'The mask slips'.
The prime minister has been slammed for taking a private jet, straight after attending the crucial COP26 climate summit, where he was pushing other countries to reduce carbon emissions.
The Daily Mirror reported that Boris Johnson took the jet to attend a dinner at a men-only private members club, where he met with climate change sceptic Lord Moore who was Johnson’s former editor at the Daily Telegraph.
Moore is a trustee of the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), a group that has rejected mainstream climate science for over a decade. It’s twitter handle was replaced last month by a new campaign group called Net Zero Watch, an organisation that is decrying ‘climate hysteria’. It shares many of the same board members as GWPF.
Johnson took the private jet despite telling world leaders at COP26 that the world is now “one minute to midnight” in the race to prevent global heating from surpassing a critical threshold.
Exclusive photos from the Mirror show Johnson leaving The Garrick Club, escorted to the door by Lord Moore, his former boss, where he attended a reunion dinner for Telegraph journalists.
The prime minister was accused of staggering hypocrisy by Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds MP. She said: “This is staggering hypocrisy from the Prime Minister. After warning world leaders it’s one minute to midnight to prevent climate catastrophe, Boris Johnson clocked off from Cop26, jumped in his private jet and flew down to London for dinner at a gentleman’s club with a self-confessed climate change sceptic.
“It seems that when it comes to taking action to tackle the climate crisis, there’s one rule for the Conservatives and another rule for the rest of the world.”
Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey MP tweeted: “A private jet to a private party with a climate change denier. The mask slips.”
A No 10 spokesperson told the Mirror that travel decisions had been made with consideration for security and time restraints.
They added: “The Prime Minister travelled on one of the most carbon efficient planes of its size in the world, using the most sustainable aviation fuel possible.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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