Voters should not trust Boris Johnson to keep promises, says former Tory minister sacked from COP 26 role – live news
Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen
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Dominic Cummings, the PM’s chief adviser, was photographed carrying a book called Chinese Spies this morning as he arrived at Downing Street. It’s by the journalist Roger Faligot, and it says China has the largest intelligence service in the world, although the Times’s review (paywall) says Faligot’s account left him wondering “if there is such a thing as an overdevious secret service. In their constant quest to discover the imagined layers of meaning underpinning the actions of their enemies, the Chinese spooks may just be tying themselves in knots, consumed by paranoia.”
Perhaps Cummings is looking for tips. At the weekend the Sunday Times (paywall) claimed that he has recruited his own network of “spies” working in Westminster restaurants who will tip him off if they see special advisers having unauthorised meetings with journalists.
The launch of COP 26 at London’s Science Museum this morning was a gathering of academics, business leaders, civil society groups and a few politicians, including Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers and Zac Goldsmith, the environment minister. Mark Carney, outgoing governor of the Bank of England, who will be a UN climate envoy this year, was also there, along with the Commonwealth Secretary General, Lady Scotland, climate economist Lord Stern, actress and activist Lily Cole, and the prime minister’s father and long time environmentalist Stanley Johnson.
The Italian prime minster made a brief speech, as Italy are joint hosts of COP 26 with the UK, holding a pre-COP in Milan and a further meeting in the autumn to prepare the ground for a potential deal. Missing, however, was the UN’s top climate official, Patricia Espinosa.