 at the Oxfordshire home where he lives with his third wife Carrie and their three children. The local council's countryside officer, however, has lodged a holding objection, protesting that the Johnsons' pool poses a threat to the local population of newts.){kind=link}
Former prime minister tried to make it easier for developers to relocate newts to speed up the build of new homes
For great crested newts everywhere, this will feel like revenge.
Three years ago Boris Johnson, when prime minister, had railed against the amphibian, blaming the protected species for the slow rate of new home building in the UK.
“Newt-counting delays,” said Mr Johnson in a keynote speech in July 2020, “are a massive drag on the productivity and the prosperity of this country.”
But the great crested newt – despite being no more than six inches long and weighing in at only a third of an ounce – is fighting back.