Boris Johnson will only have himself to blame if Cop26 is a failure

The Prime Minister is the polar opposite of a statesman. He scarcely knows the meaning of the word diplomacy.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson holds a press conference at the end of the G20 summit on 31 October 2021 in Rome. Photograph by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images.

This is a sentence I do not write often: Boris Johnson is right. He is right when he declares that the world stands at “one minute to midnight”, and that the UN climate change summit in Glasgow is its “moment of truth”.

Here’s another sentence I seldom write. I really, sincerely hope that the Prime Minister makes a success of Cop26, because climate change is an issue that manifestly transcends partisan politics. It poses an existential threat to all mankind.