Boris Johnson has mistakenly suggested that the historic COP26 climate summit was in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh, not Glasgow, where it actually took place.
The UK prime minister, who had kicked off the meeting two weeks ago with his speech which quoted climate activist Greta Thunberg, appeared to get the two major Scottish cities confused during a post COP26 press conference from Downing Street on Sunday alongside minister and COP26 president Alok Sharma.
Responding to a question about UN general secretary Antonio Guterres’s reaction to the outcome of COP Johnson said: “I don’t think António would want people to think that we’ve cracked it here at COP in Edinburgh, of course not.”
In the grand scheme of Johnson’s slip-ups, we have to say this one is minor but, regardless, it didn’t go unnoticed and the PM was inevitably roasted on social media for this geographical mix-up.
Does he... realise which city he has been in? pic.twitter.com/VBEViZPjEp
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) November 14, 2021
Boris Johnson has been at COP “in Edinburgh” apparently. Everyone else went to Glasgow. But,hey, who cares about the minor details? https://t.co/6CUduKrxho
— Gavin Esler (@gavinesler) November 14, 2021
Boris Johnson: 'Here at COP in Edinburgh'#COP26 was held in Glasgow
— UK is with EU (@ukiswitheu) November 14, 2021
"1.5° is within reach" says @AlokSharma_RDG! Not helped by #BorisJohnson referring to COP in Edinburgh! #DowningStreetbriefing #COP26 pic.twitter.com/MpWz1I64Vq
— Tom Drysdale (@tozdee57) November 14, 2021
Boris Johnson said at his press conference that COP was in Edinburgh. Presumably this so we’d talk about his lack of knowledge of the geography of Scotland to deflect from his failure to deliver on his climate promises.
— Bill Esterson (@Bill_Esterson) November 14, 2021
If Boris Johnson thinks #COP26 was in Edinburgh, I can only presume he was watching Wolf Blitzer on CNN! 😂 https://t.co/6owC0xKB6k
— David Mac Dougall (@davidmacdougall) November 15, 2021
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Amazingly, this wasn’t the first time that someone of note had confused Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Somehow CNN managed to send veteran news anchor Wolf Blitzer, to the Scottish capital to report on COP which was happening 46 miles away.
In addition, the usually accurate Barack Obama also fell foul of a geographical mishap when he spoke at COP last week when he referred to Scotland as part of the “Emerald Isles.” I think you’ll find that’s Ireland, Obama, not the UK.
Regardless of what city it was in, COP26 wound up being a significant event after India and China committed to reducing their reliance on coal, which Johnson said: “sounded the death knell for coal power.” However, campaigners have criticised the Glasgow Climate Pact for being a “phase down” rather than a “phase out” of coal power.
