Some of the highest profile and most vocal anti-Heathrow-
expansion campaigners have been sent goody boxes by the airport, which included mugs and shortbread biscuits.

Whether the mugs would be used as ear muffs to block out noise or to drink out of was never made clear, but the unsolicited gifts certainly angered the borough’s MPs.

The boxes sent to MPs Zac Goldsmith and Tania Mathias also contained Louis Barnett chocolate and information about the airport’s role in exporting British goods, according to a Heathrow spokesman.

Mr Goldsmith, who had promised to trigger a byelection for his Richmond Park seat should Heathrow expansion be granted, was not impressed by the olive branch extended by the airport.

He said: “It’s appropriate that it includes mugs, because that is what we’d have to be to swallow the pro-expansion propaganda.”

Dr Mathias, who recently joined forces with anti-expansion campaign groups including Hacan to protest outside the Houses of Parliament, said it will take more than a mug and some biscuits to convince her of the benefits of a third runway.

The MP for Twickenham criticised the airport’s public relations campaign, which she said failed to mention the thousands of people who would be affected by additional noise from more flights, the flaws in the business case for expansion and the worrying air pollution statistics.

She said: “If I made a cup of tea with that mug, it would leave a very bitter taste, so the box went straight in the recycling.”

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Tania Mathias: Campaigning against a third runway

The Heathrow spokesman said increasing exports is a key element of delivering the Government’s key economic plan, which includes a target to expand exports to £1trillion by 2020.