The audience members at Monday’s COP27 event were left confused after United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was abruptly rushed out of the venue about two minutes after he went on the stage during the event. A video of Sunak’s aide approaching him in quick succession and then escorting him out was shared on Twitter by Leo Hickman, Director of UK-based Carbon Brief.
“UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has just been rushed out of the room by his aides during the middle of the launch for forests partnership at COP27,” Hickman tweeted.
According to Hickman who posted a video of the incident, Sunak was on stage for a climate change event when his aides interrupted him. In quick succession two of his aides came and persuaded Sunak to leave the event.
"About 2 mins before he left, an aide came onto stage and was whispering in his ear for more than a minute...there was a discussion going on about, it seems, whether to leave at that moment. Sunak stayed but another aide made the decision to go back to him and urge him to leave," he added.
While Sunak left the event abruptly, a report stated that there was no specific or major reason behind this “but a late decision to meet with Germans and South Africans.”
The United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly referred to as Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, or COP27, opened in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm-el-Sheikh on Sunday.
In a statement released by Downing Street earlier, it stated that Sunak will urge countries to deliver on the Glasgow Climate Pact and set out his intention to make the UK a clean energy superpower during the climate summit.