Boris Johnson skips a crisis meeting amid the looming life-threatening heatwave to host a party at his luxury country retreat in Checkers.
Ministers and experts gather at the Cabinet Office on Saturday afternoon for a Cobra meeting to prepare for temperatures reaching an unprecedented 40oC on Monday.
But the Prime Minister will be 30 miles away in Buckinghamshire at a party for friends and family before being kicked out of his country retreat in early September.
It comes after Mr Johnson and his wife Carrie had to abandon a previous plan to use Checkers for a postponed wedding reception following heavy criticism.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said: “Boris Johnson has gone missing in action again. He’s back to his old tricks of missing important Cobr meetings.
“The public will have no confidence in this zombified Tory government responding swiftly and decisively to this national emergency while this disgraced Prime Minister prepares to party while Britain boils.”
A Downing Street source told The Independent that it was “not unusual” for other Cabinet members, in this case cabinet minister Kim Malthouse, to chair Cobr meetings.
Mr Johnson’s absence is believed to reflect the controversy at the start of his premiership when he missed a series of meetings about the Covid pandemic while he settled his divorce and wrote a book on Shakespeare.
Chequers, a prime 16th-century mansion and the official country residence of British Prime Ministers since 1921, boasts an indoor swimming pool and hundreds of acres of gardens.
Official invitations to the party are believed to have been sent out earlier this week. A Tory source told Sky News: “It’s their farewell match at Checkers this weekend. All partners and children are invited.”
It is the second Cobr meeting Mr Malthouse has chaired on the threat posed by the heatwave in Mr Johnson’s absence, following an earlier meeting last Thursday.
Meteorologists estimate an 80 per cent chance the mercury will top the UK record temperature of 38.7C set in Cambridge in 2019 when the hot spell reaches its peak on Tuesday.
The Met Office issued its first red extreme heat warning covering parts of England from London to Manchester and York on Monday and Tuesday.
Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, hosted a special meeting to ensure the NHS, the Metropolitan Police, London Fire Brigade, London Ambulance Service, councils and Transport for London have a robust plan for the capital.
Ms Rayner added of Mr Johnson’s absence: “Where is the plan for delivering essential services and how people will be kept safe at work, on transport, in schools, hospitals and care homes?”
The Prime Minister is also believed to be preparing to skip Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons next Wednesday, which would be his last.
He is expected to attend a memorial service for slain former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in midweek.
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