Attempts to acquaint Rishi Sunak with a train fell through again today as the PM choppered to Kent to drum up support for his small boats strategy.
The prime minister has announced two more barges to house asylum seekers off the coast of Britain as he insisted his plan to stop small boat crossings is “starting to work”.
He said the numbers making the journey across the Channel were down by around a fifth since last year but acknowledged the Government has “a long way still to go”.
Giving a speech in Kent, he played down suggestions that fewer crossings were a result of poor weather conditions at this time of year rather than policy decisions.
But his reassurances were quickly drowned out by news that he decided to fly down to the Kent coast – despite it being just over an hour away by train.
The PM, who has been criticised over his repeated use of choppers, flew from the capital to Dover, where he will desperately try and convince critics his small boats strategy is working.
An RAF Agusta Westland A109 – believed to have been transporting Mr Sunak took off from Battersea Helicopter just after 8am.
Had he caught the 8.04am train from London St Pancras, he would have arrived at the coastal town at 9.12am.
Related: Stopping small boats is a low priority for the general public