Revealed: Climate Denier Neil Record Backs Tory Energy and Climate Change Minister Matthew Hancock

R2uAVsWy_400x400
on

Conservative energy and climate change minister Matthew Hancock has accepted £18,000 in donations from climate sceptic Neil Record it has been revealed today by the Guardian.

Neil Record, a City currency manager and trustee of the free market Institute of Economic Affairs, was exposed by DeSmog UK last September as a key backer of Nigel Lawson’s climate denial lobby group, the Global Warming Policy Foundation.

Record has separately given more than £300,000 to the Conservative party but, according to the Electoral Commission, Hancock (pictured) is the only individual MP he has backed.

When DeSmog UK asked Record how much he gave to Lawson’s charity, he replied this was “a private matter on which I am not prepared to comment further.” DeSmog UK estimates the donations to be higher than £100,000.

The link between Hancock and Record was uncovered by a member of Greenpeace. John Sauven, the NGO’s director, said this further undermines the government’s record on climate change.

Speaking to the Guardian, Sauven said: “It says something that we have an energy and climate change minister who hates wind, loves fracking, and accepts large sums of cash from a central figure in a climate sceptic lobby group.”

Earlier this month, Hancock came under heavy criticism for chartering a private aircraft from Aberdeen to London despite there being numerous scheduled services that day. Campaigners argued that it undermined Britain’s stance on tackling climate change.

Commenting on today’s revelation, Caroline Flint, Labour’s shadow energy and climate change secretary, said it showed “why the Tories can’t tackle climate change and have zero credibility on this issue.”

Read more about Record’s donations to Hancock on the Guardian website.

Photo: The Independent via Creative Commons

R2uAVsWy_400x400
Kyla is a freelance writer and editor with work appearing in the New York Times, National Geographic, HuffPost, Mother Jones, and Outside. She is also a member of the Society for Environmental Journalists.

Related Posts

on

A DeSmog review of 12 large-scale projects reveals a litany of cost-overruns and missed targets, with a net increase in emissions.

A DeSmog review of 12 large-scale projects reveals a litany of cost-overruns and missed targets, with a net increase in emissions.
Analysis
on

The oil industry’s push to portray carbon capture as a climate solution at COP28 obscures how the technology is really being used.

The oil industry’s push to portray carbon capture as a climate solution at COP28 obscures how the technology is really being used.
on

New research finds Eni continued to push oil and gas agenda despite knowing potential for climate risk since 1970.

New research finds Eni continued to push oil and gas agenda despite knowing potential for climate risk since 1970.
on

Shaikh Nawaf Saud Al-Sabah dropped this ‘very simple’ projection at a World Petroleum Congress panel in Calgary Wednesday.

Shaikh Nawaf Saud Al-Sabah dropped this ‘very simple’ projection at a World Petroleum Congress panel in Calgary Wednesday.