The Conservative party leader and several leading members of her new Shadow Cabinet have ties to the opaquely-funded group campaigning against plans to reach Net Zero
Kemi Badenoch. Photo: Abdullah Bailey / Alamy
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Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, her new Shadow Net Zero Secretary Clare Coutinho, and several other Shadow Cabinet members, have all taken donations from funders of a Tufton Street climate science denial group.
Badenoch, who has described herself as a “Net Zero sceptic” and promised to fight against what her campaign has described as “radical environmental politics”, has appointed a series of new Shadow Cabinet members who have received donations from funders of the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF).
The GWPF was founded by the former Conservative Chancellor Nigel Lawson, who has downplayed the threat from climate change, saying that it is something humanity “can perfectly well live with”.
In recent years it has been lobbying against Government plans to reach Net Zero by 2050 and has played down the link between man made climate change and extreme weather events, stating earlier this year that it is a “mistaken belief that weather extremes – such as heatwaves, flooding, droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires – are more common and more intense today because of climate change”.
Conservative leadership favourite Kemi Badenoch is running her campaign from the home of a wealthy Tufton Street donor
Olly Haynes
Badenoch announced her new list of Shadow Cabinet members on Tuesday. Among those re-appointed was the Shadow Net Zero Secretary Clare Coutinho.
Coutinho has received thousands of pounds in donations from the Australian hedge fund billionaire Michael Hintze, who was a leading funder of the GWPF. Hintze also donated £3,000 to her former colleague and Conservative Environment Secretary Steve Barclay.
At least three other members of Badenoch’s Shadow Cabinet also have connections to funders of the GWPF.
Badenoch’s new Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel received a £10,000 donation from Hintze for her own leadership campaign. Patel last year called on Rishi Sunak to scrap the Government’s Net Zero plans, saying “the public are not ready” to make the changes necessary to reach the target.
The new Shadow Science and Technology Secretary Alan Mak also received £2000 from Hintze earlier this year. Mak was among those backing Sunak’s decision to row back on the then Government’s climate change plans.
The new Shadow Leader of the House, Jesse Norman also received a £2,000 donation from another funder of the GWP, in currency trader Neil Record.
As Byline Times recently reported, Record also provided funding for Badenoch’s own leadership campaign, whose campaign office was reportedly based at his house.
Record is chair of the GWPF’s campaigning arm Net Zero Watch, which has called for the use of renewable energy to be “wound down” and be replaced by the “rapid” expansion of fossil fuel extraction.
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Neither Net Zero Watch, nor the GWPF declare their funders and they have denied connections to the fossil fuel industry.
However, US tax records previously revealed that the GWPF had received funding from groups with oil and gas interests.
The Conservative party was contacted for comment but had not responded by the time of publication.
This post was originally published on here
