Godfrey Bloom

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Godfrey Bloom

Credentials

Background

Godfrey Bloom is a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Yorkshire and the Humber, representing the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) between 2004 and 2013. He continued to sit as an independent for the remainder of his term, ending in May 2014.2โ€œGodfrey Bloom quits as UKIP MEP after ‘sluts’ joke row,โ€ BBC News, September 24, 2013. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/nLyEm 3Paul Gallagher. โ€œFormer Ukip bad boy Godfrey Bloom โ€˜horrifiedโ€™ as his firm is fined for gambling coupleโ€™s ยฃ2m,โ€ Independent, August 15, 2014. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/r09yz

According to his website, Godfrey Bloom served in the British Army in Germany from 1976, after attending the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He went on to work as an investment banker in the City of London and was director of TBO Investments between 1992 and 2004.4โ€œAbout,โ€ Godfrey Bloom Online. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/fID5j 5Simona Sikimic, โ€œMeet Godfrey Bloom, the Osborne of UKIP: โ€˜I hope thousands of public sector jobs will be lostโ€™,โ€ London Loves Business, May 22, 2013. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/DF5Sa 6Paul Gallagher. โ€œFormer Ukip bad boy Godfrey Bloom โ€˜horrifiedโ€™ as his firm is fined for gambling coupleโ€™s ยฃ2m,โ€ Independent, August 15, 2014. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/r09yz

Bloom describes himself as a โ€œlibertarian author,โ€ having published books on military history and the โ€œAustrian Schoolโ€ of economics, known for their advocacy of free markets and opposition to government intervention. He was briefly President of the Ludwig von Mises Centre โ€“ set up in 2017 โ€œto counter the nonsense of mainstream politics and mainstream economicsโ€ โ€“ before being removed following controversial tweets by Bloom.7โ€œAbout,โ€ Godfrey Bloom Online. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/fID5j 8โ€œHome,โ€ The Ludwig von Mises Centre. Archived January 7, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/qZyVg 9โ€œAnnouncement,โ€ The Ludwig von Mises Centre, December 18, 2017. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/SrfKK

Bloom is well-known for his climate science denial, telling the European Parliament in 2009 that global warming is a โ€œshamโ€ created to extract more tax from โ€œordinary people.โ€ In 2010, he was filmed praising the French secret service for sinking the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in 1985. Bloom received ยฃ3,000 from a shareholding in Shell in 2013, Euractiv revealed.10โ€œGodfrey Bloom slams global warming scam,โ€ YouTube video uploaded by user Europarl โ€“ EFDD Group on October 20, 2017. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog. 11โ€œMEP Godfrey Bloom hails Greenpeace ship attack,โ€ BBC News, February 10, 2010. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/qkzQm 12Arthur Nelsen. โ€œEx-UKIP MEP: Our climate change policy was โ€˜very amateurishโ€™,โ€ Euractiv, April 2, 2013. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/Fm2R3

In 2012, the Guardian revealed Bloom employed Ben Pile as a โ€œclimate and environment researcherโ€ for around ยฃ2,000 a month, despite having no formal environment remit with UKIP.13Leo Hickman. โ€œUkip’s Godfrey Bloom and the ยฃ2,000-a-month climate researcher,โ€ Guardian, November 6, 2012. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/lwIbM

Pile has produced a number of anti-wind power campaign videos and commentaries and regularly writes for the website Spiked, who were revealed in December 2018 to have received funding from the Koch brothers.14โ€œLost Horizons,โ€ YouTube video uploaded by user GoddersVision on November 11, 2017. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog. 15Ben Pile. โ€œThe world needs more energy, not green BS,โ€ Spiked, November 20, 2015. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/i1BdE 16Mike Small. โ€œRevealed: US Oil Billionaire Charles Koch Funds UK Anti-Environment Spiked Network,โ€ DeSmog UK, December 6, 2018.

Bloom gained notoriety in 2013 after striking a reporter outside UKIPโ€™s annual conference, after being questioned about the partyโ€™s lack of diversity. He had previously referred to a female audience as โ€œslutsโ€ during a fringe meeting at the conference. The month before, a video emerged of Bloom telling a local meeting that Britain should not be sending aid to โ€œbongo bongo land,โ€ calling aid programmes โ€œtreason.โ€17โ€œUKIP’s Godfrey Bloom under fire over ‘demeaning’ joke,โ€ BBC News, September 20, 2013. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/2SWe4 18Tim Shipman, Tamara Cohen, Matt Chorley. โ€œUKIP man in ‘Bongo Bongo land’ aid row storms out of TV interview after Channel 4 News presenter keeps asking him if he is a racist,โ€ MailOnline, August 8, 2013. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/g1d3H

Stance on Climate Change

October 2013

In an article on the Politics.co.uk website entitled โ€œHere’s the truth โ€“ there’s been no global warming since the 1990s,โ€ Bloom quoted the economist Bjorn Lomborg, who has long downplayed the risks associated with climate change:19Godfrey Bloom. โ€œHere’s the truth โ€“ there’s been no global warming since the 1990s,โ€ Politics.co.uk, October 7, 2013. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/wnuw8

