Calling Planet Boris...
PM silent on climate change claims by sacked ex-minister
BORIS Johnson ducked questions about his green credentials yesterday after the former head of a climate summit said he “doesn’t understand” the issue.
Tory ex minister Claire O’Neill, who stood down as an MP at the last election, accused the PM of failing to deliver on promises and overseeing a “huge lack of leadership”.
Mr Johnson was joined by Sir David Attenborough to outline plans for the United Nations COP26 summit in Glasgow yesterday. Giuseppe Conte, PM of summit co-hosts Italy was also at the Science Museum in London.
Mr Johnson declined to answer questions on Ms O’Neill’s claims, or the reason she was sacked by his senior adviser Dominic Cummings by phone on Friday.
He told politicians the November summit would be an opportunity for countries to “step up” in the fight against climate change and follow the UK’s lead on “credible” targets for net-zero emissions.
The Government will consult on bringing forward a planned ban on the sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles from 2040 to 2035.
He said: “We’ve put so much CO2 in the atmosphere collectively that the entire planet is swaddled in a tea cosy of the stuff. It’s now predicted, unless we take urgent action, to get 3C hotter, and in the hurricanes and the bushfires and melting of the ice caps and the acidification of the oceans, the evidence is now overwhelming.
“We know as a country, as a society, as a planet, as a species, we must act.”
It was also reported last night that both former PM David Cameron and ex-Tory party leader William Hague turned down the COP26 presidency.