Defence

Following a recommendation to the UK government to lease two aircraft to fly ministers around, we asked if you thought that type of VIP operation gave taxpayers value for money.

On the whole you were sympathetic to UK prime minister Tony Blair, noting that whatever he does in response to the report he will probably be criticised.

John Fitzpatrick says that "for better or worse this will be used as an election issue against the government" and Peter Cairns adds that "it may be that whatever way Blair does it he will get attacked".

Cairns believes that politically Blair will have to use an Airbus type for the larger aircraft envisaged and that, on environmental grounds, he should, look at a turboprop option for the smaller model.

Vanni Gibertini, an Italian living abroad, is also in favour of the head of government or state having his own aircraft. He says: "I believe it is a necessity for a head of state to have his own plane, first of all for security reasons, and also to maximise the use of their time.

"If corporate chief executives increasingly feel the need of using bizjets to squeeze as much as possible into a business day, I can't see why we should not allow a country leader this luxury."

And Barry Quince, who politically hopes Blair is out of government by the time the aircraft arrive, adds that nevertheless the administration should buy "Airbus not Boeing".