“Unless we take urgent action, we will get 3C hotter,” Boris Johnson told the UN climate talks in 2020. “As a country … we must now act.” The former prime minister’s words were a rallying cry to galvanise the government into taking action on global heating.
Johnson’s administration had been under heavy fire for its lacklustre approach to the climate crisis. But fast forward a year to Cop26, and not much had changed. Johnson’s appearance was criticised as much as his policies; he was described as “a clown” after comparing the climate emergency to James Bond wrestling with a ticking bomb. His comments were in keeping with the travelling circus act that he has been performing ever since he first entered politics – even the future of the world was a joke.
