Boris Johnson reportedly flew out of the Cop26 climate summit on a private jet to attend a dinner with former Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore.
The Daily Mirror says the British prime minister left the conference in Glasgow at 6.20pm and arrived at London Stansted at 7.16pm, before heading to the private men-only Garrick Club for a dinner for former Telegraph journalists.
The fashion of Mr Johnson’s exit was criticised as “staggering hypocrisy” by Labour chair Anneliese Dodds, after Mr Johnson opened the summit by imploring delegates to stop “quilting the Earth in an invisible and suffocating blanket of CO2”.
Ms Dodds 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.”
A Downing Street source said Mr Johnson had always been due to leave Glasgow on Tuesday evening, as the element of the summit involving world leaders drew to a close.
Mr Johnson’s flight out of Glasgow was confirmed by the prime minister’s official spokesman on Monday.
Pressed on why Mr Johnson could not go by train for a journey within the UK, the spokesman said it was important he was able to travel round the country while facing “significant time constraints”.
