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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">main gukked</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://yyy.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/03/no-great-escape-tory-scales-fence-and-bins-to-exit-climate-hustings-lewes</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">Bikson said she cared deeply about the environment and that she “did her bit” but concluded, to further groans: “It’s all about us, there is no such thing as government. Government is just people.”</span></font></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Though she eventually gained polite applause, Bikson left the stage after other candidates made speeches and the event was opened to questions from the audience.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, when she left via the fire escape she found herself outside in a dead end as the school gates were locked. Rather than trudging back through the packed hall to get out, she pondered her predicament for up to 45 minutes before opting to climb over the fence.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bikson’s great escape would have stayed secret were it not for a 13-year-old girl who saw the incident at Priory school.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The teenager, who did not wish to be named, said: “I left about an hour early and about half an hour after she [Bikson] left the stage. I came outside and I was about to cycle off and she was behind the gate next to our school canteen which was locked and said, ‘excuse me, can you help me?’ She sounded quite desperate. I said the only way back out is through the auditorium and she said she didn’t want to go back through the auditorium because of everyone. She said ‘they all despise me … and they don’t want me to go back in there’.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Explaining that she felt sorry for the stranded politician, the teenager added: “I went back into the canteen to try and open the door from the inside [allowing her a route of escape] but it was locked. Then I got a caretaker. I said a caretaker is coming but she said, ‘don’t worry, I’ll just climb over the gate’. And she got up on the school bins and climbed over the gate. She’d been out there for a while.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After hearing the tale, the schoolgirl’s mother, who runs a business managing composers, brought the councillor’s ordeal to a wider audience, posting on Facebook: “Lewes Tory MP Maria Caulfield failed to show for tonight’s climate hustings. Her last-minute replacement left the hall before the questions, having first explained that she knew nothing about climate or the environment.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conservative Party gets vast sums from an elite club of super wealthy donors that have made their money from polluting industries or are involved in backing climate science denial in the UK,.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An analysis of the list provided by openDemocracy by DeSmog shows a significant handful of the Tory party’s elite donors have ties to climate science denial or have made their money through particularly polluting dealings in some of the world’s most unstable regions. Read more...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.desmog.co.uk/2019/11/25/revealed-super-wealthy-tory-donors-ties-climate-science-denial-and-fossil-fuels</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conservative Party gets vast sums from an elite club of super wealthy donors that have made their money from polluting industries or are involved in backing climate science denial in the UK, a new analysis shows.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While the Labour party mainly gets by on small donations from lots of people, the Tories receive by far the largest donations from a select group. If donors give enough – at least £50,000 a year, to be precise – they get to be part of an elite club known as the ‘Leader's Group’, who get to wine and dine with Tory bigwigs, including the Prime Minister himself.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Analysis by investigative journalists at openDemocracy breaks these donations down by sector. It shows the elite group is increasingly led by those working in the financial sector and hedge funds, with many pro-EU members fleeing the organisation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Conservative Party hasn’t published a list of attendees to Leader's Group events since the first half of 2018. A staff member in the Conservative Treasurer's Department told openDemocracy that they thought publishing details of Leader's Group donors was “a directive of David Cameron's, many years back” that had since ceased. No such lists have been produced in the six weeks since openDemocracy’s request was made.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In response to the investigation, Labour shadow cabinet office minister Jon Trickett wrote to Conservative chairman James Cleverly calling for “much greater transparency in how the Conservative Party handles its political donations and relationships with rich and powerful elites”.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An analysis of the list provided by openDemocracy by DeSmog shows a significant handful of the Tory party’s elite donors have ties to climate science denial or have made their money through particularly polluting dealings in some of the world’s most unstable regions.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...[graf]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Climate science denial backers</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A couple of names on the list revealed by Open Democracy have ties to the UK’s principal climate science denial campaign group, the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michael Hintze is a long-standing Tory donor, who also bankrolled the Vote Leave campaign. He is one of the few known GWPF funders. He has also given significant sums to MPs with questionable climate credentials, including Boris Johnson.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hintze is a trustee of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a lobby group with strong ties to other pro-Brexit, pro-market deregulation, anti-environmental groups based out of offices in and around 55 Tufton Street. The IEA is funded by BP and tobacco firms, among others.