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How he opened the summit We’re building back greener and building back fairer and building back more equal ... Maybe in a more gender neutral, a more feminine way BORIS JOHNSON

BORIS Johnson yesterday urged world leaders to rebuild the post-Covid economy in a ‘gender neutral’ and ‘more feminine’ way.

The Prime Minister told fellow G7 leaders that they had to ensure the recovery from Covid made the world ‘fairer’.

In introductory remarks to the summit in Cornwall, Mr Johnson said: ‘What’s gone wrong with this pandemic, what risks being a lasting scar, is the inequalities that have been entrenched. We need to make sure that as we recover, we level up across our societies – we need to build back better.’

The Prime Minister added that he wanted to be sure the world will ‘never have a repeat of what we have seen’, adding: ‘But also that we’re building back better together... And building back greener. And building back fairer.

‘And building back more equal. Maybe in a more gender neutral, a more feminine, way.’

The remarks come after Tory ministers faced accusations of waging a ‘war on woke’. Mr Johnson has been accused of sexism in the past and has previously ducked questions about whether he considers himself to be ‘woke’.

But No 10 last night insisted that his remarks reflected the Prime Minister’s focus on girls’ education. The UK yesterday committed an extra £430million of aid money to improve education opportunities for one billion of the world’s poorest children, mostly girls.

Mr Johnson said it was a ‘source of international shame’ that millions still did not receive a proper education. He added: ‘The best way we can lift countries out of poverty and lead a global recovery is by investing in education and particularly girls’ education.’

His remarks came at the formal opening of the summit, which is the first gathering of world leaders since the pandemic began.

The Prime Minister told leaders including Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel that it was ‘genuinely wonderful to see everybody in person’ after ‘the most wretched pandemic the world has faced for at least our lifetimes’.

Earlier, he and his new wife Carrie Johnson greeted the leaders and their spouses with elbow bumps on the beach at Carbis Bay.

The leaders then posed for socially distanced pictures.

As they returned along a specially constructed wooden gangway in the sand, the US President’s wife Jill Biden joked: ‘I feel like we are at a wedding,’ prompting Britain’s newly-wed Prime Minister to remark that it was like ‘walking down the aisle’. Mrs Merkel, who is

attending her last major summit before stepping down as German Chancellor, ushered Mr Johnson to the front of the line as host of the summit.

The manoeuvre allowed French President Emmanuel Macron to buttonhole Mr Biden for an animated conversation as the leaders returned to the summit venue.

President Biden urged the watching media to go swimming, quipping ‘everyone in the water’.

Mr Johnson earlier took the opportunity for a dip in the sea. Mrs Johnson remarked that she had spotted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in his trunks.

Mr Johnson also told the G7 that the world must learn from the mistakes of the pandemic. But he predicted the leading economies would ‘bounce back very strongly’ from the recession.

In remarks that will be seen as a rejection of austerity, the Prime Minister said the group of leading democracies should avoid the errors that followed the 2008 financial crash, ensuring the recovery helped all parts of society. ‘It is vital that we don’t repeat the mistake of the last great crisis, the last great economic recession of 2008, when the recovery was not uniform across all parts of society,’ he said.

The G7 nations will promise a billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines to help poorer countries tackle the pandemic, with Mr Johnson promising at least 100 million surplus doses from the UK over the coming year.

Mr Johnson had a diplomatic triumph on Thursday when he met Mr Biden for the President’s first overseas talks. But Mrs Merkel will travel to the US in July, beating Mr Johnson to the White House.