Envoy Barker

Greg Barker, who stood down as Energy Minister a few months ago, has been appointed David Cameron's personal climate change envoy and is off to New York to the climate change summit. While there he intends to go on the climate march as well.

Your taxes at work.

Comments

[Ernieb]

The walk should do him good
Provided the weather stays clement. Not too hot, not too old, just right.
And provided he does not listen to the warmest anguish around him

[Richard]

Personally, I'm more concerned about the clusterf#@k of a mess my taxes have created of Iraq.

[turnedoutnice]

Has he developed a husky voice?

Is that why Cameron still likes him?

[jamspid]

Whilst Airmiles ,Carbon Offsetting Greg is busy outside saving the Planet David Cameron ,Tony Abbott and NATO will be indoors green lighting the ground assault into Talibanised ISIS controlled Iraq.

Another fantasy world Climate Change UN conference overshadowed by real world events.

[hunter]

It took WWI to derail and slowdown the extremists on eugenics. Sadly it was not stopped much in Germany, of course.
The enlightened powers that be realized that the genetically inferior deserved an equal opportunity to die for their country. While reality has long over taken climate kooks and their crazy end of the world crap, even the enlightened leaders of today have to realize that having a bunch of thugs running loose in their tens of thousands is a problem that taxing the great control knob will solve.
We will see ISIS as a growing excuse to mollify a certain Presidential ego on the failure of his personal climate convention.

[stewgreen]

@Richard ..what tosh : "White man's guilt" and flawed simplistic thinking "Oh it's all about oil" shout the people unaware of what happens in the real world of Russia & China ..not to mention unreported African wars where one tribe kills another and millions of deaths go unreported.
- It's not you, me or Tony Blair who are picking up AK47s and slaughtering and kidnapping fellow Iraqis and fellow muslims. The responsibility for that lies with the bad Iraqi/foreign_insurgent who pulls the trigger ..plenty Iraqis have the good sense to avoid getting sucked in.

[dennisa]

No doubt he will meet up with David Miliband, I'm sure he will be there.

"Last June, together with my fellow Global Ocean Commissioners, we launched a petition calling for high seas protection."

http://tinyurl.com/mhnh9r7

"The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon is committed to ocean health and protection but he needs our support so that he is empowered in September to call on world leaders to develop this new agreement."

[Richard]

Stewgreen - enlightened man!

[jferguson]

This is the March Against Climate Change?

[sherlock1]

Could have been done by video conferencing (my son does it in his role at a well-known bank, to discuss matters with Hong Kong, Colombo and New York at the same time)..

But - hey - got to think about the 'family photo' at the end..!

[Hysteria]

FFS! WTF? LOL.....

[Ross Lea]

I am not impressed with Greg Barker's climate credentials; When I wrote to the DECC (through my M.P. else I would not have received an answer !) He failed to answer any of my questions about the DECC energy policy (the intermittent nature of wind and solar and the relative cost etc). He failed to debate the science and the Model vs empirical evidence, the pause etc. All I got was the usual rubbish hand out and a complete failure to answer my response. So I gave up with the DECC and I have been sending my thoughts to my M.P. and George Osbourne. The response from the Treasury was to say that it is the concern of the DECC but I replied and said that as public money was very much involved it was a concern of the Treasury ! Then I got some non descript answer from some Treasury underling. At that point I gave up life is too short. So I am not impressed with Greg Barker.

[H2O: the miracle molecule]

Greg Barker is proof of one aspect of climate change - wet gets wetter.

[stun]

He's our MP, and OK as far as it goes. Opening the new village post office yesterday was quite within his abilities. Anything beyond that, not so much.

[Derek Buxton]

Dennisa,
Ban Ki Moon should certainly be committed, "General Secretary" of the UN, strange how the title seems to be soviet inspired....or not!

[Phillip Bratby]

Greg (Barking Mad) Barker, another PPE as I recall. As junior energy minister he wanted 20GW of solar power. This despite the following warnings from the latest Government's SolarPV Strategy, that there are unsolved issues with massive solar deployment:

"There are four key system challenges for connecting solar PV to the grid.
First, there is limited spare connection capacity, with most capacity at suitable sites already assigned to developers, whether or not projects have progressed.
Secondly, solar can lead to voltage level increases, when generation is high and demand is low, and this could result in network assets tripping and damage to electrical equipment.
Thirdly, PV does not provide inertia, a property which affects the frequency control capability of the system: as low carbon generation replaces conventional fossil fuelled generation, the overall system inertia reduces because conventional plant has rotating mass which provides inertia to the system, whilst solar PV does not. As a result there is a greater impact in the balancing of supply and demand, requiring additional measures. This can have local effects as well as system-wide ones.
Fourthly, uncontrolled renewable generation can exceed minimum demand and it is not currently possible to turn off most solar PV. Electricity market incentives and action by National Grid should mean that other generation reduces its output to as solar PV increases. This is likely to have a cost, particularly if the point is reached when the only generation remaining on the system is that which must run.

I think it can be said that Barking Mad, with his total lack of understanding of anything technical, is not somebody who should be an envoy of this country.

[jferguson]

Phillip Bratby,
thanks. those are three really useful paragraphs which I expect would be mostly (except for availability of real estate)applicable here (west of the pond.)

[kim]

The leaders of all the countries who are not going to New York have fallen off the edge of the Earth.
==============

[JEM]

The climate march whose backers appear to be 40% Unitarian Universalists and similar kumbayah-faith outfits, 40% quasi-Communist agitprop outfits, and a couple clueless corporate sponsors whose execs and boards probably need to be reminded what kind of press they're going to get from this?

[johnbuk]

Perhaps after the Climate March they could all have their photos taken holding banners reading, "Bring back our Climate" that should demonstrate their commitment and show everyone else what wonderful caring people they are.