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hintze was instrumental in setting up Atlantic Bridge, a thinktank founded by former International Trade Secretary Liam Fox. In 2007, the group established a special partnership with US free-market lobby group the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), known for its efforts to quash climate policy. The group dissolved in 2011 after a Charity Commission investigation concluded Atlantic Bridge had been undertaking overly political work.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hintze is also a major donor to the Natural History Museum, which was criticised for naming one of its galleries after him after receiving a £5 million donation given his support for climate science denial.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Read the full openDemocracy investigation -&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Revealed: The elite dining club behind £130m+ donations to the Tories</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another Leader's Group member with ties to the UK’s climate science denial network is David Ord, co-owner of First Corporate Shipping (FCS). Ord co-owns FCS, which is the trading name for Bristol Port, with Terence Mordaunt – a GWPF director.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FCS has given very large donations to the Conservative Party and leading Tory politicians. Most recently giving £25,000 each to Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt in May 2019, in advance of the Conservative leadership election.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Energy industry members</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is a group of energy industry magnates that still form an important bloc with the Leader's Group, many of whom have operated in some of the world’s most unstable regions, and seemingly with different motivations for donating large sums to be part of it.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Middle East interests</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The benefits were perhaps most obvious for Ayman Asfari, chief executive of Jersey-registered oil services provider Petrofrac. In September 2019, Petrofrac had a deal for an oil refinery in Oman backed by UK Export Finance (UKEF), a government agency tasked with supporting British enterprises abroad. It wasn’t the first time Petrofrac had secured a UKEF deal. The £733 million deal was criticised by campaigners at the time, who pointed out that Petrofrac was also under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office for suspected bribery, corruption and money laundering. In February 2019, Petrofrac’s Global Head of Sales, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of bribery relating to contracts worth billions of pounds in Iran and Saudi Arabia.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Petrofrac has recently been accused of keeping separate accounts to facilitate bribes and corruption in Kazakhstan between 2003 and 2010. The company denies the allegation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In summer 2016, Asfari had met with Boris Johnson and other ministers to discuss the political situation in Syria. Asfari and his wife have donated almost £900,000 to the Conservative Party since 2009, according to Electoral Commission data, which doesn’t include Leader's Group data.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Petrofrac spokesperson told DeSmog that, “Petrofac does not make political contributions or engage in political activity.” “Donations by Mr Asfari to the Conservative Party were made several years ago in a personal capacity. Mr Asfari is no longer a donor,” they added.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Map by Richard Collett-White using data provided by openDemocracy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another donor with oil interests in the Middle East that is also part of the Leader's Group is Abdul-Majid Jafar, chief executive of Crescent Petroleum. The company has natural gas operations in Kurdistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, and was recently involved in some controversy in Iran. Given those interests, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Jafar is a leading voice calling for the expansion of gas operations, diversifying away from just oil, in the region.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jafar has given over £400,000 to the Conservative Party since 2010, and was one of the donors to bankroll a visit by a group of MPs to Libya in 2017, under the auspices of the Conservative Middle East Council (CMEC).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another long-standing Tory party donor who made his fortune through fossil fuel operations in controversial circumstances is Ian Roper Taylor, chairman of oil trader The Vitol Group. Roper Taylor has given over £2 million to the Conservative Party since 2011. Roper Taylor is also chairman of the Royal Opera House.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The company has been criticised for its dealings in countries subject to sanctions, such as Iran and Iraq, as well as its involvement with questionable individuals such as Serbian warlord Željko Ražnatovic, better known as Arkan. Vitol has also been accused of ripping off vulnerable states such as Mozambique, and continues to operate in countries with poor reputations for corporate governance, such as Nigeria and Azerbaijan.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Brazilian oil trader this month claimed to have received bribes from the group to secure Vitol favourable terms with state oil company Petrobras. Vitol said in a statement that the company has a zero tolerance policy towards bribery and corruption, and continues to cooperate with relevant authorities.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roper Taylor is no stranger to political campaigning. He gave £500,000 to the Better Together campaign, which pushed for Scotland to remain part of the UK in advance of the 2014 referendum. And unlike the current leadership of the Conservative party, Roper Taylor is staunchly anti-Brexit and reportedly donated to the Remain campaign. Nonetheless, he donated £100,000 to the Conservative party as recently as April 2019, long after it had set its stall out for a hard Brexit.