HMS Albion to the rescue

Stanley Johnson was a volcano victim — stranded in Spain with thousands of other British holidaymakers. Fortunately, the Royal Navy was on hand to bring him home in style

Last week was quite extraordinary. My wife Jenny and I landed at Madrid airport on Monday afternoon, having flown overnight from Ecuador. We should have had an onward connection to London that afternoon, but because of the spreading cloud of volcanic ash, there were no flights. Next morning I was scheduled to take an early flight from Gatwick to the far north of Scotland to speak on behalf of my good friend, Alastair Graham, who is seeking to win the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency for the Conservatives.

Well, talking of Scotland, it was the great Robert Burns who said, ‘The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.’ Our luggage was summarily offloaded in Madrid. There were no flights to the UK or other northern European destinations.