โ€œPoliticians being simple folk, they do not seem to understand that there is a difference between global warming, climate change and their consequences. There is evidence of global warming. There is significantly less evidence of climate change.20Godfrey Bloom. โ€œHere’s the truth โ€“ there’s been no global warming since the 1990s,โ€ Politics.co.uk, October 7, 2013. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/wnuw8

โ€œThere is less than zero evidence of negative consequences of climate change: people are wealthier, healthier, and better protected from nature than at any point in human history โ€“ because of wealth, not the climate.โ€21Godfrey Bloom. โ€œHere’s the truth โ€“ there’s been no global warming since the 1990s,โ€ Politics.co.uk, October 7, 2013. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/wnuw8

October 20, 2009

Speaking in a parliamentary debate, Bloom described global warming as a a โ€œshamโ€ (emphasis added):22โ€œGodfrey Bloom slams global warming scam,โ€ YouTube video uploaded by user Europarl โ€“ EFDD Group on October 20, 2017. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

โ€œAs independent science has actually confirmed, that the globe is actually cooling, and has been cooling since 2002. Broadly flat since 1998. So weโ€™re all talking about something here which isnโ€™t happening.23โ€œGodfrey Bloom slams global warming scam,โ€ YouTube video uploaded by user Europarl โ€“ EFDD Group on October 20, 2017. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

โ€œIโ€™ve heard time and time again, members here talk of CO2 as a pollutant. A pollutant is a life-giving natural gas. It gives me the impression that some of our members havenโ€™t had the benefit of a formal education. 24โ€œGodfrey Bloom slams global warming scam,โ€ YouTube video uploaded by user Europarl โ€“ EFDD Group on October 20, 2017. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

โ€œIsnโ€™t this just about the state being able to get its hands in ordinary peopleโ€™s trouser pocket to steal, get more tax from, them? Isnโ€™t this all about political control? Isnโ€™t this all about politics and big business?25โ€œGodfrey Bloom slams global warming scam,โ€ YouTube video uploaded by user Europarl โ€“ EFDD Group on October 20, 2017. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

โ€œThe whole thingโ€™s a sham. This bogus hypothesis. This ridiculous nonsense that manmade CO2 is causing global warming. Enough please, before we damage irrevocably the global economy.โ€26โ€œGodfrey Bloom slams global warming scam,โ€ YouTube video uploaded by user Europarl โ€“ EFDD Group on October 20, 2017. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

Key Quotes

November 2009

Bloom accused the BBC of silencing climate sceptics on its programmes, saying:27Shamik Das. โ€œUKIP MEP stands by attack on โ€œbiased, censoringโ€ BBC,โ€ Left Foot Forward, November 30, 2009. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/4YY5Z

โ€œThe BBC has blocked sceptics of climate change for four years now, no debate is allowed on the BBC. It is biased reporting and it is censorship.โ€28Shamik Das. โ€œUKIP MEP stands by attack on โ€œbiased, censoringโ€ BBC,โ€ Left Foot Forward, November 30, 2009. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/4YY5Z

He told the website Left Foot Forward:

โ€œI absolutely stand by what I said. This is one of the most important subjects since the war. The whole thing has been a complete farce and a cover-up.โ€29Shamik Das. โ€œUKIP MEP stands by attack on โ€œbiased, censoringโ€ BBC,โ€ Left Foot Forward, November 30, 2009. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/4YY5Z

October 2009

Bloom told the BBC, ahead of the Copenhagen climate conference:30Len Tingle. โ€œClimate change: man-made or myth?,โ€ BBC Politics Show, October 11, 2009. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/4v0KU

โ€œAs far as I am concerned man-made global warming is nothing more than a hypothesis that hasn’t got any basis in fact.โ€31Len Tingle. โ€œClimate change: man-made or myth?,โ€ BBC Politics Show, October 11, 2009. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/4v0KU

Key Deeds

August 2014

Bloomโ€™s investment company, TBO Investments, was ordered to pay a retired couple ยฃ2m by the High Court, after giving โ€œnegligent adviceโ€ and โ€œgambling their money on mining and natural resource funds,โ€ The Independent reported.32Paul Gallagher. โ€œFormer Ukip bad boy Godfrey Bloom โ€˜horrifiedโ€™ as his firm is fined for gambling coupleโ€™s ยฃ2m,โ€ Independent, August 15, 2014. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/r09yz

October 2013

Bloom wrote a commentary for Politics.co.uk that argued there has been โ€œno global warming since the 1990s,โ€ in response to the release of the first part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changeโ€™s (IPCC) major report on the state of climate science.33Godfrey Bloom. โ€œHere’s the truth โ€“ there’s been no global warming since the 1990s,โ€ Politics.co.uk, October 7, 2013. Archived December 20, 2018. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/wnuw8

October 2009

In a debate in the European Parliament prior to the Copenhagen international climate negotiations Bloom said that global warming is a โ€œsham.โ€34โ€œGodfrey Bloom slams global warming scam,โ€ YouTube video uploaded by user Europarl โ€“ EFDD Group on October 20, 2017. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

May 2009

The Times reported that Bloom was using his European Parliament staff allowance to pay three assistants who were also employed by his investment company, TBO Investments.35David Brown, Fran Yeoman and Victoria Swalwell. โ€œUKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom pays assistants who also work for his investment firm,โ€ The Times, May 30, 2009. Archived December 20, 2018. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

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