When it rains for Sir Keir Starmer, it pours. Labour isn’t yet in the clear over the freebie fiasco that dampened the party’s conference this week and now another uncomfortable revelation has emerged. It transpires that Labour has chosen a new climate envoy with links to a hedge fund that donated millions to the party. The new appointee also appears to have had previous ties with, er, Extinction Rebellion.
Rachel Kyte has been made the new UK special representative for climate, filling a role that was awarded a six-figure salary of £130,000 when it was last taken. The climate envoy is, it turns out, on the advisory board of the Quadrature Climate Foundation. QCF was set up by Quadrature Capital, a hedge fund registered in the Cayman Islands which has donated a whopping £4 million to Sir Keir’s crowd. As concerns about cronyism and ‘cash for jobs’ continue to grow, the rather curious link poses yet more questions for Labour.
Kyte has found herself under fresh scrutiny after a picture of her wearing an Extinction Rebellion (XR) badge surfaced. In a photo of the climate envoy taken at a 2018 United Nations Climate Change conference, Kyte is seen wearing a black and white badge emblazoned with the XR logo, accompanying another representing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Mr S would remind readers that this particular eco-zealot protest group, set up in 2018, has not only been responsible for causing mass disruption across the country, but it has more recently also engaged in criminal activity. What an endorsement, eh?
One of Extinction Rebellion’s founders was handed a suspended sentence last year after causing over £15,000 worth of damage to the Guildhall when they sprayed it with red paint. In March this year, five eco-activists were convicted of causing ‘many thousands of pounds’ of criminal damage at JP Morgan’s European headquarters during an XR protest. Another of the group’s founders was found guilty of criminal damage of breaking a government department window in 2019, in a rage over HS2. Mr S could go on. The list is hardly exhaustive…
The Labour government has told Mr S that ‘Rachel Kyte is an outstanding choice to be climate special representative. She is a globally recognised expert on climate finance, with top level experience at the UN and World Bank. Few people have done more to promote making our financial system respond to the climate crisis.’ How curious. On the issue, XR themselves have rather helpfully said that: ‘Rachel Kyte does not have an official role with Extinction Rebellion but if she supports our demand for a citizens assembly, we’d be happy to speak with her.’ Perhaps it’s another new role she can add to her CV…
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