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A spokesperson for Vitol told DeSmog, “Vitol does not make any political donations” and that it “is therefore not part of the 'Leader's Group'. “Any donations made by employees, including Mr Taylor, are made in a personal capacity,” they added.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">North Sea and UK interests</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Current chief executive of UK-based fossil fuel company Enquest and former Petrofrac employee, Amjad Bseisu, is also part of the Leader's Group. He most recently hit headlines for taking a £1.3 million pay rise in April 2019.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bseisu has lobbied for support to maximise exploration for fossil fuels in the North Sea, where Enquest operates. Cairn Energy, which also holds licenses for fracking blocks in the UK also has a large stake in Enquest. Bseisu’s own family also purchased 400,000 Enquest shares in October 2019.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bseisu has given over £400,000 to the Conservative Party since 2014. He has also donated to Nadhim Zahawi, the Conservative MP for Stratford-on-Avon, who has a background in oil and gas exploration.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another energy magnate sitting within the Leader's Group with significant North Sea interests is Alasdair Locke, the former chief executive of oil and gas services company, the Abbott Group, which has operated in the North Sea and Africa. Locke is also non-executive chairman of India’s Hardy Oil and Gas, and is reportedly worth £230 million. He invested heavily in petrol stations in 2018 through The Motor Group and has interests in North Sea oil and gas decommissioning through Well Safe Solutions Plc. He has donated over £500,000 to the Conservative Party since 2013.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Locke is joined by Michael Heller, chairman of coal mining company Bisichi, which holds the controlling stake in the Black Wattle Colliery mine in South Africa. Bisichi is listed on London’s junior stock exchange, the Alternative Investment Market, which has been described as a “wild west” for investors looking to profit from polluting activities abroad.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Heller was recently criticised for signing-off a £900,000 pay-packet for his son, Andrew Heller, the chief executive of Bisichi, despite the company only being worth around £11 million. Bisichi’s business model is underwritten by a large UK property portfolio, worth £14 million according to the company’s website.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Richard Barr, chairman of Centrax Industries, a company that makes gas power turbines based in the England’s Southwest, is also a member of the Leader's Group. Centrax has given almost £150,000 to the Conservative Party and its MPs since 2010.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ukrainian connection</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Three members of Offshore Group Newcastle, a company that fabricates steel for oil platforms, have also been members of the Leader's Group. The company has donated almost £500,000 to the Conservative Party since 2012.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">OGN is now in liquidation, but one of its former directors, Alexander Temerko, remains very politically active. He has given the Conservative Party and Tory MPs over £600,000 as an individual since 2012.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ukrainian-born Temerko became a British citizen in 2011, describes himself as a “vocal champion of UK energy security and independence.” He is the former deputy chairman of Russia’s Yukos Oil Company. He is currently director of AQUIND Limited, which is building an electricity interconnector between the UK and mainland Europe.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">openDemocracy reports that Temerko is said to be particularly close to Boris Johnson, with the two men sometimes calling each other “Sasha”, the Russian diminutive for Alexander, which is Johnson’s real first name. Temerko was reportedly involved in an unsuccessful attempt led by members of a group of hardline Conservative MPs, the European Research Group, to remove Theresa May as leader in December 2018.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">OGN directors David Edwards and Dennis Clarke were also members of the Leader's Group, but Edwards deceased in May 2017 and Clarke retired the same year.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Conservative Party and all the donors named here have been contacted for comment.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">UK National Health Service staff to lead protest against Trump visit amid rising privatization concerns</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jessica Corbett / Common Dreams</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The demonstration plans come as new research reveals that nearly £15 billion in health service contracts have been given to private firms since 2015, casting doubt on Tories' claims that NHS isn't "up for sale."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party_(UK)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party,[13] known informally as the Tories, and historically also known as the Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom. The governing party since 2010, it is the largest in the House of Commons, with 288 Members of Parliament, and also has 234 members of the House of Lords, 4 members of the European Parliament, 31 Members of the Scottish Parliament, 11 members of the Welsh Assembly, 8 members of the London Assembly and 7,445 local councillors.[12]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Conservative Party was founded in 1834 from the Tory Party—the Conservatives' colloquial name is "Tories"—and was one of two dominant political parties in the nineteenth century, along with the Liberal Party. Under Benjamin Disraeli it played a preeminent role in politics at the height of the British Empire. In 1912, the Liberal Unionist Party merged with the party to form the Conservative and Unionist Party. In the 1920s, the Labour Party surpassed the Liberals as the Conservatives' main rivals. Conservative Prime Ministers — notably Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher — led governments for 57 years of the twentieth century.