Tree-hugging isn’t just for the Greens, it seems – as former Tory leadership contender James Cleverly will insist this evening. At a London event tonight, the ex-Foreign Secretary will make the case that Conservatives should care about the climate and urge his colleagues to reject ‘both the luddite Left and the luddite Right’ on green policy. ‘Conservative environmentalism doesn’t mean a choice between growth and sustainability,’ Cleverly will tell the Conservative Environment Network tonight in a dig at both the Labour government and Reform UK.
The former Cabinet Secretary will speak this evening at the annual Sam Baker Memorial Lecture – where he will award Tory MP Andrew Griffith for championing the marine environment of Chagos. Cleverly will tell his audience that the country must ‘push further, faster and smarter’ on green tech, before going on:
The idea that we must choose between a strong economy and protecting our environment is outdated. The future I believe in is one where these two aims go hand in hand, driving innovation and opportunity.
We are caught between two tribes of Neo-Luddites: The negative Right, claiming that the way things are now is just fine, [that] concerns about emissions, habitat loss, and falling yields are scaremongering. Their motto: all change, even for the better, is a bad idea. And the negative Left, suspicious of technology. Believing things were better before the car, the internal combustion engine, before the steam engine, before the wheel. The ‘let’s not move forward’ tribe is in a bidding war with the ‘let’s move backwards’ tribe. They’re both wrong.
Shots fired! Mr S can’t imagine Reform’s Richard Tice, with his ‘net stupid zero’ mantra, will be all too impressed…
It’s not quite on message, however, given Cleverly’s party leader Kemi Badenoch insisted in a departure from Conservative green policy in March that ‘net zero by 2050 is impossible’, adding: ‘Anyone who has done any serious analysis knows it can’t be achieved without a serious drop in our living standards or by bankrupting us.’ While the CEN blasted Badenoch’s remarks at the time – with the think tank slamming her move to ditch the 2050 target as a ‘mistake’ – Cleverly’s speech won’t mention his party leader by name.
After the Tory backbencher enjoyed a warm reception from members at the Tory party conference during the Conservative leadership race last year, his latest intervention has sparked speculation he could be angling for another crack at the whip. Especially after he told GB News in April about running once more: ‘I just say, never say never again.’ How very curious…
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