A week ago, the Ministry of Defence of the UK London government issued a formal invitation to tender for the new non-royal royal prime ministerial yacht. It put the “total available budget” at £150 million.
But yesterday, a bloke called Ben Wallace, apparently the UK Defence Secretary, announced that it will cost between £200 and £250 million. (That is a frightening rate of inflation and I hope that the government will take this into consideration when considering rises in salaries and pensi0ns.)
And this is around double the cost suggested by original proposers of the project back in 2018.
Mr Wallace, bless him, made a stirring speech, “packed to the gunwales”, as it were, of red, white and blue, and even making reference to the Cutty Sark. Sounds like he’s expecting rather a lot for what he’s paying, don’t you think?
He called on “our nation’s (sic) finest shipbuilders” to “help us design and build a new National Flagship” which he said would be “the jewel in the crown” of the nation’s (sic) new shipbuilding policy.
And all for £250 million! That’s pretty telling. Pound shop nation!
But once again they have hit a problem with an international agreement they signed. They want the ship to be built in the UK. But in October last year they signed a WTO Government Procurement Agreement with 47 other countries. So ministers now intend to classify this trade yacht as a military vessel, crewed by armed Navy personnel, and in this way get around another agreement signed without consideration of the consequences.
I wonder if they are making a special effort to gain a reputation for perfidy!
MUNGUIN'S NEW REPUBLIC 
In answer to the final question, I would say No, this is not a special effort to gain a reputation for perfidy. They have been practicing that art for many years. if not centuries, and are now highly accomplished at being perfidious.
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I suppose they don’t have to make much of an effort. It must come naturally by now.
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She should buy her own f#ckin yacht … Its not like she is sleeping rough.
https://iyc.com/luxury-yacht-sales/
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To be fair to her, the greedy old bat, she has said she doesn’t want a yacht and she absolutely vetoed the chubby drunken scarecrow calling it the Prince Philip which he suggested just after Phil died.
So it will now be a government yacht and paid for by the MoD. I expect that Johnson and Princess First Lady NutNuts will use it.
If Auld Liz wanted a yacht she could easily afford one, but she is a tight fisted woman who hates to spend her own money.
This article is very interesting.
https://newsnet.scot/news-analysis/mrs-windsor-caught-escaping-renewable-obligations/
NS has been criticised for letting her get away with not complying with Scottish government laws on land purchase. But, as has been shown through FMs of different parties, if she doesn’t get her way, she doesn’t sign the legislation into law… and apparently, amazingly in the 21st century, she can do that… and Charlie has the same sort of power over things that affect him.
High time they were gone.
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Ah yes, Cutty Sark, seen here under all plain sail and with stunsails set on fore top mast, fore top gallant and main topmast with mizzen course clewed up and flying jib set, probably running her easting down. Laid down at Linton’s Yard in Dumbarton and completed at Denny’s, Dumbarton when the former went bankrupt. Oh sorry – just realised it’s not AOY! Still, “a thing of beauty is a joy forever.”
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I thought it was the plans for the new presidential style yacht in which Mr Johnson and the First Lady are going to sail round the world getting trade deals even better than the one that Ms Truss got with the Australians…although to be fair that wouldn’t exactly be hard.
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Where are the ship builders in the UK, do any still exist?
‘Living off the state, a critical guide to royal finance’, Jon Temple, Progress books, 2008 or 2010…worth a read. Also they are literally beyond the law, but, Scots Law?
These troughers epitomise what is so wrong with backward UK, it’s undemocratic, and very much based on the us and them mindset. Scotland can do much better than that, by moving into the 21st century, but only with independence.
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As far as I can see, there’s nothing to suggest that when it comes to their personal affairs, even in Scotland, they can override laws and semi-democratic governments/parliaments.
It’s a joke.
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The funding estimate for a proper superyacht these days was surely grossly underestimated at £150 million ($210 million.) While the owner of the Dallas Cowboy football team got his superyacht a few years ago for $250 million, a quality superyacht suitable for royalty these days would likely run you at least $400 million (£285 million)……and I’d estimate £300 million to be on the safe side, what with inflation and contingencies.
