Piers Corbyn

Credentials

• B.Sc. in Physics, Imperial College London. [1]
• M.Sc. in Astrophysics, Queen Mary College, University of London. [2]

Background

Piers Corbyn is an astrophysicist who regularly speaks at climate science denial events. He is founder and director of the weather forecasting company WeatherAction. [3], [4], [5]

Corbyn bases his forecasts on activity happening on the surface of the sun. He claims the sun is the main driver behind changes in global temperature, rather than human activities and the burning of fossil fuels. [6]

His younger brother is Jeremy Corbyn MP, former leader of the UK’s Labour Party. There is no indication that Jeremy Corbyn shares Piers’ views on climate change, with Labour strongly committing to action on climate change in its latest party manifesto. [7]

Corbyn characterises climate science as a tool of “globalists” and sees George Soros as a kingpin in a global movement of “globalist elites” who are using climate science as a cover for deindustrialising the West. He has appeared at events alongside conspiracy theorists, including Holocaust denier Nicholas Kollerstrom. [8], [9]

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Corbyn has been at the forefront of promoting misinformation and conspiracy theories about Covid-19, and has led and attended a number of anti-lockdown protests. [29], [30]

Stance on Climate Change

October 2018

During a discussion on LBC radio, Corbyn rejected the findings of a recent UN report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: [10]

“This report is a pack of lies, it is anti-scientific nonsense based on fraud which is intended to regiment people into paying more in carbon taxes and help the oil companies increase profits by increasing prices.” [10]

“CO2 has no effect on the temperatures. The levels of CO2 are driven by temperatures.” [10]

January 2016

Corbyn told the Guardian: “I was thinking of using the weather to discover what the sun had been doing in the past… But then I thought, that’s just stupid: why not use the sun to predict what the weather will do in the future?” [6]

Key Quotes

February 2017

In an interview with fringe YouTube channel Windows On The World, Corbyn said:

“The warming that we are told about is 100 per cent fake.” [11]

On climate change science and policy, Corbyn said:

“It’s a massive ideological tool by the globalists who are under massive pressure right now to justify the de-industrialisation agenda making super profits for the biggest corporations and more and more money for the super rich.” [11]

January 2017

In one of his regular interviews with YouTube channel Windows on the World, Corbyn said that President Barack Obama’s climate change action plan was “part of a globalisation agenda to export jobs from the west and generally lower living standards worldwide to the benefit of this super elite.” [12]

January 2016

Speaking to The Guardian, Corbyn said:

“For one thing science doesn’t do settled opinions. And for another they are all wrong.” [6]

He also told The Guardian that former prime minister Margaret Thatcher plotted to popularise and endorse the science of man-made climate change, as a way of converting Britain from coal to nuclear power, to defeat striking miners. [6]

Indicating there is a network of climate science denying politicians who turn to him for advice, he told The Guardian:

“Graham Stringer, of Labour, is sympathetic.” He continued, “Sammy Wilson DUP, a number of Tories, Boris is very sympathetic [Johnson has often used Corbyn, in an unlikely alliance, as his climate guru]. Now I think we have George Galloway which is significant, because he can be very persuasive…” [6], [13]

Key Deeds

February 19, 2023

Speaking to the Oxford Mail after a protest in Oxford opposing the council’s proposed traffic reduction scheme, Piers Corbyn said:

“I support the people of Oxford opposing these 20 minute cities […] We’re also opposing zoning all over the country. They’re all about controlling you, charging you money and promoting the climate con.”

Corbyn added: “There’s no such thing as man-made climate change and that’s been used as an excuse to justify all sorts of tyrannical moves and we oppose them all.” [34]

February 4, 2021

Corbyn was arrested following the distribution of leaflets comparing COVID-19 vaccination efforts to the Holocaust, The Guardian reported. [33]

August 29, 2020

Corbyn spoke at a mass gathering in Trafalgar Square protesting against the Government’s coronavirus restrictions and mass vaccination. Speaking to a Guardian journalist before the event, Corbyn said:

“In terms of whether you believe the virus is a hoax or not, whatever is happening now is less than or equal to a normal flu, so the lockdowns and all that goes with them is unjustifiable in any terms.

“We are calling for MPs to refuse renewal of the Covid Act [Coronavirus Act], and if they do not, we will campaign to have them removed from office.”

Corbyn was arrested while on stage at the event and later issued with a £10,000 fine for his role in organising the protest in breach of coronavirus laws restricting public gatherings. [31], [32]

March 16, 2020

Corbyn tweeted that the coronavirus pandemic was “simulated” in October 2019 by “mega-rich control freaks” like Bill Gates and George Soros. He went on to write that the aim of the virus was to deal with the “CO2 problem” through a “world population cull” in a “mass vaccination plan containing poison”. Corbyn also called on his followers “#RefuseTheVaccine”. [28]

August 1, 2019

Corbyn appeared on a talkRADIO show in which he responded to news that the ten hottest years in the UK had occurred since 2002 by saying: [26]

“Their observation of this extra number of warm years since 2002 is that they’ve had an extra amount of climate fraud since 2002.”

