Charity 'blocked' government bid to appoint Stanley Johnson as Cop26 ambassador

Boris Johnson faces new allegations of nepotism after have been revealed that charity bosses blocked a government bid to appoint the Prime Minister's father as an 'ambassador' at last year's climate change summit.

Wildlife charity WWF has rejected a request from the environment minister, a close friend of the Prime Minister and his wife Carrie Johnson, to add Stanley Johnson, 81, to its team of experts during the United Nations conference.

A well-placed source told The Independent that the government was “desperate that Stanley could go [to Cop26] as a official". The source said the request was rejected after a revolt by senior WWF officials, who claimed it would be "totally inappropriate".

A WWF spokesperson told The Independent: "By no means the point was that Stanley Johnson was offered a role with us at Cop26. A senior source at the charity said: 'We have been approached by the Minister for environment to cast Stanley Johnson in a role."

Lord Goldsmith told The Independent: "I don't remember what conversations I had about Stanley before the COP26. But given his long experience working for the environment, he would have been an asset to any team. There has recently been speculation that the Prime Minister has inquired about obtaining a knighthood for his father, or that he may award him a peerage in his resignation honors list.

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It was claimed last month that the Prime Minister had tried to get his wife, Carrie - who, like Mr Johnson Sr, is an environmental activist - a role of "ambassador" at Cop26. Separately, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case admitted inquiring about opportunities for Ms Johnson at the Earthshot Prize, an initiative run by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Asked about her plans to attend at Cop26 with the WWF, Stanley Johnson told The Independent: "It's all complete news to me. I think Zac explored opportunities for me to do things with them, but it had nothing to do with Cop26."

Mr Johnson Sr attended Cop26 with the Conservative Environment Network.

This is not the first time that the environmental interests of close family and friends of the Prime Minister are controversial.Lord Goldsmith is a former trustee of the Aspinall Foundation, a Kent wildlife charity, which hired Ms Johnson as its communications manager. brother, Ben Goldsmith, continues to be a director.

It was revealed p ar The Independent in June that the Charity Commission had asked Aspinall Foundation chairman, casino owner Damian Aspinall, to resign following an investigation into the charity's finances.< /p>

This came after the charity's 2021 accounts showed it paid over £150,000 in 'interior design services' to the chairman's wife, Victoria Aspinall, in 2020 The Aspinall Foundation said at the time that the fees charged by Ms. Aspinall were "subject to a rigorous benchmarking exercise to ensure that the foundation was getting value for money".