BORIS JOHNSON once again ducked his responsibility to address the climate emergency today when he shunned activists’ demands for a meeting at Tory HQ.

Extinction Rebellion (XR) campaigners waited outside the Conservative Party headquarters in Westminster at midday, hoping that the PM would accept their written invitation to a face-to-face discussion on tackling the global warming crisis.

But the letter, penned by XR hunger strikers Pete Cole, 76, and Marko Stephanov, 67, last Friday, was ignored.

The pair, who haven’t eaten for 22 days while on hunger strike outside the building, expressed their “disappointment” that none of the party’s staff had engaged with them.

Asked whether Mr Johnson giving them the cold shoulder reflected a lack of Tory commitment to tackling the crisis, Mr Cole said: “Yes, definitely … and we also see this in their manifesto, which pledges to be carbon neutral by 2050.”

Mr Cole, who will continue his strike until Thursday, told the Star that Conservative Party employees had been instructed not to talk to them.

Mr Johnson’s no-show is in line with his failure to address the climate emergency during the current election campaign. He refused to take part in a Channel 4 debate on the issue last week.

Tory candidates have also declined 50 invitations to attend climate hustings around the country.

Earlier today, XR activists also blocked some of the country’s worst polluted roads.

In London, a group closed Cranbourn Street outside Leicester Square Tube station by glueing themselves to 25 bright yellow breezeblocks.

XR said each block represented the 25 Londoners who die every day because of air pollution.

Parallel actions also took place on main roads in Manchester, York, Yeoville and Weymouth.

At the Leicester Square action, which used the slogan “Air we grieve,” activists invited passers-by to take part in political theatre by trying out fake oxygen masks.

XR activist and actor Rob Callender told the Star that the masks represented oxygen bars that are gaining popularity in the Indian capital New Delhi, where customers can buy 15-minute blasts of fresh air for 500 rupees (£5.35).

“We took this idea to London to confront people with the idea that fresh air will become a commodity that only the rich can afford,” Mr Callender said.

Outside the Tory HQ, Mr Cole also touched on class disparity and the climate crisis.

Commenting on the party’s unwillingness to address the issue, he said: “I think they really feel that the 1 per cent of the population that they represent can spend their way of it.”