GLASGOW, Scotland — Boris Johnson returned to the COP26 summit — by train this time, not chartered jet — to try to salvage a climate deal, and perhaps his reputation, after a politically difficult week.
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Johnson urged world leaders to “pick up the phone” to their negotiating teams, in these final days of a summit that seeks to avert catastrophic climate change, and enable them to “get this done here in Glasgow.”
“There really is no excuse because we know what is at stake here,” he said. “The world knows the mess our planet is in. The world has heard leaders from every country, every continent stand here and acknowledge the need for action. And the world will find it absolutely incomprehensible if we fail to deliver that.”
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Johnson did not sound like his usual confident self. He did not make his usual jokes. There were no James Bond references. He seemed serious. And perhaps chastised?
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When he left Glasgow at the end of the leaders’ summit last week, the prime minister was roundly criticized for chartering a plane back to London. It wasn’t a good look for the host of a conference focused on cutting carbon emissions.
The trip is only 400 miles, and four hours, by train.
It didn’t help that the Mirror newspaper reported he was rushing home to attend “a private engagement” at a men’s-only club attended by Conservative Party peer Charles Moore, whom the Mirror described as a “self-confessed climate change skeptic.”
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Moore was also Johnson’s old boss at the Telegraph newspaper, where for many years Johnson toiled as a climate-skeptic columnist — before his remarkable transformation into a climate warrior.
Last week, Johnson defended his flight, saying the jet’s fuel was partly sustainable. But Wednesday’s choice of train travel was notable.
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He also made a point to wear a mask — black, with a small Union Jack — after getting heat for being careless about covid-19 at the summit last round.
Unlike Greta Thunberg, who got a rock-star reception when the activist first arrived at Glasgow Central station, Johnson was reportedly booed Wednesday by a small group on the platform.
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This prime minister is not well-liked in Scotland, where his particular brand of Englishness, and his championing of Brexit, goes down poorly. His appearances north of the border are rare and carefully orchestrated.
In his first full week as leader of the United Kingdom, Johnson was heckled by nationalists when coming to see First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in Edinburgh — and left her residence out the back door.
But London hasn’t been too welcoming lately, either. Johnson’s government is under fire for its involvement in a “sleaze” scandal — sleaze being a word used in Britain to describe inappropriate conduct involving sex, money or ethics.
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In this case, Conservative lawmaker Owen Paterson, a former environment minister and ally of Johnson’s, broke lobbying rules by accepting payments from two firms that he also promoted.
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Downing Street initially backed a move to block his suspension and overhaul the policing of lawmakers’ conduct, but a fierce backlash prompted a government reversal. Paterson resigned.
Johnson’s personal approval ratings have now dropped to their lowest levels on record.
And he couldn’t quite escape the scandal in Glasgow, getting questions from British journalists.
“Those who break the rules must be investigated and should be punished,” Johnson said.
Johnson was also asked about a secondary scandal involving Geoffrey Cox, a Conservative lawmaker and former attorney general, who has been accused of conflicts of interest for taking on supplementary jobs as a legal adviser, including to law firms based in the Cayman Islands.
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This could have been Johnson’s moment, hosting 40,000 delegates for a summit that the world is depending on. Not only is it widely seen as one of the last chances to address the climate emergency, it was an opportunity for the Johnson administration and Brexiteers to showcase their much-touted Global Britain, taking it out for a test drive.
Instead, Johnson found himself telling the summit, “I genuinely believe that the U.K. is not remotely a corrupt country,” adding, “nor do I believe that our institutions are corrupt.”