Senior politicians are staying home in the UK for this year's summer holidays. In the glory days of yore, the press delighted over former Prime Minister Tony Blair's summer travel plans. Famed for their love of free celebrity hideaways, the Blairs vacationed gratis at Cliff Richard's villa in the Bahamas, Bee Gee Robin Gibb's Miami mansion and with Berlusconi in Sardinia. But the new Prime Minister is a thrifty and dour Scot. To make a statement about austerity and against excesses of the past (and maybe pro-environment?), he will be going back to vacation at his family home in Scotland. Other members of his Labour cabinet have also got the message: one is golfing in Scotland, another is going to Cornwall, another is taking the train to France and another is flying but has already offset her flight.

Not to be outdone, the Conservatives have joined the rush to stay home. One has already driven to the countryside and David Cameron will be travelling to Brittany by ferry. The decision to choose France ahead of more exotic locations underlines the Conservative leader's determination to show he is "one of us" and it also helps him underline his green credentials .The Lib Dem leader is taking his holiday on the Hebrides and another in that party is taking a camper van around Wales. :: Guardian