Boris Johnson arrives at the G7 summit
(Picture: Boris Johnson/ Twitter)Boris Johnson has been slammed by critics after he flew to Cornwall for the G7 summit.
Upon arrival at the meeting of powerful world leaders, where climate change is set to be high on the agenda, Johnson said he would be “asking my fellow leaders to rise to the challenge of beating the pandemic and building back better, fairer and greener” causing many to question why the Prime Minister had flown somewhere accessible by train.
I’ve arrived in Cornwall for this year’s @G7 where I’ll be asking my fellow leaders to rise to the challenge of beating the pandemic and building back better, fairer and greener.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) June 9, 2021
It will be a busy and important Summit, and I can’t wait to get started.#G7UK pic.twitter.com/H4VSQ2SCD6
Labour’s shadow environment secretary and apparent joker Luke Pollard labelled the move “plane stupid”.
“There’s no train line from Cornwall to Washington or Tokyo but there is to London. The prime minister should have taken the train, not got a plane,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lib Dem climate spokeswoman Wera Hobhouse said: “At a global summit with climate change at the forefront of the agenda and with the UK hosting a climate change conference in the autumn the Prime Minister’s choice to fly to Cornwall from London is laughably out of touch.”
The plane journey took 35 minutes and produced five times the amount of greenhouse gases as the same journey would have produced by train, government emission records showed.
Meanwhile, the G7 summit will prioritise creating “a greener, more prosperous future”, its website says.
“We will protect the future of our planet by moving to net-zero and providing financial support for developing countries to do the same.”
People thought the photo op was ridiculous and Johnson duly received a social media backlash from a range of people including Labour MPs and it even triggered a moment of apparent political unity between Owen Jones and Piers Morgan:
You went to Cornwall? In a fucking plane? To talk about climate change?
— Max Morgan 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ (@SpillerOfTea) June 9, 2021
Are you actually this dumb, or are you just trolling us?
The irony and lack of self-awareness of this message whilst walking down the stairs or a private jet is...
— Paul Tavares (@PaulTavares74) June 9, 2021
...not a good look!!
Nothing says ‘greener’ more than you flying to Cornwall from London to discuss how to reduce the globe’s carbon footprint.... 🤨 https://t.co/PsB54p8ZKh
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) June 9, 2021
Flying to Cornwall in order to advocate for a greener world.
— Dr Rosena Allin-Khan 💙 (@DrRosena) June 9, 2021
Makes sense. https://t.co/b9j4xP9sxB
This is how serious Boris Johnson is about combating the climate emergency: He flew to Cornwall. https://t.co/Yitlocr1zl
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) June 9, 2021
They obviously knew that taking a plane to Cornwall shows they don't care about the climate emergency. They just don't care about the climate emergency, it doesn't need any deeper analysis than that. https://t.co/xYnyFfxJbc
— Owen Jones 🌹 (@OwenJones84) June 9, 2021
Why the fuck did he fly to Cornwall?! https://t.co/6gayVxA9T4
— Rose Stokes (@RoseStokes) June 9, 2021
Boris Johnson flew from London to Cornwall to promote *checks notes* green values https://t.co/9Jhw4yRKca
— Tom Richell (@tomrichell) June 9, 2021
Nevertheless, speaking to the press Johnson defended his journey and claimed planes aren’t that bad, a hot take if we’ve ever seen one.
He said: “If you attack my arrival by plane, I respectfully point out the UK is actually in the lead in developing sustainable aviation fuel, and one of the points in the 10 point plan of our green industrial revolution, is to get to ‘jet zero’ as well.”
In November, Glasgow will host the climate change conference COP26.
We look forward to seeing how Johnson turns up to that.
