Read on Twitter
Gather round, climate twitter, I want to tell you a story about Ed Miliband
1/14 https://twitter.com/ed_miliband/status/1247158232075743232
1/14 https://twitter.com/ed_miliband/status/1247158232075743232
It was 2009, and I was working for @frannyarmstrong on the launch of apocalyptic climate warning film The Age of Stupid. We were going to pitch a marquee in Leicester Sq for the big eco-premiere with lots of green VIPs etc
https://theecologist.org/2009/mar/15/age-stupid-film-premiere
2/14
https://theecologist.org/2009/mar/15/age-stupid-film-premiere
2/14
Who should crop up on the guest list but one *Ed Miliband MP*, serving Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. Ed was just on the brink of approving a new coal fired power station at Kingsnorth - a line in the sand for the climate movement
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2008/aug/05/kingsnorthclimatecamp.climatechange?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
3/14
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2008/aug/05/kingsnorthclimatecamp.climatechange?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
3/14
We felt we couldn’t just have him come and hobnob and bask in reflected green glow without challenging this plan. So we hatched a plot with the film’s narrator/star, and a committed environmentalist, the late, extremely great Pete Postlethwaite
4/14
4/14
Franny would call Ed up the green carpet to join her on stage at the Premiere, and @mark_lynas would confront him - then Pete would promise to return his OBE to the Queen unless Ed cancelled plans for Kingsnorth’s coal power station. We were all super psyched about this plan
5/14
5/14
The big day came. Pete did us all proud. You can watch what happened here:
6/14
6/14
From my vantage point behind the stage, I could see Ed’s SpAd @PollyBillington in the audience with a face like thunder, small puffs of steam coming out of her ears as Ed equivocated apologetically on stage about something he called ‘clean coal’
7/14
7/14
Like much genteel English activism, it was all terribly awkward and embarrassing yet absolutely necessary. It was civil society doing its job and holding power to account in an uncomfortable to watch but well mannered public spectacle
8/14
8/14
Afterwards, something strange happened. We had ambushed a Secretary of State live on stage expressly to embarrass him on a crucial policy issue of the day, in front of film cameras and an audience of VIPs
9/14
9/14
But rather than flounce off with his entourage, Ed came along to our after party with the crew. He chatted with me and fellow activists, about climate breakdown and activism. He did his dad dancing. He had a couple of drinks
10/14
10/14
It was really clear to me then that this was a politician who had begun to grasp the enormity of the challenge ahead. He was coming to to terms with it in his own way & spending time with climate activists was a part of that. I felt camaraderie with this Secretary of State
11/14
11/14
The way Ed dealt with being confronted at the time on stage was perfectly fine; but after the fact and away from the cameras, it was genuinely admirable and quite unusual for a senior politician. Ed went up in my estimation then and has held onto my esteem ever since
12/14
12/14
Ed never did approve that coal fired power station at Kingsnorth - not exactly anyway. He cleverly called the industry’s bluff, and made new coal conditional on featuring Carbon Capture & Storage from day one - which they couldn’t actually do ofc
13/14 https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/green-activists-jubilant-as-kingsnorth-shelved-1799282.html
13/14 https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/green-activists-jubilant-as-kingsnorth-shelved-1799282.html
Anyway - that’s the whole story. It’s just a nice story about why Ed Miliband is one of the good kinds of politician, and why I am very happy that he has been given the big climate job in the new shadow cabinet. PS also Polly and I are good friends now
Ends/
Ends/
