Populist and rightwing figures take aim at Ed Miliband and UK net zero policies at ‘anti-woke Davos’ | Ed Miliband
Britain’s net zero policies and energy minister Ed Miliband came under fire at a conference attended by conservatives, right-wing populists and wealthy US supporters linked to Donald Trump.
Trump’s energy minister, one of the US administration officials attending the event, described the energy policies pursued by the British government as a “tragic mistake”.
More than 4,000 delegates from 85 countries, from conservative leader Kemi Badenoch to US anti-abortion activists and representatives of European far-right parties, are attending the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in London this year.
Dubbed the “anti-woke Davos” by some, themes espoused on stage at the Olympia conference center included libertarian hostility to green economy policies, social conservative causes such as opposition to abortion, as well as opposition to multiculturalism.
Speakers later this week will include US state department officials seeking to interfere with Britain’s abortion rights and discussing online safety regulations, while Reform leader Nigel Farage will address the conference on Wednesday.
One of the key figures on Tuesday was former fossil fuel executive Chris Wright, who was appointed by Trump as energy secretary. He described energy policies in Britain as a “tragic mistake” that impoverished citizens.
Believing that the threat of a climate crisis has been exaggerated, Wright predicted that a “change of leadership” in the UK would radically reverse energy policy and bring it more in line with the US.
Wright, who attended the conference on one of the hottest days of the year in England, when the delegates inside were overwhelmed, said, “Most of Europe’s leading countries are aware of the energy mistake they made and are trying to understand how to get away from it.”
Badenoch and other speakers at the event, funded by US fossil fuel companies, prominent Trump donors and anti-abortion groups, repeatedly criticized energy secretary Ed Miliband, the villain of many at the conference.
Miliband, long a hate figure for far-right activists as the face of Britain’s net zero policies, has become the focus of increasing criticism from the right in recent weeks as he has been mooted as a possible chancellor in a government led by Andy Burnham.
Speaking to Conservative MP Philippa Stroud, who co-founded the ARC conference with Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, Badenoch said there was “a villain in the deindustrialisation of Britain”.
“His name is Ed Miliband and he has made our country poorer,” he said to applause.
“We need to make sure this guy isn’t left anywhere near power levers, the power department or anywhere else.”
While the ARC is also heavily backed by GB News’ owners – hedge fund manager Paul Marshall and Dubai-based investment group Legatum – a list of donors to this year’s conference shows it has received financial backing from powerful US donors with close ties to the Trump administration.
Analysis by climate research organization DeSmog found that donors included Australian-born billionaire Anthony Pratt, who is said to have donated $14 million to the Trump-supporting Make America Great Again Super Pac and another $1.1 million to the president’s inaugural fund.
Joining the list of donors are American fossil fuel companies Howard Energy Partners (HEP) and Heyco Energy Group, both of which helped fund last year’s event. HEP is one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in the United States; Its CEO, Mike Howard, a Republican donor, was appointed to Trump’s National Petroleum Council in February of this year.
The event brought together thousands of political activists and politicians from Europe, the US and Australia who are hostile to immigration and multiculturalism, as well as hostility to traditional narratives about the climate crisis.