He went on to say:

“This campaign to control climate by changing CO2 levels won’t achieve anything. It’s not there to control climate, it’s there to control you.”

Corbyn also stated that recently elected Prime Minister Boris Johnson previously “supported what I said and wrote some very positive things about my forecasts.” [26]

September 2016

Corbyn was an invited speaker to the “New Dawn of Truth” conference organised by the climate science denying Independent Committee on Geoethics (ICG). The ICG initially advertised the conference as being associated with the University of London. The university was quick to remove its support once it became aware of the group’s climate science denial. [14], [15]

At the conference, Corbyn declared his support for Clexit – a climate change denial campaign group formed shortly after the UK’s decision to leave the EU. According to Clexit’s founding statement (PDF), “The world must abandon this suicidal Global Warming crusade. Man does not and cannot control the climate.” [16]

March 2016

Corbyn appeared on BBC 1 programme The Big Picture, discussing whether it was “time to take climate change seriously?” His appearance was criticised for being misleading by many mainstream scientists, including the Met Office’s Michael Fish. [17]

December 2015

Corbyn Attended a meeting of climate science deniers in advance of the international climate change talks in Paris, in which the group agreed “the key messages they want to get across to the press,” Open Democracy reported. [18], [19]

Alongside Corbyn were UKIP MEP Stuart Agnew, prominent climate science denier Christopher Monckton, and Canadian Tom Harris, executive director of the International Climate Science Coalition and former operations director of the High Park Group, a Canadian lobbying company, and Breitbart London reporter James Delingpole. [20]

July 2014

Corbyn spoke at an event in the Houses of Parliament organised by DUP MP Sammy Wilson on behalf of “Repeal the Act” a group that argues the “climate is always changing.” [21], [22]

At the event, Corbyn claimed the jet stream is to blame for all bad weather (without mentioning the melting Arctic), declared war on termites, and sent a hearty congratulatory message to the Heartland Institute’s annual climate denial conference in Las Vegas. [21]

Also at the event were University of Sussex climate economist Richard Tol, fossil fuel funded former Conservative MP Peter Lilley, and Conservative MP for Monmouth David Davies. [23]

October 2010

Corbyn attended a meeting to celebrate “Climate Fools Day” – the anniversary of the day MPs passed the UK’s 2008 Climate Change Act. Corbyn is listed on the invite as an expert at “successfully predicting extreme weather events.” [24]

The meeting was organised by DUP MP and environment minister at the time, Sammy Wilson, and was held in the Houses of Parliament. The event was supported by Labour MP and now Global Warming Policy Foundation member Graham Stringer. One of the event invites read: “The danger is not Climate Change but Climate Change Policy – for which there is no evidence in justification.” [24]

July 14, 2008

Piers Corbyn was signatory to an open letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon calling for the UN to “lead the UN into abandoning the CO2-based theory of global warming and nullifying its former recommendations.” [27]

“The assertion that the recent rapid rise of CO2 is unique and dangerous is both deceptive and irrelevant because CO2 does not drive the world’s climate,” the letter claimed, adding “ there is clearly no evidence for the CO2-based theory of global warming. Indeed, there is only evidence against it.” [27]

The letter was signed by many notable climate change deniers, including but not limited to: [27]

• James Peden
• Vincent Gray
• Richard Courtney
• Hans Labohm
• Will Alexander
• Joseph D’Aleo

October 1995

Corbyn was present at what DeSmog has described as the UK’s “first major climate denial conference.” The conference was organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), and listed speakers including Fred Smith, the founder of the Koch-funded Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), who had flown over from the United States along with the coal-funded sceptic scientist Dr Patrick Michaels. [25]

Affiliations

• WeatherAction — Founder/director. [5], [4]
• Windows on the World — Regular interviewee. [12]
• Repeal the Act — Supporter. [22], [21]
• Clexit — Supporter. [16], [14]

Social Media

• @Piers_Corbyn on Twitter
• “Piers Corbyn” on Facebook

Publications

• “Heat-doom claims by the BBC–UN–EU Climate charlatans are false narrative + cover-up,” WeatherAction, August 1, 2018.
•  “MPs called on to justify their ‘Global Warming/Climate Change’ policies – letter to Environment Audit Chair Tim Yeo MP,” Climate Realists, July 11, 2008.
• “Letter: Green politics needed at Westminster to weather storms ahead,” The Guardian, July 24, 2007.
• “Basic physics supports solar activity as cause of global warming,” The Guardian, November 18, 2006.

