One of the biggest airshows in the world is once again preparing for take-off – but this year there will be some notable absentees.
Neither the Red Arrows or the prime minister will be in attendance at Farnborough, due to a clash of diaries and an ongoing handover of power in Downing Street.
Despite the “curse of Farnborough” as one industry boss calls it, the show is bigger than ever, with a new exhibition hall to host the businesses who come to this corner of Hampshire to sell everything from state of the art fighter jets, to the seat you will sit on for your summer holiday flight.
“We call it the curse of Farnborough,” said Kevin Craven, boss of trade body ADS, reflecting on how recent shows have often coincided with a transfer of power within Number 10.
The group, representing the aerospace, defence and security sectors, owns the show which has welcomed every prime minister since Clement Attlee, back when it was an all-British affair in the late 1940s.
The latest was Keir Starmer, who arrived just weeks after the Labour landslide, two years ago.
But Craven accepts Andy Burnham has perhaps a more important meeting on Monday, when he will have an audience with the King, the point where he officially becomes prime minister.