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Positioned on the centre-right of British politics, the Conservative Party is ideologically conservative.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Different factions have dominated the party at different times, including One Nation Conservatives, Thatcherites, and liberal conservatives, while its views and policies have changed throughout its history. The party has generally adopted liberal economic policies—favouring free market economics, limiting state regulation, and pursuing privatisation—although in the past has also supported protectionism. The party is British unionist, opposing both Irish reunification and Welsh and Scottish independence, and historically supported the maintenance of the British Empire. The party includes those with differing views on the European Union, with Eurosceptic and pro-European wings. Since the 2016 EU membership referendum, the party has endorsed Brexit. On social policy, it has historically taken a more socially conservative approach, though this has receded over recent decades. In foreign policy, it favours a strong military capability, being supportive of British participation in NATO.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Conservatives are a member of the International Democrat Union and the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe, and sit with the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) parliamentary group. The Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish and Gibraltarian branches of the party are semi-autonomous. Its support base consists primarily of middle-class voters, especially in rural areas of England, and its domination of British politics throughout the twentieth century has led to it being referred to as one of the most successful political parties in the Western world.[14][15][16]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>History</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.1<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Origins</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.2<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Conservatives and Unionists (1867–1914)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.3<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>First World War</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.4<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>1920–1945</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.5<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>1945–1963</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.5.1<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Popular dissatisfaction</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.5.2<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Modernising the party</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.6<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Edward Heath (1965–1975)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.7<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Margaret Thatcher (1975–1990)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.8<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>John Major (1990–1997)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.9<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Back in opposition (1997–2005)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.9.1<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>William Hague</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.9.2<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.10<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>David Cameron (2005–2016)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.11<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Theresa May (2016–2019)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.11.1<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Islamophobia</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.12<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Boris Johnson (2019–present)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Policies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.1<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Economic policy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.2<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Social policy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.3<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Foreign policy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.4<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Defence</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.4.1<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Afghanistan</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.4.2<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Strategic Defence and Security Review</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.4.3<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Europe and NATO</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.4.4<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Nuclear weapons</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.5<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Health policy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.6<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Drug policies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.7<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Education and research</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.8<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Family policy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.9<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Jobs and welfare policy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.10<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Energy and climate change policy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.11<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Justice and crime policy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.12<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>European Union policy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.13<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Union policy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.14<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>British