In mid-October, Boris Johnson spent a few days on vacation, with his wife and son, in a luxury villa given by a conservative friend in Marbella, in southern Spain. The tabloids were delighted with a stolen photo, where we can distinguish the British prime minister on a terrace, in the shade, brush in hand in front of an easel. Has the leader nothing better to do, less than three weeks before the opening of COP26 in Glasgow, which his government is hosting, than to paint canvases? And the Labor opposition.

The first Minister “He often talks on the phone, still argued with Indian President Modi [le 11 octobre, depuis Marbella] », tried to convince Allegra Stratton, Johnson’s COP26 spokesperson, at a conference hosted by the Institute for Government think tank at the same time. “Explain to other leaders how we can achieve decarbonization of our economies by highlighting the example of the UK. The role of the government during this summit is to lead the negotiations and promote the climate ambitions of other countries ”, added the former journalist. The apparent nonchalance with which Boris Johnson approaches the Glasgow summit, considered one of the last opportunities to meet the global warming target limited to 1.5 ° C, is in any case drawing criticism.

“It’s really irritating,” Queen Elizabeth II told Welsh officials, all of whom these leaders who “speak instead of do”

Recently, your government seemed much busier reopening the Brexit front with Brussels (it wants to renegotiate the Northern Ireland protocol) than convincing world leaders to increase their CO emission reduction targets.₂ or its financial contribution to the transition in developing countries. Mr Johnson has certainly found an effective catchphrase (“Coal, cars, cash and trees”) that repeats in a loop – explains that it is necessary to accelerate the output of coal, move faster to electric vehicles, give more money for the transition and plant millions of trees. But the media especially withheld his joke about Kermit the Frog, during his speech at the United Nations in late September (“Kermit was wrong to say that it is difficult to be green, it is easy to be green!” “).

They preferred to insist on the proclimatic commitments of the royal family, in particular the launch by Prince William of the Earthshot Prize, an award that rewards solutions to fight global warming. Or in the words of Queen Elizabeth II, captured on the fly by a television camera, on the sidelines of a reception in the Welsh Parliament, on October 14: “It’s really irritating”, entrusted the sovereign to the Welsh officials, all these leaders that ” speak instead of doing “.

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