Rishi Sunak confirmed on Wednesday that he will attend the Cop27 climate change conference next week in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh after all after earlier saying he wanted to stay at home and focus on the financial statement due to be made on November 17.

Sunak tweeted: “There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change. There is no energy security without investing in renewables.

“That is why I will attend Cop27 next week: to deliver on Glasgow’s legacy of building a secure and sustainable future.”

The Prime Minister’s official spokeswoman explained: “He has always recognised the importance of this summit and indeed on tackling climate change more generally. We wanted to make sure we were making good progress on the Government’s domestic agenda and the Autumn Statement in particular.

“Following discussions with the Chancellor (Jeremy Hunt) this week he has now agreed to attend.

“The Prime Minister feels there is sufficient space to make this trip.”

It was a message Rishi repeated when he and Keir Starmer clashed in the Commons during Prime Minister’s Questions.

According to the BBC, the contest was a draw: “It was Rishi Sunak’s second Prime Minister’s Questions and the result was the same as his first outing against Keir Starmer as the pair exchanged jabs but failed to deliver a knockout blow.”

The Prime Minister’s change of heart was welcomed by Alok Sharma, the Cop26 president, who said he was “delighted” Rishi was attending Cop27 — “completely agree with his comment that ‘there is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change’.” Boris Johnson has announced he will be attending Cop27 as a guest of the Egyptian government.

But King Charles will not go.

Labour’s shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband attacked the Prime Minister: “The Prime Minister has been shamed into going to Cop27 by the torrent of disbelief that he would fail to turn up. He is going to avoid embarrassment, not to provide leadership.”

In the bigger scheme of things, although Cop27 is important what will shape Rishi’s premiership is the autumn statement on November 17, which is aimed at calming the market after the chaos caused by the unfunded tax cuts in the mini-budget that was introduced by Liz Truss and her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng.

Labour is worried that although it is ahead of the Tories in the polls, Rishi has very quickly gone past Starmer at a personal level.

Hence, Labour is now trying to destabilise Rishi on a number of fronts — his controversial appointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary, and the growing crisis caused by thousands of migrants crossing the channel in small boats and arriving on the shores of Kent.

Labour focused not on the migrant numbers but on how they were being housed in very poor conditions at a “processing centre” in Manston, Kent.