constitution</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Organisation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.1<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Party structure</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.2<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Membership</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.3<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Prospective parliamentary candidates</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.4<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Young Conservatives</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.5<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Conferences</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.6<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Funding</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.7<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>International organisations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Party factions</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4.1<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Traditionalist Conservatives</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4.2<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>One-nation Conservatives</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4.3<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Free-market Conservatives</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4.4<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Relationships between the factions</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Electoral performance and campaigns</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5.1<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>UK-wide elections</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5.1.1<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>UK general elections</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5.1.2<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>European Parliament elections</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5.2<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Devolved assembly elections</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5.2.1<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Scottish Parliament elections</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5.2.2<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Welsh Assembly elections</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5.2.3<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Northern Ireland devolved elections</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5.2.4<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>London Assembly and mayoral elections</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5.2.5<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Combined authority elections</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Associated groups</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6.1<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Ideological groups</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6.2<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Interest groups</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6.3<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Think tanks</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6.4<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Alliances</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6.5<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Party structures</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">7<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>See also</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Notes</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">9<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Bibliography</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">10<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Further reading</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">10.1<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Historiography</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">11<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>External links</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">History</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">David Cameron (2005–2016)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Further information: Political positions of David Cameron and Premiership of David Cameron</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2010–2016)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">David Cameron won the 2005 leadership election. Cameron defeated his closest rival, David Davis, by a margin of more than two to one, taking 134,446 votes to 64,398. He then announced his intention to reform and realign the Conservatives, saying they needed to change the way they looked, felt, thought and behaved, advocating a more centre-right stance as opposed to their recent staunchly right-wing platform.[73] Although Cameron's views are probably to the left of the party membership and he sought to make the Conservative brand more attractive to young, socially liberal voters,[74] he has also expressed his admiration for Margaret Thatcher, describing himself as a "big fan of Thatcher's", though he questions whether that makes him a "Thatcherite". For most of 2006 and the first half of 2007, polls showed leads over Labour for the Conservatives.[75]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Polls became more volatile in summer 2007 with the accession of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, although polls gave the Conservatives a lead after October of that year and, by May 2008, with the UK's economy sliding into its first recession since 1992, and a week after local council elections, a YouGov poll commissioned by The Sun newspaper was published giving the Conservative Party a 26-point lead over Labour, its largest lead since 1968.[76] The Conservatives gained control of the London mayoralty for the first time in May 2008 after Boris Johnson defeated the Labour incumbent, Ken Livingstone.