Latest reports show that climate science deniers are lining up a political offensive in Britain after a US lobby group opened a UK branch which is already working with Nigel Farage.
The Reform UK leader was the guest of honour at the launch of Heartland UK/Europe, which is to be headed by a former leader of Ukip and climate denier. The former prime minister Liz Truss was seen at the event in London, alongside current Tory MPs Andrew Griffith, who is the shadow trade minister, and Christopher Chope.
The establishment of this UK branch of the Heartland Institute – which has links to the incoming Trump administration and has drawn on funding from companies including ExxonMobil and wealthy US Republican donors – comes as Farage seeks to make hostility to net zero a centrepiece of Reform’s electoral pitch. Reform MPs have used speaking time in parliament to push for the scrapping of net zero targets and to call for new coalmines.
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Heartland has made some extreme and incorrect comments on climate. In the past, it has compared people who believe in global heating to the Unabomber, the US terrorist jailed for killing three people and injuring many others. It has also wrongly claimed heatwaves are not increasing in the US because of the climate crisis.
The Heartland Institute president, James Taylor, said: “During recent years, a growing number of policymakers in the UK and continental Europe have requested Heartland establish a satellite office to provide resources to conservative policymakers throughout Europe. With our UK and European launch, we aim to fulfil this requested impact throughout Europe.”
Lois Perry, who led Ukip until June and has described the climate emergency as “a scam”, will head the UK branch. She has made regular appearances on GB News, where she has played down the existence of, and threats posed by, the climate crisis.
The launch in December was held in the exclusive Brooks’s private members club in Mayfair, one of the few remaining gentlemen’s clubs that does not admit women.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
