On Wednesday, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson turned sixty years old. His wife, Carrie Johnson, gifted him three life-size wooden elephants as a unique birthday present, with the elephants destined for a charitable project in India. Images of the herd being unloaded and set up on the family’s Oxfordshire property, under the watchful eye of their young son Wilfred, were shared on Carrie Johnson’s Instagram account.
The wooden elephants are part of an initiative by The Great Elephant Migration, a charitable organization dedicated to promoting the peaceful coexistence of humans and animals. The charity raises funds for biodiversity conservation programs through the sale of these intricately crafted elephants, which start at approximately USD 8,500. Carrie Johnson’s Instagram post expressed her support for the charity, calling it a “very special 60th birthday present.”
According to the charity’s website, the elephants are crafted from Lantana camara, one of the most invasive weeds globally. This toxic shrub spreads rapidly and has taken over 300,000 square kilometers of India’s Protected Areas, driving animals away from their natural habitats and into cities, leading to increased conflict between humans and wildlife. The charity explains that using lantana to create the elephants helps clear the weed from protected areas, providing more space for wildlife to roam.
The charity describes the lantana elephants as beautiful and available in four sizes, making them suitable for various locations, including gardens, businesses, estates, and schools. Each elephant is meticulously crafted using dried lantana camara wrapped around a steel rebar frame and coated with Osmo Oil for protection. The Elephant Family, a US and UK registered charity, is the parent organization of The Great Elephant Migration. It was founded to use storytelling and creativity to encourage and facilitate human populations coexisting with wildlife.
Meanwhile, the Conservative Party, currently led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, faces mounting pressure ahead of the upcoming general election on July 4. Earlier this week, Sunak applauded Johnson’s use of social media to back certain Conservative Party candidates. However, despite Johnson’s intention to return from vacation just in time for the election, his active participation in the campaign remains uncertain. The former Prime Minister resigned following the COVID-19 lockdown law-breaking parties at Downing Street.
Adding to the Conservatives’ woes, a significant pre-election poll predicted substantial losses for the ruling party and significant gains for the opposition Labour Party. In its initial multilevel regression and post-stratification (MRP) model for the 2024 election, IPSOS predicted the Conservatives to gain 115 seats, while the Keir Starmer-led Labour Party is predicted to gain 453 seats, resulting in a historic majority of 256. This prediction places the Sunak-led Tories at a record low and their lowest vote share since the 2019 federal election.
Labour has consistently held a 20-point advantage in surveys, but the IPSOS study presents the largest estimate of their potential majority to date. Kelly Beaver, chief executive of IPSOS UK and Ireland, stated that Labour is increasing its vote share across the country, particularly in Scotland and the North East, while the Conservatives are losing votes in all regions, especially in the East and South of England and across the Midlands. Beaver highlighted that the Conservatives’ most concerning loss in vote share is in areas where they were strongest in 2019.
