Blundering Boris Johnson muddled up two world leaders with each other in an official statement at COP26.
The slapdash Prime Minister said he was “moved” when Mia Mottley, the PM of Barbados, said “we are digging our own graves” at the climate summit’s opening ceremony.
Yet while Ms Mottley did give a powerful speech at the gala, she did not say that quote.
It was said by UN Secretary António Guterres in another speech about half an hour earlier.
Mr Johnson made the comments at a press conference last night as he dashed to Glasgow to urge world leaders to agree ambitious climate goals.
He told journalists: “We know what is at stake here. We’ve been hearing it all week...
"We heard it from Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, who so moved us on the opening ceremony when she warned we are digging our own graves and asked when are the leaders finally going to lead.
"And if you stood and applauded her, then you cannot now sit on your hands as the world asks you to act. Because the world knows the mess our planet is in.”
Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine said: "The fact that Boris Johnson cannot even remember who said what at COP26 is a damning indictment of his leadership.
"Britain should be leading the world in tackling the climate emergency, instead the Prime Minister is doing everything he can in order to duck the serious questions of Tory sleaze.
"We need to see bold action and clear commitments from all counties attending Glasgow if we are to save our planet."
The UN Secretary General told the opening ceremony last Monday there must be "enough of killing ourselves with carbon, enough of treating nature like a toilet.
"Enough of burning and drilling and mining our way deeper - we are digging our own graves."
Ms Mottley’s speech did say two degrees of global warming would be a “death sentence” for nations like Antigua and Barbuda, the Maldives, Dominica, Fiji, Kenya, Mozambique, Samoa, and Barbados, and did say the part about leaders needing to lead.
She warned the climate was flashing “code red”, adding: “When will leaders lead? Our people are watching, and our people are taking note…
"Are we so blinded and hardened that we can no longer appreciate the cries of humanity?”
It came after Boris Johnson attracted criticism from Labour MPs over a photo of him at the opening ceremony without a mask, and with his eyes shut.
No10 sources insisted claims he had been asleep were "nonsense" and the photo appeared to be a one-off, with others showing the PM's eyes were open.
It came after the gloomy Boris Johnson said there is "a huge amount to do" to battle climate change ahead of the scheduled talks ending tomorrow.
The Prime Minister dashed up to Glasgow on Wednesday morning to try to kick-start negotiations as the event teeters on the brink of failure, with only days to go until the end of the two-week summit.
The first draft of a COP26 agreement, which needs to be signed by nearly 200 countries, was published yesterday morning.
It warned that far more has to be done to battle dangerous dangerous temperature rises and kicks some issues down the road to meetings at a later date.
