COP26: Boris Johnson left climate change summit in Glasgow on private plane ‘to attend dinner in London’

Boris Johnson flew on a private plane from the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow to London to attend a dinner with a journalist, according to reports.

The Prime Minister left the conference at 6.20pm and arrived at London Stansted at 7.16pm.

He then went to the private men-only Garrick Club for a dinner with former Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore.

How Labour reacted to Boris Johnson’s flight

Labour chair Anneliese Dodds criticised the fashion of Mr Johnson’s exit as “staggering hypocrisy”, after the Prime Minister opened the Glasgow 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 a climate catastrophe, Boris Johnson clocked off from Cop26, jumped in his private jet and flew down to London for dinner at a gentlemen’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.”

What Downing Street said about the story

A Downing St source told the PA news agency that 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 the Prime Minister 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”.

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