The Greens like to portray themselves as the party of hope and change. But what exactly does that entail? An enlightening answer perhaps comes from Joe Taylor, the Green candidate for Battersea. In his zeal to save the planet, he advocates using legal action against those whom he holds responsible for climate change. But not just any ordinary legal action – Taylor has previously argued that ‘Conservative politicians’ have ‘already cast their die and booked their places at the climate Nuremberg.’ Quite the incendiary claim, given that the Nuremberg trials obviously concerned the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime before and during the Second World War…
Having previously tweeted about a ‘climate Nuremberg’, Taylor then allegedly made a similar claim at a hustings on Sunday night. When Mr S got in touch with Taylor to confirm that this was correct, he responded on Twitter/X with a 17-long tweet thread on the subject. He argued that ‘there are several groups who are using international criminal law to seek the prosecution of those who cause mass death, mass suffering and annihilation of low-lying states through climate destruction’ and that ‘It must surely be only a matter of time before some of them are successful.’ ‘What I said at the hustings,’ he added ‘is that we could also be talking about newspapers and magazines who have consistently lied about climate science.’
Cheery stuff – and, er, crucially not a denial of the claim that he specifically referenced Nuremberg at the aforementioned hustings. The Green party press office declined to tell Steerpike whether they supported Taylor’s comments but confirmed that they were investigating the matter. Is this the ‘real hope, real change’ that the party is promising on 4 July?
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