Viral videos of Rishi Sunak’s mysterious departure from Egypt’s COP27 spark debate on social media
LONDON: A video of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak running off the stage and being ushered out of the room by his aides during Monday’s panel at COP27 has gone viral on the internet with people speculating about the reasons for the abrupt departure.
A video posted by Leo Hickman, journalist and director of Carbon Brief UK, shows Sunak being approached by his assistants on stage before being escorted out of the room.
“UK Prime Minister @RishiSunak has just been ushered out of the room by his aides during the forestry partnership launch at #COP27,” Hickman said in a tweet.
Sunak was onstage at a climate change event when his aides interrupted him, according to Hickman, who posted video of the incident. In quick succession, two of his aides arrived and persuaded Sunak to leave the event.
“About 2 minutes before he left, an assistant came up on stage and was whispering in his ear for over a minute… there was a discussion about, apparently, if he should leave at that time. Sunak stayed but another attendee made the decision to go back to him and urged him to leave,” he added.
People took to social media to speculate on possible reasons for the sudden departure, ranging from Sunak having a bad meal to a national emergency.
One user took to Twitter to mock the recent events that have plagued the British government in recent months, writing: “The UK government was in danger of appearing remotely competent. Normal service has resumed.
The UK government was in danger of appearing remotely competent. Normal service resumed.
— Miles King #ditchtheREULbill (@MilesKing10) November 8, 2022
Although no official statement has been issued from Downing Street to explain the reason for the prime minister’s dramatic departure, it is widely assumed that he left early to prepare for a keynote address on climate change later in the afternoon.
Arab News tried to get an official statement from No. 10, but no comment was received at the time of publication.
In his speech, the British prime minister urged countries to abide by the Glasgow Climate Pact and reiterated the UK’s commitment to donate £11.6 billion ($13.3 billion) to a climate change fund.
Sunak also stated that the UK would triple the amount of money set aside for the Adaptation Fund, a capital used to finance specific adaptation projects in developing countries, to £1.5 billion by 2025.
Sunak, who last week said he would attend COP27, echoed French President Emmanuel Macron’s words in saying that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should not be used as an excuse to go back on promises on climate change.