Resources

1. “Don’t Bet on Man-Made Origins of Global Warming,” Executive Intelligence Review, June 1, 2007. Archived January 23, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/zMLlp
2. Quad, issue 16 (Spring 2007). Archived December 8, 2015. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/G1Rt4
3. Megan Darby. “Meet the sceptics: why science can’t compete with beachballs,” Climate Home News, July 11, 2014. Archived January 23, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/QUcQD
4. James Walker. “Channel 4 weather presenter takes aim at Express and other tabloids in crusade against ‘fake weather stories’,” Press Gazette, December 10, 2018. Archived January 23, 2019. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
5. “Home,” WeatherAction. Archived January 23, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/47rwH
6. Tim Adams. “Piers Corbyn: the other rebel in the family,” The Guardian, January 24, 2016. Archived January 23, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/Tguth
7. Mat Hope. “Leaked Labour Manifesto Promises ‘Leading Role’ on Tackling Climate Change,” DeSmog, May 11, 2017.
8. “Piers Corbyn – “CO2 Climate Change story is not science but a fraudulent POLITICAL mission to export jobs and make super-rich richer,” WeatherAction News, December 10, 2015. Archived January 23, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/qNyyl
9. Jake Wallis Simons. “EXCLUSIVE: Jeremy Corbyn’s brother Piers gives a speech alongside a notorious Holocaust denier and a 9/11 conspiracy theorist,” Daily Mail, November 13, 2016. Archived January 23, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/kh2Oa
10. “Piers Corbyn Clashes With Scientist Over Climate Change Report,” LBC, October 8, 2018. Archived January 23, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/7ebtk
11. “Climate Change Hoax Over?” YouTube video uploaded by user Windows On The World on February 12, 2017. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.
12. “Fake News and Fake Protests,” YouTube video uploaded by user Windows On The World on January 29, 2017. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.
13. Boris Johnson. “I can’t stand this December heat, but it has nothing to do with global warming,” The Telegraph, December 20, 2015. Archived January 9, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/eB5p3
14. Victoria Seabrook. “I Went to an Obscure Climate Science Denier Conference and This is What I Learned,” DeSmog, September 17, 2016.
15. Kyla Mandel. “Monckton’s Independent Committee on Geoethics’ Climate Science Denial Conference ‘Will Not Take Place at UCL’,” DeSmog, July 22, 2016.
16. “After Brexit, Clexit,” Clexit. Archived August 4, 2016. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
17. Victoria Ward. “Viewers criticise BBC for ‘misleading’ Piers Corbyn appearance,” The Telegraph, March 20, 2016. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/6RCIA. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
18. Brendan Montague. “Monckton Teams up with Climate Denier Philip Foster for Paris COP21 Disruption,” DeSmog, November 6, 2015.
19. Adam Ramsay. “Climate deniers agree their key messages for journalists (with a journalist in the room),” OpenDemocracy, December 3, 2015. Archived January 23, 2019. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
20. “Tom Harris,” Heartland Institute. Archived January 25, 2019. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
21. Cindy Baxter. “Richard Tol Dons Cloak of Climate Denial,” DeSmog, July 14, 2014.
22. “About,” Repeal the Act. Archived January 28, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/5xOjJ
23. Leo Hickman. “MP Peter Lilley has received more than $400,000 in oil company share options,” The Guardian, November 20, 2012. Archived December 29, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/tPPSs
24. Leo Hickman. “Cabal of climate sceptics to descend on UK parliament,” The Guardian, October 26, 2010. Archived January 18, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/bKE3s
25. Brendan Montague. “You’ll Never Guess Who Attended Britain’s First Major Climate Denial Conference,” DeSmog, February 11, 2015.
26. Daisy Busel. “Piers Corbyn: Met Office guilty of ‘climate fraud’,” talkRADIO, August 1, 2019. Archived August 6, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/o17cb
27. “The UN Climate Change Panel must be called to account and cease its deceptive practices- Policies based on false science must be ended” (PDF), July 14, 2008. Retrieved from ilovemycarbondioxide.com. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
28. Piers Corbyn. “The Cv Pandemic Was Simulated Oct 2019 By Mega-Rich Control Freaks Bill Gates, George Soros +Cronies. Now It’s For Real. The Aim Is A World Population Cull (“People Cause #Co2 Problem”) By Their Mass Vaccination Plan Containing Poison. *Refuse*Cv*Vaccine*,” Tweet by @Piers_Corbyn on March 16, 2020. Archived July 8, 2020. Retrieved from Twitter.com. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.
29. Nazia Parveen. “Piers Corbyn among 19 held in coronavirus lockdown protests,” Guardian, May 16, 2020. Archived July 8, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/jWXUY
30. Zak Derler. “Climate Science Deniers Use Coronavirus to Downplay Environmental Threats,” DeSmog, April 1, 2020.
31. Damien Gayle and Molly Blackall. “Coronavirus sceptics, conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers protest in London,” The Guardian, August 29, 2020. Archived September 1, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/bMNth
32. Damien Gayle, “Piers Corbyn fined £10,000 for organising anti-lockdown rally,” The Guardian, August 30, 2020. Archived September 1, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/QJyvA
33. Ben Quinn. “Piers Corbyn arrested over leaflets comparing vaccine programme to Auschwitz,” The Guardian, February 4, 2021. Archived February 8, 2021. Archive.vn URL: https://archive.vn/KgHJi 
34. Tom Seaward. “Anti-LTN and ‘climate lockdown’ protest brings thousands to Oxford,” Oxford Mail, February 19, 2023. Archived February 19, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.is/4Qd2P

Other Resources

• “Piers Corbyn,” Wikipedia.
• “Piers Corbyn,” Sourcewatch.

Image credit: YouTube video screenshot.