Boris Johnson Appoints Climate Science Denier as Wales Minister and Assistant Whip

picture-25876-1571179299.jpg
on

One of Boris Johnsonโ€™s first moves as the UKโ€™s newly elected Prime Minister has been to put a climate science denier in theย government.

Monmouth MP David T.C. Davies has been made a Minister in the Wales Office, and Assistant Government Whip. He has previously claimed that it is โ€œnot provenโ€ that carbon dioxide is responsible for what he describes as a โ€œrelatively smallโ€ amount of global warming since the industrialย revolution.

In a parliamentary debate to ratify the Paris Agreement in 2016, Davies repeated the debunked trope that the climate has always been changing. In the same debate, he blamed the BBC for accepting โ€œhook, line and sinker the so-called scientific consensus on climateย changeโ€.


Like what you’re reading? Support DeSmog by becoming a Patron today!


In March 2018, in his regular column for the South Wales Argus, Davies accused the UNโ€™s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of beingย โ€œalarmistsโ€.ย 

He also criticised the governmentโ€™s approach to pursuing low carbon energy saying, โ€œan unholy coalition of environmentalists working with big businesses have persuaded various British ministers to phase out cheap electricity from coal and gas and replace it with non-CO2 generating alternatives such as wind, solar and nuclear.โ€ As a government whip, Davies will be partly responsible for delivering the governmentโ€™s agenda, including its climate policy and pledge to make UK emissions net-zero byย 2050.ย 

The Conservativeโ€™s 2019 general election manifesto said the party supported the development of new offshore wind power and nuclear energy, would not support fracking for shale gas, and would โ€œlead the global fight against climate changeโ€. Those messages were echoed in todayโ€™s Queenโ€™s speech laying out the governmentโ€™s agenda, alongside re-affirming the governmentโ€™s commitment to hosting next yearโ€™s annual UN climate talks and creating a โ€œworld-leadingโ€ greenย watchdog.

Davies has not responded to questions from DeSmog about whether he fully supports the governmentโ€™s position on climate changeย and agrees with mainstream science on the seriousness of climateย change.


Read more about David T.C. Davies’ (mis)deeds in DeSmog’s Disinformationย Database


DeSmog has previously reported on how Boris Johnsonโ€™s first cabinet, which remains largely unchanged, was one of the least amenable to climate action in recentย history.ย 

Daviesโ€™ position on climate change echoes that of Leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, who has likewise publicly doubted the veracity of mainstream climate science and blamed โ€œclimate alarmismโ€ for energyย prices.

Johnson has himself previously questioned what he described as the โ€œconventional doctrine of climate changeโ€, and admitted to consulting notorious climate science denier Piers Corbyn, calling him a โ€œgreat physicist andย meteorologistโ€.ย 

The Prime Ministerโ€™s views appear to have evolved since then, though the governmentโ€™s official advisors the Committee on Climate Change last week felt compelled to write and urge him to get the UKโ€™s โ€œhouse in orderโ€ regarding climateย action.

Image: Chris McAndrew/Wikimedia Commons CC BYย 3.0

picture-25876-1571179299.jpg
Mat was DeSmog's Special Projects and Investigations Editor, and Operations Director of DeSmog UK Ltd. He was DeSmog UKโ€™s Editor from October 2017 to March 2021, having previously been an editor at Nature Climate Change and analyst at Carbon Brief.

Related Posts

on

The head of the CO2 Coalition tells DeSmog that Wright agrees carbon dioxide is โ€œnot the demon molecule, itโ€™s the miracle molecule.โ€

The head of the CO2 Coalition tells DeSmog that Wright agrees carbon dioxide is โ€œnot the demon molecule, itโ€™s the miracle molecule.โ€
on

Reformโ€™s deputy leader represents a high climate risk constituency while calling CO2 โ€œplant foodโ€.

Reformโ€™s deputy leader represents a high climate risk constituency while calling CO2 โ€œplant foodโ€.
Analysis
on

Carbon myths, UN conspiracies and more magical thinking on display at the partyโ€™s annual meeting.

Carbon myths, UN conspiracies and more magical thinking on display at the partyโ€™s annual meeting.
on

Jeremy Clarkson spreads well-worn conspiracy theory that casts inheritance farm tax policy as plot to โ€œreplace farmers with migrantsโ€.

Jeremy Clarkson spreads well-worn conspiracy theory that casts inheritance farm tax policy as plot to โ€œreplace farmers with migrantsโ€.