Westminster elections are heading that way at the moment, focussing on personalities and not ideas, or, at least, not ideas that are ever enacted.
 
 
# Angus 2012-01-26 13:31
Quoting edinburgh quine:
"don't actually think there's a UK yard left that could build this yacht so it would probably have to be built overseas."

Wouldn't it be nice if it was made in Germany. Lizzy Windsor would feel at home and we all know what the english folk feel about the Germans!

Aye, a bit ironic they hate the Germans, considering most of their population originates as Anglo Saxons from Germania.
Still, Betty Battenburg must be aff her heed to let this go ahead in times of most of her subjects being skint, wont strengthen her populatirty!
 

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