Boris Johnson urged Britons to have a ‘staycation’ this summer – saying he personally plans on taking advantage of the ‘fantastic’ holiday options in the UK.
The PM, who has a new baby with fiancee Carrie Symonds, said it is a ‘great year’ to take a break in this country, with the globe still struggling to get coronavirus under control.
Although Mr Johnson insisted he ‘totally understood’ if people felt the need to go abroad, the intervention will heap pressure on MPs and ministers to follow suit. Chancellor Rishi Sunak is also expected to take his holiday in the UK.
It comes despite the government opening up ‘air bridges’ to dozens of popular destinations so people can venture further afield.
Speaking on a visit to London ambulance service HQ this morning, Mr Johnson said: ‘I think this is a great, great year for people to have a staycation.
‘This country is uniquely blessed with fantastic places to holiday, whether coastal or otherwise.
‘And I am certainly going to be doing that, but I won’t necessarily tell you where at this stage.
‘Obviously if people feel the need for a foreign holiday then that’s completely a matter for them, I totally understand it, but there are fantastic, fantastic places, peerless, wonderful, superlative places in the UK to go on holiday and that’s certainly what I will be doing.’
Speaking on a visit to London ambulance service HQ this morning, Boris Johnson said: ‘I think this is a great, great year for people to have a staycation.’
Britons are able to stay overnight in self-contained accommodation – including hotels and bed and breakfasts – as well as campsites since coronavirus lockdown measures were eased on July 4
Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are both set to shun foreign holidays this summer and instead favour ‘staycations’ in the UK, sources suggest. Pictured: Mr Johnson on holiday on the Greek island of Trikeri in 2016 – when he was Foreign Secretary
Mr Johnson has opted for luxury overseas holidays in the past, including spending Christmas in the Caribbean island of Mustique. It is there that he is believed to have proposed to have proposed to his now-fiancée Carrie Symonds (pictured together)
Mr Sunak (pictured) has a selection of four potential properties to spend the summer in, which he owns with his wife Akshata Murthy
Britons are able to stay overnight in self-contained accommodation – including hotels and bed and breakfasts – as well as campsites since coronavirus lockdown measures were eased on July 4.
But 67 countries were taken off the Foreign Office’s ‘non-essential travel’ list earlier this month, and 14-day quarantine rules have been dropped for arrivals from more than 70 places.
Mr Johnson has opted for luxury overseas holidays in the past, including spending Christmas in the Caribbean island of Mustique.
It is there that he is believed to have proposed to have proposed to Mr Symonds before their son Wilfred arrived in May.
Mr Sunak has a selection of four potential properties to spend the summer in, which he owns with his wife Akshata Murthy, including this magnificent Georgian manor in North Yorkshire
Mr Sunak with his wife, Akshata, and their two daughters Krishna and Anoushka
Mr Johnson and Miss Symonds are said to be deciding on where to go in the UK with their two-month-old son Wilfred (pictured) in the coming weeks
He was also pictured on holiday on the Greek island of Trikeri in 2016 – when he was Foreign Secretary.
Mr Johnson and Ms Symonds are still said to be deciding on where to go in the UK with their two-month-old son Wilfred in the coming weeks.
He has a variety of options, including the PM’s grace-and-favour homes Chevening and Chequers – where Miss Symonds isolated while pregnant during the pandemic – and his privately-owned farmhouse in Oxfordshire.
Mr Sunak has a selection of four potential properties to spend the summer in, which he owns with his wife Akshata Murthy.
These include a magnificent Georgian manor in North Yorkshire as well as a £7million property in London.
Mr Johnson’s father Stanley earlier faced fierce criticism for travelling abroad to Greece when the Foreign Office guidance said Britons should not go abroad unless they have to.
He flew to Athens via Bulgaria due to a current ban on direct flights from the UK, before visiting his Villa Irene, on Mount Pelion, in central Greece.
The Prime Minister’s father was seen checking his phone at a tavern in Horto village on Thursday
The Prime Minister’s father (pictured) has faced fierce criticism this week for flying to Greece but protested his innocence when spotted by reporters yesterday on return from an afternoon swim in Pilion
But the Prime Minister’s father said he was visiting on ‘essential business’ because he needed to ‘Covid-proof my property’ ahead of the letting season.
Referring to his residence in Greece, Mr Johnson told reporters: ‘I came here to have a quiet time, to organise the house.
‘I think I’m going to go back on July 10. So, I have just got one week to get everything organised. Got a whole lot of instructions about how to make the place Covid proof.’
By some local accounts, he arrived to the region by private car after documenting his controversial journey from the UK on social media, sharing a video taken from a plane and a selfie where his face was covered with a white mask.
Hounded by local and international media in Pelion, a visibly unnerved Mr Johnson said he was unaware of the outcry in Britain about his flight.
Still, he conceded scrapping pictures that he posted on social media accounts, tracking his journey.
‘It is true I took the pictures down,’ he said. ‘But I didn’t put them up in spirit of defiance…. I certainly had no intention of provoking anyone.’