Boris Johnson has said he will attend the COP27 climate summit – piling pressure on Rishi Sunak to attend.
Mr Sunak’s has so far declined to say whether he will go to Egypt for the meeting, claiming his focus is on domestic policy.
The prime minister’s ambiguity has raised eyebrows because the UK hosted the COP26 summit under Mr Johnson last year and has claimed leadership on climate issues.
On Thursday last week, Downing Street said Mr Sunak was not expected to attend “due to other pressing domestic commitments”.
But by Monday No 10 floated the possibility, with a spokesperson saying the position was “under review”.
Asked during an interview with Sky News on whether he was attending the summit, Mr Johnson said: “Yes, as it happens.” The prime minister added “was invited by the Egyptians”.
Mr Johnson was the prime minister at the time of the Cop26 summit in Glasgow.
He said it had “become unfashionable” to talk about the previous meeting, but said it had been a “fantastic global success” which did “a huge amount of good for the planet”.
During the same interview, Mr Johnson told the broadcaster that Vladimir Putin “would be crazy” to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