[Mike Jackson]

It is, of course, just about conceivable that Cameron has sent him across where he is out of the way and can't do much damage.
If Cameron is starting to plan his retreat from his green policies sending an enthusiastic nonentity to a climate conference might distract attention or send an ambiguous message.
Just a thought.

[Ross Lea]

Mike Jackson,

On the other hand he might sign us up to something we would regret :-)

[Jeff Wood]

Mike may be correct. The interesting point seems to be the number of countries sending either no-one, or a minor functionary.

I thought Bampot Moon had planned another Copenhagen, minus the weather.

[diogenese2]

Phillip Bratby @ 3.52: "with his total lack of understanding of anything technical, (he) is not someone who should be an envoy of this country" . On the contrary - who are we trying to impress? At least he will not return with any coherent idea that may be of any relevance to the issues.
Mike Jackson @ 6.14 : I think you may be close to the mark.
Ross Lea @ 6.58: This meeting will not be making any decision - it is pure PR to keep the show on the road. It is outside the UNFCCC process ( which is the excuse of China and India to not attend). It demonstrates that Ban Ki Moon knows the process is in deep trouble and it is Obamas last chance to salvage his chosen heritage. Expect him to abandon it for the old fall back - military adventure.

[turnedoutnice]

Barker and Cameron had better check their tickets to see if they have a return part.

[Pharos]

Is Otto going too?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9271611/Energy-minister-used-department-microwave-to-warm-sausage-dogs-cushion.html

[Martin Brumby]

We must not forget that Greg Barker is, above all, a man of principle.
According to Wiki (OK, apologies for that) he is worth £3.9M. But still fiddled his MP's expenses on an industrial scale.
As one who worked for some time for the Anglo-Siberian Oil Co, and Abramovich's Sibneft Oil, he's just the guy for a former Energy & Climate Change Minister. And it isn't just Huskies he's into.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9271611/Energy-minister-used-department-microwave-to-warm-sausage-dogs-cushion.html
When he shacked up with William Banko-Blaney, all right minded people were happy to shrug their shoulders. 'Any Port in a Storm', after all! A pity about the wife he dumped and the election speeches about 'family values'. At least he had something in common with his old gaffer Chris 'Perjury' Huhne!
I'm sure he'll get on well with the Thermageddonists in the Big Apple. They'll LOVE the "Right Honourable" tag.....

[turnedoutnice]

It is worthwhile that readers remember the end of Orwell's Animal Farm. The lower animals, watching through the windows of the renamed Manor Farm, find they cannot tell the difference between the men playing cards, and the pigs. So it is with the Renewable Energy scam, a game for pigs and men, the former being the politicians, the latter being the owners of the estates and the windmills. As for the latter, with diesel STOR, they use more fossil fuel per kWhr than coal power: post-Imperial Fascism has its price imposed on the poor.

[Athelstan.]

Is it any wonder that, Britain is in such an utter state of woeful disrepair when the likes of Greg Barking have had their grubby, stupid little green fantasies indulged by being granted access to the levers of power? Even God might not get us out of this energy mess.

Barking with a Joint degree in History and Politics, perfect.

He's stepping down as an MP in 2015 and [among other things probably because] made a horlicks of the disastrous 'green deal' It's all too obvious Barker is one of the in crowd - if not in the Chipping Norton set [ much lower caste].

And this from a while back, in "green news agitprop":

Last week, Friends of the Earth dumped hundreds of wellington boots on the steps of the Environment Department to highlight the “Give Owen Paterson the boot" campaign, launched because of his failure to take climate change seriously.

The environment charity called for the Defra chief to be sacked because he did not accept the science of man-made global warming and had failed to prepare the UK for worsening floods as climate change kicks in.

Earlier in the week it was revealed that Paterson had shunned offers from the Met Office's Chief Scientist to brief him on climate change science.

Friends of the Earth’s Executive Director Andy Atkins said tonight: "David Cameron is right to give Owen Paterson the boot – he’s the worst Environment Secretary the UK has had for decades.

"Mr Paterson has wilfully ignored scientific evidence on climate change, championed pesticide firms instead of bees and massively under-invested in flood defences, leaving thousands of households at risk of future flooding.

"His successor must show they are serious about safeguarding Britain's environment and protecting the nation from the growing threat of global climate change."

Owen Paterson notoriously turned up in Somerset during the height of the winter floods without wearing any welly boots.

In stark contrast, Mr Barker was well regarded within the green sector and was seen as a crucial climate change advocate to David Cameron.

FoE - the EXPERTS? now that's really funny until you realize that the FoE are running the DECC with Greenp*ss.

Cue gnashing of teeth, wailing and despair. Though, hearken and fear not because Dave's on his way out [he'll not be missed] - but who could it be coming in? Ed or........and don't say that egregiously, endlessly duplicitous performing clown Boris, "anyway the wind blows man", he of infinite political disguise - will be, will do no better.

SOS? Britannia sinking under the weight of it's own political and economic catastrophe transported on the green hubris.

But who can help us now? It's too late methinks.

[GrantB]

At least the Saudi's have a sense of humour -

Saudi Arabia will be represented by its petroleum minister

[Ross Lea]

Athelstan.

Owen Patterson for P.M. !

[It doesn't add up...]

Shouldn’t Barker row to New York and stay there afterwards?

[tomo]

As somebody who for professional reasons followed Greg Barker's Twitter stuff for his entire incumbency - I can tell you that he's a distinctly hollow gourd who trades on his ability to lick... - well you know the rest... Cameron - when able to ... seems to surround himself with people like this - climate envoy? gah! morelike the epitome of a shallow chancer.