British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been accused of hypocrisy for departing the COP26 UN climate summit on a private jet to attend a dinner with a former newspaper editor.
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Johnson left the conference in Glasgow at 6.20pm local time on Tuesday and arrived at London Stansted at 7.16pm, before heading to the private men-only Garrick Club for a dinner for former Daily Telegraph journalists, including former editor Charles Moore, The Daily Mirror newspaper reported.
The fashion of Johnson's exit was criticised as "staggering hypocrisy" by Labour chair Anneliese Dodds, after the prime minister opened the summit by imploring delegates to stop "quilting the Earth in an invisible and suffocating blanket of CO2".
"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," Ms Dodds said.
"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 St source said Johnson had always been due to leave Glasgow on Tuesday evening, as the element of the summit involving world leaders drew to a close.
Johnson's flight out of Glasgow was confirmed by the prime minister's official spokesman on Monday.
Pressed on why he could not go by train for a journey within the UK, the spokesman said it was important he was able to travel around the country while facing "significant time constraints".
Australian Associated Press