[77]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Conservative lead in the opinion polls had been almost unbroken for nearly three years when Britain finally went to the polls on 6 May 2010, though since the turn of 2010 most polls had shown the Conservative lead as less than 10 points wide. The election resulted in a hung parliament with the Conservatives having the most seats (306) but being twenty seats short of an overall majority. Following the resignation of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party five days afterwards, David Cameron was named as the country's new Prime Minister and the Conservatives entered government in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats—the first post-war coalition government.[78]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In May 2014, the Conservatives were defeated in the European parliamentary elections coming in third place behind the UK Independence Party and Labour. UKIP ended with 24 MEPs, Labour 20, and the Conservatives 19. The result was described by UKIP leader Nigel Farage as "disastrous" for Cameron, and the leaders of the other main parties.[79]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In September 2014, the Unionist side, championed by Labour as well as by the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats, won in the Scottish Independence referendum by 55% No to 45% Yes on the question "Should Scotland be an independent country". This can be seen as a victory for British Unionism, a core part of traditional Conservative ideology, and also for David Cameron as the incumbent Prime Minister.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the 2015 general election, the Conservatives won a majority of seats in the House of Commons and formed a majority government under David Cameron. The party increased its national vote share, becoming the first incumbent party to do so since 1900. The result was unexpected and exceeded even the party leadership's expectations, as most polls had predicted a hung parliament.[80][81] This was also the first general election since 1992 in which the Conservatives had won an overall majority, although the vote share of 36.9% was lower than the previous four Conservative majority governments under Thatcher and Major.[82] In March 2017, the party was fined £70,000, the largest fine of this sort in British political history, after an Electoral Commission investigation found "significant failures" by the party to report its 2015 general election campaign spending.[83]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On the morning of Friday 24 June 2016, Cameron announced his intention to resign as Prime Minister, after he failed to convince the British public to stay in the European Union, and subsequently the Conservative Party leadership election was announced with Theresa May, Michael Gove, Stephen Crabb, Liam Fox and Andrea Leadsom confirmed as the official contenders to be his successor with Boris Johnson ruling himself out of the process.[84] After Crabb withdrew, Fox and then Gove were eliminated in successive ballots by Conservative MPs, leaving Leadsom and May as the final candidates to be put before the wider Conservative Party membership.[85] Leadsom subsequently withdrew from the contest on 11 July.[86]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Theresa May (2016–2019)[edit]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Further information: Premiership of Theresa May</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Theresa May, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2016–2019)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On 11 July 2016, Theresa May became the leader of the Conservative Party with immediate effect following the withdrawal from the leadership election of her sole remaining opponent, Andrea Leadsom. Appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 13 July 2016, May promised social reform and a more centrist political outlook for the Conservative Party and its government.[87] In a speech after her appointment, May emphasised the term Unionist in the name of the party, reminding all of "the precious, precious bond between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland".[88] May considers herself a one nation conservative.[89]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">May's early cabinet appointments were interpreted both as "centrist and conciliatory", an effort to reunite the party in the wake of the UK's vote to leave the European Union, and as "a shift to the right" according to The Guardian.[90]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">May appointed former Mayor of London Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary, former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Amber Rudd as Home Secretary, and former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis to the newly created office of Brexit Secretary.[91] Liam Fox and Philip Hammond, who had both previously served as Secretary of State for Defence (Fox from 2010 to 2011 and Hammond from 2011 to 2014), were appointed to the newly created office of International Trade Secretary and as Chancellor of the Exchequer respectively.[92][93] Replacing Michael Gove, Elizabeth Truss was made Justice Secretary, the "first female Lord Chancellor in the thousand-year history of the role".[94] Andrea Leadsom, who was energy minister and May's primary competitor for party leader, was made the new environment secretary.[95] However, former Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers resigned from Cabinet after May offered her a different, non-Cabinet post that was, she said, "not one which I felt I could take on".[96] Nearly half of the first May ministry were women.[97]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In her first speech, May made a promise to combat the "burning injustice" in British society and create a union "between all of our citizens" and promising to be an advocate for the "ordinary working-class family" and not just for "privileged few" in the UK.[98]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In April 2017, the Cabinet agreed to hold a general election on 8 June.[99] During the resulting campaign, Theresa May asked the electorate to "strengthen my hand" in Brexit negotiations, promised "strong and stable leadership in the national interest" and warned of a "coalition of chaos" under Jeremy Corbyn.