PLANS for a 250 million ‘national flagship’ have been scrapped by the Government of the United Kingdom, which were introduced under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The vessel was envisioned as a successor to Her Majesty’s Yacht Britannia, which is the former royal boat of the British monarchy, in service from 1954 until 1997.
The “Boris Boat” was intended to host diplomatic events and trade fairs, but plans were heavily criticised as a “vanity project”.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told British parliamentarians the national flagship scheme is now suspended, and that the Ministry of Defence will be commissioning the build of two multi-role ocean surveillance ships instead to “protect the UK’s critical national infrastructure”.