As the threat to life from the looming heatwave continues to crystallize, the prime minister has opted to skip Saturday’s meeting. Instead, he stayed at his retreat in Chuckers, where he is due to host a thank-you party for his supporters on Sunday. Britain is bracing for record temperatures, possibly up to 40C on Monday. The threat has already prompted the closure of some schools, warnings of a ‘nightmare’ for the NHS and instructions to train passengers not to travel unless absolutely necessary. On Friday, the Met Office issued its first red warning for extreme heat – indicating a risk of “serious illness or danger to life”, even for healthy people. The UK’s Health Safety Executive, Isabel Oliver, yesterday pointed out that during a much colder heatwave last year, 1,600 people died. The government’s response was led by Cabinet Office minister Keith Malthouse, who chaired the Cobra meeting in Johnson’s absence, prompting Labor deputy leader Angela Rayner to accuse the prime minister of “missing in action”. An old tire is exposed at low tide on the River Carew, Pembrokeshire. Photo: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images “The public will have no confidence in this zombie Tory government to respond quickly and decisively to this national emergency as this disgraced prime minister prepares to party while Britain boils,” he said. Downing Street insiders said it was not unusual for senior ministers other than the prime minister to chair a Cobra meeting. The government has been accused of being slow to offer advice on how to deal with the heat. After the Cobra meeting, Malthouse said: “If people don’t have to travel, this might be a time to work from home.” But the work-from-home revolution is more likely to reverse – temporarily at least – with workers heading to air-conditioned offices. Mark Dixon, founder of IWG, a flexible workspace provider, said it was particularly busy in the south east of England. “We have seen an increase in inquiries in the past week and we suspect the warm weather is playing a role,” he said. Network Rail is advising passengers to only use services if “absolutely necessary”, and Londoners are being asked not to travel on Monday and Tuesday. Transport staff in the capital yesterday inspected air-conditioning units on the underground network and air-cooling units on double-decker buses to ensure they were working. In Hampshire, sanders are spreading sand on roads to prevent damage from heavy vehicles as the asphalt starts to melt. Malthouse confirmed that transport services are experiencing “significant disruption”. Sunburnt grass in Greenwich Park, south-east London, on Saturday. Photo: Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images Health experts also warned that older hospitals could become uncomfortably hot. Dr Claire Bronze, A&E consultant in London, said: “We are concerned about how [the heat] it is going to affect patients and staff. Many buildings are without air conditioning or windows that open – so they are extremely hot.” These warnings were echoed by James Bowen, policy director for the National Union of Headteachers, who pressed the government to improve the condition of school buildings. “As we learned during the pandemic, too many are simply not fit for purpose, with even basic ventilation a challenge in some cases,” he said. Some schools will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, while others have shortened their day or asked parents to send children to lessons in PE kit or other cool clothes. Other schools chose to cancel events such as sports days. As fires tore through vast swathes of southern Europe, UK fire chiefs warned that similar scenes in England and Wales were “almost inevitable”, with new data revealing the number of outbreaks has already reached record levels. More than 350 fires have been reported in the UK so far this year, eclipsing last year’s previous record high of 247 in less than six months. The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) said people living on the fringes of cities, close to farmers’ fields, were most at risk from wildfires and that the UK’s national park landscapes could also put people at risk . Paul Hedley, the NFCC’s national fire chief and chief fire officer for Northumberland, said firefighters across England and Wales were mobilizing. “The services are standing: they are preparing to respond, but I think it is almost inevitable that we will see more big fires in the next five or six days,” Hedley told the Observer. Yesterday, police reported a series of moorland fires near Manchester which they believe were deliberately started. Many fires are started by disposable barbecues, campfires or candles in airborne sky lanterns. Some national parks have issued conservation orders on public lands, effectively banning the use of disposable barbecues, which can get so hot that, even without a spark, they can start fires in peat-rich soil.
