August 5, 2019 1.20 pm This story is over 56 months old

PM Boris avoids traffic and arrives in Lincolnshire by aeroplane

In Lincolnshire to announce funding for hospitals
Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrived in Lincolnshire by aeroplane at RAF Coningsby. Photo: Graham Beaumont

That’s one way avoid the London traffic and Lincolnshire’s roads — Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrived in the county this morning by aeroplane.

He then visited Boston Pilgrim Hospital to announce £21.3 million of capital funding for the facility which has been struggling to cope with patient numbers, staff shortages and development money for more than half a decade.

The PM’s aeroplane landed at RAF Coningsby this morning, as Boris Johnson was due to hold a speech in Boston at 11.30am.

The PM’s Jaguar was waiting for him at RAF Coningsby to take him to Boston. Photo: Graham Beaumont

Speaking to BBC Radio Lincolnshire, Boris Johnson said: “I’m very, very pleased to be here at the Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, where we’re putting some money into the A&E.

“It’s part of a national programme that the NHS asked for,” he added.

Some 20 UK hospitals which will share £850 million of the funding over the next five years as part of a £1.8 billion pledge for the NHS.

The prime ministerial private jet at RAF Conningsby. Photo: Graham Beaumont

The Nuffield Trust has argued that the remainder £1bn is money that NHS providers were promised in return for making savings over the past three years and then told they couldn’t spend, not additional funding.

But it is still a pot of money that the NHS was not able to spend before this announcement, which it can now spend.