Boris Johnson has been accused of “staggering hypocrisy” after he took a private jet back from the Cop26 climate summit to attend a private members’ club dinner in London.
The Tuesday night dinner at The Garrick Club in the West End was for a reunion of Daily Telegraph journalists. The PM, a former Telegraph columnist, was pictured leaving the club at around 10pm, escorted to the door by Lord Charles Moore, his former editor at the paper.
Lord Moore, has describe the climate crisis as “speculation”, is also a close personal friend of Conservative MP Owen Paterson, who was recently found to have misused his position as an MP to lobby for two companies he worked for. Mr Paterson avoided suspension for his actions after the government ordered its MPs on Wednesday to back a review of standards investigations.
Mr Johnson had already faced criticism for jetting 400 miles from Glasgow to London on Tuesday after warning the world at the Cop26 summit that more action was needed to tackle climate change.
Downing Street previously said “time constraints” meant the PM could not make the four-and-half journey by train.
The Daily Mirror reported Mr Johnson left Cop26 conference in Glasgow at 6.20pm and arrived at London Stansted at 7.16pm before heading to the dinner at The Garrick Club.
MP Anneliese Dodds, Labour Party chair, 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.”
Lord Moore wrote in the Daily Telegraph last week that “no emergency has been proved” by climate scientists.
“If you want an example of a true emergency, think of Covid in March last year. A climate emergency, on the other hand, is a speculation,” he said.
Mr Johnson’s spokesperson said: “It is important that the prime minister is able to move around the country and we have obviously faced significant time restraints.”
A No 10 spokesperson added: “All travel decisions are made with consideration for security and time restraints.
“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.
“The UK will be offsetting all carbon emissions associated with running Cop26 including travel.”
