Coronavirus: Boris Johnson attacked over ‘shambolic’ response to outbreak after failing to contact China

Labour has branded the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak “shambolic” after it emerged that Boris Johnson’s father Stanley passed on a message from the ambassador of China expressing concern that the prime minister had not yet been in touch with Beijing about the crisis.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry - who is standing for the party’s leadership – said the incident exposed the prime minister as “lazy, inept and reckless”.

But Downing Street insisted that foreign secretary Dominic Raab and national security adviser Sir Mark Sedwill had both spoken with their Chinese counterparts over the past week, and said that Mr Johnson Sr was a private citizen who was not acting for the government in his contacts.

The email from the PM’s father - sent after a meeting with ambassador Liu Xiaoming to discuss environmental issues – came to light because he accidentally included a BBC journalist on the mailing list, alongside environment minister Zac Goldsmith and several officials.

In it he said: “Re the outbreak of coronavirus, Mr Liu obviously was concerned that there had not yet – so he asserted – been direct contact between the PM and Chinese head of state or government in terms of a personal message or telephone call.”

Mr Johnson also said he had raised the possibility of his son visiting China in October to attend the COP15 international conference on biodiversity.

Mr Liu later tweeted: “Thank you Mr Stanley Johnson for expressing your sympathy and support to the Chinese people who are fighting the novel coronavirus.

“With the support of British friends, we have the confidence and capability to beat the virus!”

Lord Goldsmith sent a reply to Mr Johnson, stating: “Thank you so much, Stanley. That is extremely useful”

After his note made headlines on BBC bulletins, Johnson Sr told the PA news agency: “I merely reported. I think I said in my short note the Chinese ambassador asserted...”

He added: “I was copying in someone who happened to have the same name as a lady at the BBC.

“These things happen.”

But Ms Thornberry was scathing in her response: ”Just when we thought Boris Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus crisis couldn’t get any more shambolic, we find out his bumbling father is acting as an unofficial envoy to the Chinese because his bumbling son can’t even be bothered to pick up the phone to his Chinese counterpart.

“No wonder British nationals in China at risk from this virus are feeling confused at the advice they’ve been given and abandoned by their own government.

“This is exactly the lazy, inept and reckless Boris Johnson that I shadowed for his two years as Foreign Secretary. He’s clearly learnt nothing since then.”

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We have been in close contact with the Chinese authorities from the beginning of the outbreak.

“The Foreign Secretary and the National Security Adviser have both spoken to their counterparts in the past week. We continue to work constructively with them.”

A Government source said Mr Johnson Sr is a prominent environmental campaigner and that it was “not surprising” that he had been in contact with the Chinese authorities when Beijing was preparing to host the COP15 summit.

So far, the coronavirus has killed 563 people, all but two of them in China, and infected 28,018. Some 240 cases have been confirmed outside China.

The Foreign Office has urged all British nationals to leave China due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Some 94 UK nationals and their family members have been evacuated from Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, to Britain, on two flights which arrived on Friday and Sunday.

They were taken to Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral, where they will spend 14 days in quarantine.