Boris Johnson has suggested the soaring temperatures in London over the summer may have contributed to the political turmoil which led to his exit from No 10.
In an apparently tongue-in-cheek comment at an event on the fringe of the Cop27 summit, the former prime minister said: “Temperatures in London this July reached 40 degrees, which is unprecedented and almost unbearable by United Kingdom standards.
“Perhaps even contributing, who knows, to unexpected political turmoil that we saw in Westminster at that time.”
While Mr Johnson also warned the fight against climate change had become a “collateral victim” of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, with countries questioning the goal of cutting emissions at a time of soaring energy prices.
Boris Johnson
Andrew Boyers
Mr Johnson also warned against calls to revive fracking in the UK
HENRY NICHOLLS
In a swipe at Tories – including successor Liz Truss – he warned against calls to revive fracking in the UK.
Ms Truss had planned to lift the ban on fracking in England but Rishi Sunak reinstated it.
“There are people who have drawn the conclusion that the whole project of net zero needs to be delayed, mothballed and put on ice – for instance we need to reopen coal-fired power stations and frack the hell out of the British countryside,” he said.
The former prime minister said the summit in Egypt was a time to “tackle this nonsense head on”.
“Yes, of course, we do need to use hydrocarbons in the transitional period and, yes, in the UK there is more that we can do with our own domestic resources,” he said.
“However, this is not the moment to abandon the campaign for net zero, this is not the moment to turn our backs on renewable technology.