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contrary to opinion polling at the time, the election resulted in a hung parliament, with the Conservative Party having 317 seats in the House of Commons, but without an overall majority. The Democratic Unionist Party suggested it would be able to provide a confidence and supply arrangement depending on negotiations.[100] On 9 June 2017, May announced her intention to form a new minority government with support from the DUP,[101] which was finalised on 26 June.[102]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On 8 January 2018, May announced her first major cabinet reshuffle, keeping in place most ministers, but promoting others.[103]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In February 2019, three Conservative MPs – Heidi Allen, Sarah Wollaston, and Anna Soubry – defected from the party to join The Independent Group, a pro-EU political association of MPs founded by seven former members of the Labour party. The MPs said the reasons for their departure were their opposition to the party's handling of Brexit, what they saw as the takeover of the Conservative party by 'right wing, ... hard-line anti-EU' MPs, and lack of concern from the Conservative party for the 'most vulnerable in society'.[104][105]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">May announced her resignation from the leadership of the Conservative party on 24 May 2019, intending to leave the role on 7 June. However, she has remained Prime Minister until a successor was elected by the party.[106]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Theresa May resigned as Prime Minister on the 24 July 2019 after her successor, Boris Johnson, was elected on 23 July 2019. She will remain as the Member of Parliament for the Parliamentary Constituency of Maidenhead.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Islamophobia[edit]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Main article: Islamophobia in the UK Conservative Party</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In May 2018, the Conservative Party was accused of failing to take action on Islamophobia. The Muslim Council of Britain has repeatedly demanded an investigation, saying there are now "more than weekly incidents" of Islamophobia involving Conservative candidates and representatives.[107] In an open letter, it tells chairman Brandon Lewis he must "ensure racists and bigots have no place" in the party.[107] Former party co-chair Sayeeda Baroness Warsi also called on May to publicly acknowledge that Islamophobia is a problem in the Conservative Party, arguing that she has been trying to get the party to address the issue for over two years.[107][108][109][110] The Conservative Muslim Forum also accused the Conservative party of a failure to take action on Islamophobia and joined calls for an independent inquiry.[111] In addition, 350 mosques and 11 umbrella organisations across the UK have urged the Conservatives to launch internal inquiry into Islamophobia claims.[112] In July 2018, the MCB repeated its call for an independent inquiry and accused the Conservatives of turning blind eye to Islamophobia claims.[113] A week later Warsi supported this call, and warned the Conservatives were pursuing a politically damaging policy of denial about the problem in its own ranks. She accused Conservative chair Brandon Lewis of a "woefully inept" response to recent complaints and added that MP Zac Goldsmith should receive "mandatory diversity training" for alleged Islamophobia in his failed 2016 London mayoral campaign against Sadiq Khan.[114] In August 2018, following comments made by Boris Johnson regarding the burqa/niqab, the MCB called the comments "particularly regrettable in this current climate" and reiterated its calls for an inquiry, accusing Johnson of "pandering to the far-right".[115] In October 2018, recently selected London Mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey was accused of Islamophobia and Hinduphobia after it was reported that had written a pamphlet in 2005, entitled No Man’s Land, for the Centre for Policy Studies. In it, Bailey argued that accommodating Muslims and Hindus is one factor which "[robs] Britain of its community" and that the collapse of community is turning country into a "crime riddled cess pool". He claimed that South Asians "bring their culture, their country and any problems they might have, with them" and that this was not a problem within the black community "because we’ve shared a religion and in many cases a language".[116]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Boris Johnson (2019–present)[edit]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2019–present)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On 23 July 2019, former Foreign Secretary and Mayor of London Boris Johnson defeated Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, with 66.4% of the vote in the final ballot of Conservative Party members, to become Leader of the Conservative Party.[117]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Johnson became Prime Minister on the 24 July 2019 after his predecessor Theresa May resigned the same day.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Johnson lost his working majority in the House of Commons on the 3 September 2019 when Phillip Lee crossed the floor during Johnson's speech to join the Liberal Democrats, later explaining that he believed the Conservative party had been "infected with the twin diseases of populism and English nationalism".[118][119] The same day, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond announced that he would "defend his party" against "incomers and entryists", perceived by some as referring to Johnson's adviser Dominic Cummings.[120] Later that same day, a total of twenty-one Conservative MPs, including former Chancellors of the Exchequer Philip Hammond and Ken Clarke, ex-ministers, and Nicholas Soames, the grandson of former Conservative Party Leader Winston Churchill, had the Conservative whip withdrawn after voting with the Opposition to grant the House of Commons control over its order paper, leading to Johnson becoming the first Prime Minister to lose his first Commons vote[121]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Policies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Energy and climate change policy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">David Cameron brought several 'green' issues to the forefront of his 2010 campaign. These included proposals designed to impose a tax on workplace car parking spaces, a halt to airport growth, a tax on cars with exceptionally poor petrol mileage, and restrictions on car advertising. Many of these policies were implemented in the Coalition—including the 'Green Deal'.