Surprise! New UK "Climate Policy" Group Opposing Any Action Tightly Tied To Farage, Putin
A climate science denial group campaigning against the UK’s green policies has close ties to a right-wing businessman who backed Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, DeSmog can reveal. CAR26, which launched in October with a call for a referendum on the UK’s net zero target, is run by Lois Perry, a regular guest on GB News and talkRADIO who has used Russia’s war to argue that the UK should extract more fossil fuels.
Perry has close ties to John Mappin, a wealthy hotelier and former business associate of Nigel Farage, who tweeted at the start of the war that he stands with the “Russian Bear” and called Putin’s invasion of Ukraine a “gift for the freedom of the world”. Russia has been accused of multiple atrocities against civilians since the beginning of the war. The Mappin link is the latest revelation about the key figures involved in the co-ordinated campaign to overturn the UK’s 2050 net zero goal. The businessman, an heir to the Mappin & Webb jewellery fortune, believes in the QAnon conspiracy theory and discredited claims about the health risks of vaccines.
Mappin appears to be a keen supporter of CAR26. In May, Mappin tweeted a photo of himself with Perry at a party in Chelsea, London, describing her as “CAR26 founder and mastermind”. The previous month, Mappin promoted a CAR26-sponsored event hosted by veteran climate science denier and former Telegraph columnist James Delingpole at the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster.
He is also “old friends” with Perry’s former husband and business partner, Richard Hillgrove, a PR executive who is also involved in one of CAR26’s campaigns. Perry and Hillgrove, who was convicted for tax fraud in 2014, co-founded 6 Hillgrove PR, which has worked with clients including Julian Assange, the National Lottery and the Big Issue. Perry was named as an associate on the consultancy’s website until at least December but no longer appears there.
EDIT
https://www.desmog.com/2022/06/22/climate-denial-group-criticised-for-ties-to-pro-putin-millionaire/
