MOD paid £1.1m for advice on the removal of the Harrier force.

From the Defence website - MOD paid £1.1m for Harrier cuts advice -.

Various outlets including the Evening Standard, Telegraph and Mail report that consultants were paid £1.1m to provide 'commercial advice' to the MOD on the decision to cut Britain's Harriers and sell them to the US.

A MOD spokesman said: "Media today report that consultants were paid £1.1m to help the MOD sell Britain's fleet of Harrier jump jets to America. The amount spent on the necessary commercial advice to assist in the sale represents just 0.1 per cent of the total £1bn savings made from the sale and early retirement of Harrier."

Equipment Minister Peter Luff said: "Overall £1bn will be saved from removing the Harrier from service. We continue to operate Tornado, Typhoon and, in the future, Joint Strike Fighter. The revenue from the sale of Harrier assets will be retained by the Ministry of Defence and reinvested by the Department in key priorities as part of the Defence Budget."