It has been discovered that a Greenpeace activist who disrupted Liz Truss’s first address as party leader at the Tory conference previously worked for members of the Commons.
Before being hauled away by security, Ami McCarthy heckled the prime minister during her opening remarks to Conservative members in Birmingham today.
Midway through Ms. Truss’ address in Birmingham, policy officer Ami, together with Rebecca Newsom, Greenpeace’s director of public relations, unfurled a banner before yelling, “Who voted for fracking?”
It has been discovered that the former University of London graduate spent more than a year working in the Commons.
Ms. McCarthy worked as a legislative assistant from September 2017 to July 2018 before transitioning to a role as a policy consultant in July 2018 that she held for four months.
She writes lengthy status updates on Facebook where she discusses the day’s happenings. She bemoaned how the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in London had been interpreted in a tweet from June 2020.
A protester threw a bike and other projectiles at a mounted policewoman’s horse the day before, causing her to be brutally thrown into traffic lights outside Downing Street and suffer a fractured collar bone, broken ribs, and a punctured lung.
Ms. McCarthy commented in response to the incident: “That policewoman who fell off her horse yesterday rode directly into a traffic light when they began rushing at demonstrators entirely out of the blue.” Her suffering from falling from her horse is not greater than the suffering of the demonstrators.
She attacked British foreign policy in another article on August 11, 2020, claiming that the British Army had “ruin[ed] much of the planet.”
She commented, “Always find it intriguing that the individuals who support the British Army going abroad to trash most of the globe are often the same people who have the largest difficulty with asylum seekers and immigration.”
We destroyed everything and murdered men, women, and children who were civilians everywhere. We aid in illegitimate wars and oppressive regimes, and we provide tyrants with weapons so they may murder their own people. Of course individuals would go for another location to feel secure.
Following today’s interruption, Ms. Truss was heard ordering security, “Let’s have them removed,” as the crowd booed her.
A security agent was spotted taking Ms. McCarthy’s lanyard as the two were hauled out of the conference room after about 30 seconds.
Standing ovations followed the Prime Minister’s jest that the demonstrators were a member of the “anti-growth coalition.”
Ms. McCarthy left the Commons in October 2018 to work for the homeless charity Shelter. She started off in that position as a public relations officer before being promoted to senior public affairs officer in September 2019. This year in March, she became a member of Greenpeace.
Ms. McCarthy has been outspoken on environmental problems as well as Brexit and gay rights, denouncing assaults on members of the LGBTQ community. Additionally, she has spoken against racism in open remarks on her Facebook page.
After the new PM upset environmentalists by repealing the ban on fracking put in place by Boris Johnson and supporting fresh North Sea oil and gas exploitation, Ms. McCarthy staged her most recent demonstration in Birmingham.
Greenpeace charged Ms. Truss of “shredding” her party’s environmental and natural resources pledges in a news statement issued today.
The organisation referenced a recent YouGov study that revealed 81% of UK people think nature is under danger.
Who voted for this? said Rebecca Newsom, director of public relations for Greenpeace UK. People should get the government program they voted for in a healthy democracy, but Liz Truss is slashing much of it to pieces.
“People voted for robust climate action, a ban on fracking, industry-leading environmental safeguards, and addressing poverty and injustice.
Instead, “what they’re getting is fracking, the possible destruction of laws protecting animals and the environment, and now the threat of welfare cutbacks.”
As the Energy Secretary supported drilling in his yard earlier this week, Jacob Rees-Mogg rejected the notion of local referendums to test support for the use of fracking.
Despite opponents highlighting fears about earthquakes, the Cabinet minister claimed he would be “delighted” for shale gas production to begin at his Somerset rural home.
By eliminating the ban put in place in England to avoid earthquakes, Ms. Truss has infuriated some Conservative MPs and disobeyed a Tory campaign commitment.
The prime minister has promised to exclusively permit fracking in regions where it is supported by the local population, but he has not yet provided any specifics.
The concept of holding referendums to allow drilling and onshore wind projects, another contentious issue among Conservatives, was rejected by Mr. Rees-Mogg, who is also the Business Secretary.
In his remarks at the Tory convention, he said that businesses may determine support by “going door to door, like politicians do in elections.”
He said at a Telegraph event, “Then they have to go around to an identified community and if they receive 50% plus one in favor then they should be permitted to go forward.”
Early debates about how to accomplish it are taking place. The participation in local referendums may be pretty low, so how much actual validity would that provide you as to consent? I don’t believe they are always a good idea.
He suggested paying damages to those whose lives were affected by construction activity first, followed by royalties for the neighborhood, in order to win over inhabitants.
“I believe that those who are inconvenienced by the construction work should be compensated for it, and that should be a payment to them,” he stated.
“And after that, you need to have a royalty for the shale gas producers,” the speaker said.
Mr. Rees-Mogg was excited to welcome fracking on his property, which is the 17th-century Gournay Court in the parish of West Harptree.
Yes, I would, of course. In particular, if I get these earnings, I would be thrilled,” he said.
Rees-Mogg said that Caroline Lucas of the Green Party and other “socialists” were against fracking, saying, “Well, it makes my heart bleed.”
Ms. Truss dismissed the demonstrations today and pledged to usher in a “new era” for Britain.
The prime minister declared that she is determined to lead the nation through the “tempest” of the global economic crisis following Covid and the war in Ukraine after a meeting in Birmingham marred by disagreements over tax rates and benefits.
Ms. Truss asserted, citing her tax breaks and energy bill rescue since becoming the No. 10 position: “I refused to condemn our magnificent nation to decline.”
She said that “growth, growth, and growth” were her top three economic goals. Growth, she said, “means more money in people’s wallets.”
She described how she attended a comprehensive school and was once awarded a junior hostess badge while her brothers earned a junior pilot badge in a very personal plea in which she claimed to have “fought” to be where she is now.
Just a few minutes into her address, Ms. Truss had entered the stage to the song Moving on Up by M People as her husband Hugh watched.
Ms. Truss made a statement that was very tory in that she “liked” business and entrepreneurship. I won’t tell you what to think, do, or how to live your life, she said.
I don’t care how many two-for-one deals you pick up at the store, how you spend your free time, or virtue signaling.
“I don’t want to merely talk about things; I want to accomplish things,” the speaker declares.
The hopes and worries you experience on a daily basis are what intrigue me, she said. Can you get a decent job in your area? Is it ok to stroll along the main street after dark? Can you schedule a medical appointment?
“I understand how you feel since I share your aspirations and concerns.” I want what you desire.
I think you are the greatest person to decide how to spend your own money, she said, and that is what conservatism is all about.