Royal Navy personnel are said to be good at operating these things, and would surely be available to Her Majesty at Royal Navy pay scales.
I could learn to like this. I might start with a one week charter at $4 million…..perhaps with an option to buy. 😉
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I’m afraid it’s going to be a rather pathetic little yacht by the standards that could be provided in the past.
I doubt that the queen will ever use it though. The palace made their feelings clear about it.
I should imagine it’s really for Boris. I bet he paints it red white and blue.
It will be interesting to know what it’s going to be called. Boris had suggested The Prince Philip, but Liz made her displeasure at that idea plain.
Maybe he’ll call it First Lady Carrie … or Princess Nut Nuts.
Munguin says he’d be pleased to allow you to hire his yacht for $4 a week, but he wants the cash up front in Swiss Francs.
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LOL……Perhaps Munguin and I can coordinate our sailing schedules. 😉
Using public money, I can understand how Boris might opt for a more economical yacht. It would be a shame though if he were embarrassed by an American billionaire sailing past in his superyacht. 😉
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You mean you will fit in with whatever Munguin wants?
I just don;t know why we have to have a yacht. I mean it’s not going to be impressive, it won;t be royal and if it’s for trade purposes, it’s going to have difficulty sailing in to a lot of capitals which aren’t acutely on the water. Plus, I wish them luck sailing to New Zealand or Peru in a wee thing like they are going to get. I hope Bojo doesn’t suffer from sea sickness.
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LOL……..Well, I was pretty sure that Munguin would insist that his own planned sailing dates would take precedence. 😉
I agree that the yacht might not serve a useful purpose for Boris. He did after all get his airplane painted anyway. At various times there have been presidential yachts. Relatively small boats, mostly used for cruising the Potomac on hot Washington summer evenings I would suppose.
The last presidential yacht was USS Sequoia, finally sold by Jimmy Carter in 1977. A little boat, but with a lot of presidential history going back to Herbert Hoover. FDR and Churchill may have made war plans on Sequoia. Some pictures on Wiki.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Sequoia_(presidential_yacht)
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I just don’t understand why they need all this stuff.
If it’s to make trade deals and it’s not going to be ready for 5 years (make that 10 because they make a mess of everything like that), then we’ll all have starved to death by the time 105 year old Lizzy launches it.
Lord Digby Jones, though, has told us that in 100 years Britons will be thanking god (?) that they voted to leave the EU.
So we’re all looking forward to 100 years from now. Maybe 195 year old Liz can launch another prime ministerial yacht.
I don’t suppose the Sequoia is still around? Maybe Johnson could hire it?
Munguin says you can have his every third Thursday between 9 am and 11.30 am. Hope that suits.
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LOL……I knew that Munguin and I could arrive at a suitable schedule. 😉
There seems to be two possibilities for former presidential yachts that Boris might consider. USS Sequoia is in Maine someplace awaiting “restoration”…..after having seven owners since Jimmy Carter sold it. Churchill was onboard Sequoia with FDR, and Clement Attlee and Mackenzie King were there with Harry Truman.
The better bet for restoration might be USS Potomac, FDR’s old yacht. It’s docked in Oakland (across the bay from San Francisco), open to the public, and sails around the Bay. It’s a National Historic Landmark, so it might take an act of Congress to buy it, but I imagine that a sale could be arranged at a price. 😉 King George and Queen Elizabeth were on Potomac with FDR during their famous 1939 visit to the states……the first royal visit since the revolution. (Tempers had cooled since 1776.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Potomac_(AG-25)
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It looks a big bigger, Danny, and probably more suited to the First Lady. 🙂
That 1939 visit was one which our local paper apparently announced to its readers that the President had thrown a garden part for their majesties in the grounds of the Shite House. S and W being close of keyboards…
I imagine heads rolled!
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LOL LOL……I’d never heard that story! Wonderful! 🙂
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🙂
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