The aviation industry – now in dire straits –  has until recently been paying out dividends. Last week the Chancellor Rishi Sunak warned that airline shareholders needed to exhaust all other avenues before the Treasury considered “bespoke” deals. At the very least before the airlines get any state aid those dividends should be reinvested by the shareholders to support their firms and any aid should be in the form of repayable loans, not subsidies. Guido understands from a Treasury source that Branson, who has indicated Virgin Atlantic wants a bailout, has today personally told Rishi Sunak that he will put up his Necker Island as security…

Politically savvy Sunak made it clear to him in a previous conversation with Branson that since the high street banks are asking small business owners to put up their homes as security before lending, it would be politically impossible to bailout the billionaire if he too was not putting his home on the line. Whether or not this is just bailout PR is another matter. Necker is worth tens of millions, Branson wants hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ money…

UPDATE April 2, 2020: What date was it yesterday?