THE plan by some Tory MPs to recommission the Royal Yacht Britannia is doomed to failure because the ship was out of date 22 years ago – and none other than the Conservative government’s secretary of state for defence Sir Malcolm Rifkind said so at the time.

There is huge anger in Leith at the attempt to remove Britannia from the port, where she has been a massive tourist attraction since being berthed there in 1998.

For the last ten years running, Britannia has officially been Scotland’s Best Visitor Attraction, as judged by Visit Scotland. This year, she is on track to record more than 340,000 visitors or some 11 per cent more than last year.

Sources close to the charitable trust which operates her as a tourist attraction and events venue say the 160 staff of Britannia have been “unsettled” by the campaign supported by leading Brexit campaigners Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and possibly as many as 75 Conservative MPs.

On October 11, Jake Berry, Tory MP for Rossendale and Darwen, has secured a Commons debate entitled ‘Reintroduction of the Royal Yacht Britannia for the purpose of international trade’.

It also emerged this week that Prime Minister Theresa May was considering the idea. Her official spokesman said: “We are proud of our heritage – the important thing as we go forward is we seek to reach out to be a global leader in free trade and deploy whatever is needed to achieve that.”

Sadly for Mrs May and the 75 Tories, plus certain newspapers which insist on printing that Tony Blair’s Labour Government decommissioned Britannia, the truth she is beyond her time as a seagoing vessel is recordedfor all to see in the pages of Hansard.

On June 23, 1994, Malcolm Rifkind, as secretary of state for defence, announced the decommissioning of Britannia in 1997. By then, she would have sailed the seas for 43 years since her first voyage in 1954 – between 30 and 40 years was the average lifetime of such a vessel.

Rifkind told the House: “The yacht last underwent a major refit in 1987. A further refit at an estimated cost of some £17million would be necessary in 1996-97, but would only prolong her life for a further five years.

“In view of her age, even after the refit she would be difficult to maintain and expensive to run. It has therefore been decided to decommission Britannia in 1997.”

Her Majesty the Queen was consulted on the future of Britannia, to which she was emotionally attached as her tears showed when the ship was taken out of service in 1997. Her reply indicated that she personally no longer needed a royal yacht.

Rifkind said: “The Government will now consider the question of whether to replace Britannia. The Queen has made it known that in the light of changes in the pattern of royal visits since the yacht was built, she does not consider a royal yacht to be necessary in future solely for the purposes of royal travel.

“None the less, in view of the success of Britannia in her representational role during state visits, and on other state occasions, and of the part played by the royal yacht in trade promotion, the Government believe it right to consider, without commitment, whether there should be a replacement at some future point, together with other options for meeting the tasks presently fulfilled by Britannia.

“The Government will be seeking Her Majesty’s views on what should happen to Britannia after 1997. We shall seek to find a way of enabling her to continue to serve a useful purpose, even though she will no longer go to sea.”

Angry Tory MPs raised the issue a month later, and the minister of state for the armed forces Jeremy Hanley described Britannia as “a very aged craft” and confirmed a refit would extend its life by about only five years.

Hanley went on to say that the royal yacht had a crew of 220 “and that the crew even of a type 23 frigate is some 40 fewer”.

He added: “The costs involved, therefore, must be carefully considered.

“The royal yacht’s trade promotion activities are a matter for the Department of Trade and Industry and they are without dispute. Her Majesty’s foreign travel needs are a matter for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. This is an important matter and must be carefully considered in the months ahead.”

The Tories pledged in the run-up to the 1997 General Election to replace Britannia with a new royal yacht funded from the public purse. Labour rejected the idea and Tony Blair’s government did not commission a new yacht.

Leith won the right to host Britannia, and in October 1997, the Queen bid farewell to the ship at a decommissioning service during which she shed tears for one of the few times in public.

All the clocks on Britannia were stopped at 15:01, the time the Queen was piped ashore for the last time, and they remain at that time to this day.

Britannia left Portsmouth on her farewell tour around the UK, calling at six major ports, including Glasgow. As she sailed past John Brown’s at Clydebank, she gave a blast on her sirens to acknowledge the yard that had proudly built her.

One massive problem facing any attempt to take Britannia out of Leith is that she has no propellers, as Britannia Trust chairman Vice-Admiral Neil Rankin stated last week.

Britannia also has steam turbine engines and the Royal Navy no longer possesses sufficient expertise in such engines – “they would have to employ Yotties (the name given to former Royal Yachstmen) to run them, and they’re all getting on a bit,” said one Leith source.

Some Tory campaigners have stated that if Britannia herself cannot be recommissioned, then a new royal yacht should be built. Estimates of the cost of £100m or more have not deterred them in this age of austerity.

If she were not to be a Royal Navy vessel, the new yacht could not even be called Britannia, as registration rules do not allow passenger ships to ‘share’ names and there is already a P & O Britannia – a luxury liner – at sea.

Edinburgh Council is writing to the prime minister to highlight Britannia’s importance to Leith, and local councillor Chas Booth, of the Scottish Greens, has issued an impassioned plea for the whole plan to be “scuppered,” as he put it.

“Some seem to think that countries such as Japan or the United States, which have been highly critical of Brexit, and have made clear we must wait to sign trade deals behind the EU and other nations, will suddenly change their tune and move us to the front of the queue when they see Britannia. Her 1950s stately charm will do wonders for our trade negotiations, they claim.

“But of course, international trade negotiations in these days of modern technology and high-speed connectivity tend to move quickly. Yachts, on the other hand, do not. And yet, astonishingly, this half-baked plan to refloat a museum piece has secured debating time in Westminster.

“I don’t believe we should turn the clock back to the 1950s. I don’t believe a 60-year old ship will aid our trade negotiations. And I particularly don’t accept that a successful tourist attraction, which employs many people in Leith and makes a positive contribution to the Edinburgh economy, should be put at risk by some people’s dewy-eyed nostalgia. For the good of the city, this plan should be scuppered, and fast.”