- He risked a diplomatic row with the remarks in a virtual speech to the One Planet Summit yesterday
- Pangolins are heavily-trafficked scaly anteater-like creatures found across Asia used in Chinese medicine
- Endangered species blamed for transmitting the virus from wild bats to humans via wet market in Wuhan
Boris Johnson has come under fire from his own party for publicly shaming China's use of traditional medicine and blaming the 'demented' practice of harvesting pangolin scales for causing coronavirus.
Conservative insiders detected the Prime Minister's fiancée Carrie Symonds' influence in his incendiary remarks, which has sparked a furious row with Beijing.