[172]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Justice and crime policy[edit]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2010, the Conservatives campaigned with the conviction to cut the perceived bureaucracy of the modern police force and pledged greater legal protection to people convicted of defending themselves against intruders. They also supported the creation of a UK Bill of Rights to replace the Human Rights Act 1998, but this was vetoed by their coalition partners the Liberal Democrats. Some Conservatives, particularly within the socially conservative Cornerstone Group, support the re-introduction of the death penalty.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">European Union policy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">No subject has proved more divisive in the Conservative Party in recent history than the role of the United Kingdom within the European Union. Though the principal architect of the UK's entry into the European Communities (which became the European Union) was Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath, and both Winston Churchill and Harold Macmillan favoured some form of European union, the bulk of contemporary Conservative opinion is opposed to closer economic and particularly political union with the EU. This is a noticeable shift in British politics, as in the 1960s and 1970s the Conservatives were more pro-Europe than the Labour Party. Divisions on Europe came to the fore under the premiership of Margaret Thatcher (1979–1990) and were cited by several ministers resigning, including Geoffrey Howe, the Deputy Prime Minister, whose resignation triggered the challenge that ended Thatcher's leadership. Under Thatcher's successor, John Major (1990–1997), the slow process of integration within the EU forced party tensions to the surface. A core of Eurosceptic MPs under Major used the small Conservative majority in Parliament to oppose Government policy on the Maastricht Treaty. By doing so they undermined Major's ability to govern.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Conservative Party has members with varying opinions of the EU, with pro-European Conservatives joining the affiliate Conservative Group for Europe, while some Eurosceptics left the party to join the United Kingdom Independence Party. Under current EU practices, the degree to which a Conservative Government could implement policy change regarding the EU would depend directly on the willingness of other EU member states to agree to such policies.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2009 the Conservative Party actively campaigned against the Lisbon Treaty, which it believes would give away too much sovereignty to Brussels. Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague stated that, should the treaty be in force by the time of an incoming Conservative government, he would "not let matters rest there".[173] However, on 14 June 2009 the shadow Business Secretary, Kenneth Clarke, said in an interview to the BBC that the Conservative Party would not reopen negotiations on the Lisbon Treaty if the Irish backed it in a new referendum,[174] which they did on 2 October 2009.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Conservative Party pledged an in-out referendum on membership of the European Union after a renegotiation. The referendum took place on 23 June 2016, and resulted in a vote to leave the European Union – a policy commonly referred to as Brexit. Prime Minister Theresa May signed the notice under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty which officially began Britain's withdrawal from the EU, on 28 March 2017, and at 12:20 on 29 March 2017, the UK ambassador Tim Barrow delivered the notice to EU president Donald Tusk, officially triggering what was intended to be a two-year process of leaving the European Union.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Union policy[edit]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Conservatives staunchly support the maintenance of the United Kingdom, and oppose the independence of any of the countries of the United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland from it. They have had a mixed history on support for Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish devolution.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">desmog</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">05 July 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dr Jerome Booth, an economist, investor, and Tory donor, has been appointed as a Director of the UK's principal climate science denial campaign group, the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He's also a GWPF donor. We know this because... well, he told us. He said:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I decided to become a trustee because I was interested in energy policy and believe greater scrutiny of climate policies is needed.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yes, I have donated to the GWPF."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Booth is chairman of Anglia Ruskin University's board of governors, and sits on the board of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Britten Symphonia.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ironically, just months after Booth became Anglia Ruskin's chairman a mock memorial to climate science deniers, including GWPF founder Nigel Lawson, Christopher Monckton and Owen Paterson and commentators Melanie Phillips, and James Delingpole won the university’s annual Sustainability Art Prize.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Booth's appointment to the GWPF board has riled campaigners, who are already calling for his removal from institutions that they say he is using to "enhance his image" while "working with the UK's most vociferous bunch of climate deniers".</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Booth has featured on the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated wealth of £112 million. He's also donated £50,000 to the Tory party and MP Andrew Mitchell.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Read the full story by Richard Collett-White here.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></div>