Boris Johnson is ill-suited to the task of telling the world to ‘get serious’ about the climate crisis

Editorial: Opening a coal mine, most likely, spewing sewage into the rivers and cutting the tax on short-haul flights has eroded Johnson’s remaining credibility

(Brian Adcock)

On balance, Boris Johnson is ill-suited to the task of telling a six-year-old child, let alone an assemblage of presidents and prime ministers, to “get serious”. He proved the point during his silencing address to the Cop26 summit when, among other flourishes, he likened the plight of the planet to James Bond strapped to a doomsday device hurtling towards Earth.

Not so long ago, at the UN General Assembly, he was invoking Kermit the Frog in his efforts to galvanise the planet. Mercifully he didn’t organise a photo op of him stranded on a zip-wire waving Union Jacks, but he might as well have done, such are the chances of him emulating Churchill (who he borrowed from) and becoming the leader of the world campaign to tackle the climate crisis.

Opening a coal mine, most likely, spewing sewage into the rivers and cutting the tax on short-haul flights has eroded Mr Johnson’s remaining credibility just as badly as the waves are tearing chunks off the Norfolk coastline.