Key gets Britain departure tax commitment

Bronagh Key (right) with her husband, Prime Minister John Key. Photo / Michael Craig

While tucking into a passion fruit soufflé at the British Prime Minister's house, John Key was able to get a commitment on airport departure tax to New Zealand.

After a lunch with the Queen at Windsor today, Mr Key had dinner with David Cameron at Downing St with a number of issues on his mind.

"We took our ties off, took our jacket off and had a good chat about the world and what was happening."

Mr Key has asked Mr Cameron to review the tax - aimed at long distance travellers - which is currently at £85 and is intended to go up in increments until it hits £360.

The system was brought in under the previous Labour Government.

Mr Key said: "He was well briefed on the issue, sympathetic to our perspective and point of view and I think genuinely will make changes.

"As we know from the last Budget, they've put the progression of the departure tax on hold and made it quite clear to us that he was looking for a way through that and we're hopeful that will mean a reform and the system will be fairer for those who want to travel out to New Zealand."

He will discuss the issue further when he meets Chancellor George Osborne on Thursday.

Also on the agenda were the conflicts in Libya and Afghanistan, public service cuts in the UK and immigration.

"I just reiterated the fact that New Zealanders enjoy the access they have in terms of their big OE in the UK and I think David was very sympathetic to that view," Mr Key said.

"It's invaluable when you get to spend an hour and a half over a very relaxed, casual dinner with the Prime Minister of Britain. At the end of the day, a phone call can make a lot of difference to some issues that really matter to us - we don't have a lot on the list because for the most part we actually see
eye-to-eye on many issues.

"So I think it has been very useful and we will be measuring the success of the visit not by what's deliverable here today but the opportunities to resolve issues in the future."

Before dinner, Mr Cameron described the fellow Prime Minister as "a friend to me and to the UK" and said he admired the "grit and determination" Cantabrians had shown over the past few weeks.

Dinner consisted of a salmon starter, a main dish of lamb and a passion fruit soufflé for dessert.

Champagne and eggs with the Queen

At the Queen's home, Mr Key and his wife Bronagh shared champagne and ate beef accompanied by a poached egg with hollandaise sauce. Dessert was a panna cotta for dessert, followed by cheeses.

"It was fattening but great... I've eaten for New Zealand," Mr Key said.

Mr Key is the only Prime Minister to have been granted an audience with the Queen this week - but he had to share the meal with an assortment of seven corgis and dorgis - a corgi and dachshund cross.

"One of them licked my hand during lunch actually. He wasn't going to have any of the beef, he wasn't going to have a bar of that."

Mr Key says they did talk about the Royal Wedding, but he has been sworn to secrecy over what the Queen said.

He said lunch with the monarch involved a "very, warm and relaxed discussion".

"She was very interested in what was happening in Christchurch. She wanted an update on what was happening and wanted me to pass her best wishes to Canterbury. She also was very caring and concerned about the families of Pike River."