Boris Johnson has unleashed the ghost of Margaret Thatcher – and frightened off potential voters

In the coalfields, Thatcherism is remembered not just for throwing miners on the scrapheap but destroying whole communities. Boris Johnson’s ill-judged remarks will rankle, writes Andrew Grice

The prime minister on board the Esvagt Alba during a visit to the Moray Offshore Windfarm East, off the Aberdeenshire coast (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Boris Johnson’s ill-judged remarks that Margaret Thatcher gave the fight against climate change “a big early start” by closing coal mines are a disaster for the prime minister.

It doesn’t matter if it was another of his half-joking but highly damaging comments that Dominic Cummings, formerly his closest adviser, now chronicles daily. Those few words will be what most Scots remember from his two-day visit to the country. They will also have been noticed in the north, Midlands and Wales, where pit closures are no laughing matter.

To make matters worse, Johnson stopped short of apologising, his official spokesman saying only that the prime minister “recognises the huge impact and pain closing coal mines had in communities across the UK”. He could instead have turned this story round by promising to learn lessons from the pit closures by protecting communities affected by the transition away from oil and gas to achieve “net zero”.