Charles Moore Charles Moore

Will Keir Starmer condemn Greenpeace?

Credit: PA Media 
issue 12 August 2023

Sir Keir Starmer’s piece in the Times on Monday was presumably constructed round the front-page headline Labour wanted – ‘Just Stop Oil tactics are contemptible, says Starmer’. Behind the headline, and therefore unnoticed, was his argument that the Tories are wrong to allow new drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea, and Labour is right to allow only old drilling. This wedge between the two main parties is relatively trivial, since both are still committed to getting rid of all new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 and therefore on course to create what Sir Keir, speaking of Just Stop Oil, calls ‘chaos for working people’. 

Will Sir Keir also condemn Greenpeace’s invasion of Rishi Sunak’s house in Yorkshire last week? The ex-BBC Green zealot, Roger Harrabin, whose outpourings I follow with fascination, tweeted as follows: ‘Even if you hate @GreenpeaceUK, you might give them credit for a really smart stunt, draping @RishiSunak house in black.

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