Owen Paterson
Owen Paterson is a Conservative Party politician, who is a climate change sceptic, hard-line Brexiter, and a neoliberal Thatcherite ideologue.[1]
Brexit
Paterson was a founder member of the Vote Leave referendum campaign group. He advocates a “no deal WTO rules” Brexit, alongside Nigel Farage, Arron Banks and [Richard Tice]].
Jul.2017: “Leaving the single market and the customs union are prerequisites for expanding our trade around the world and there is no doubt that such expansion is necessary.”
2014: “We should grasp the opportunity to leave the current political arrangements and negotiate a new settlement, while keeping our vital position in the single market. This will give us huge economic advantages and re-establish our position as a leading player, in our own right, on the world stage.”[2]
Stances
To Research
- https://theecologist.org/2013/nov/08/owen-paterson-minister-gm-hype
- https://theecologist.org/2013/nov/06/golden-rice-naysayers-ignore-worlds-need-nutrition
- https://theecologist.org/2012/sep/05/left-dark
- https://theecologist.org/2014/feb/28/badger-culls-were-ineffective-and-inhumane
- https://theecologist.org/2015/may/11/if-modern-farming-cant-sustain-bees-how-much-longer-can-it-sustain-us
- https://theecologist.org/2014/jan/11/ancient-woodland-cannot-be-offset
- https://theecologist.org/2014/jul/03/scientists-write-epa-ban-agent-orange-herbicide-mix-and-gmo-crops
- https://theecologist.org/2014/jul/15/owen-paterson-sacked-end-badger-bashing
- https://theecologist.org/2014/jan/07/owen-paterson-europe-must-embrace-gm
- https://theecologist.org/2014/feb/18/owen-paterson-invisible-minister
- https://theecologist.org/2014/apr/10/lies-damn-lies-and-owen-patersons-badger-cull
- lots, lots smore here. Don't think Zac likes Owen: https://theecologist.org/search/node?keys=owen%20paterson
- Paterson was in David Cameron's Cabinet as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2012 – 2014) and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (2010 – 2012). In Opposition, he was on the front bench team as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (2007 - 2010), Shadow Minister for Transport (2006 – 2007), Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2003 – 2005), and Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition (2001 – 2003), and Opposition Whip (2000 – 2001). As a backbencher he sat on the Agriculture, European Scrutiny, and Welsh Affairs Select Committees.
- Founded the think tank "UK 2020" in 2014 in order to research and publish optimistic, outward-looking, electorally viable conservative policies as "a vital contribution to the Conservative Party".
- Paterson read History at the University of Cambridge, attended the National Leathers College, and spent twenty years in the leather industry before entering Parliament. http://events.cornell.edu/event/check_your_green_privilege_its_not_environmentally_friendly_to_allow_millions_to_die
- Owen Paterson faces calls to reveal names of donors to private think-tank after it paid for trips around the world, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/owen-paterson-faces-calls-to-reveal-names-of-donors-to-private-think-tank-after-it-paid-for-trips-a6906366.html
...Included in this network of organisations pushing for a hard Brexit is the UK’s premier climate science denial campaign group, the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF). Founded by prominent climate science denier Nigel Lawson, the group aims to fight back against what it describes as “extremely damaging and harmful policies” designed to mitigate climate change. Despite disputing the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate science, the GWPF still has a voice in Parliament. Both Labour MP for Blackley and Broughton Graham Stringer and Tory MP for North Shropshire Owen Paterson have strong ties with the GWPF as well as 3 Tory members of the House of Lords including Peter Lilley, Matt Ridley and Nigel Vinson. Lilley’s also sits on “a committee of experts” closely advising international trade secretary Liam Fox, DeSmog UK previously revealed. Lilley is a supporter of the European Research Group (ERG). Led by Jacob Rees-Mogg, the ERG is lobbying for a hard Brexit and has been described by Buzzfeed as “an aggressive, disciplined, and highly organised parliamentary and media operation”. Former Brexit minister, Steve Baker, is a past chair of the group. ref See also https://www.desmog.co.uk/owen-paterson
Newly appointed Brexit minister Dominic Raab and environment secretary Michael Gove were active supporters of the ERG before being promoted to cabinet roles ref, while international trade secretary Liam Fox has also used the ERG to gather support among MPs. Tory MP John Redwood, former environment secretary Owen Paterson and new peer Peter Lilley are also members of the ERG and notable climate science deniers. ref
Long-term supporter of GMOs and Fracking. Set up the millionaire-funded think tank UK2020. https://gmandchemicalindustry9.wordpress.com/2015/06/17/il-papa-counterweight-to-the-owen-paterson-fronted-gm-onslaught/ ref] (~Jun.2015)
- Leading supporter of Brexit and an outspoken critic of the European Union.
Timeline
Jun.2017 Conservatives (May) | GE-2017: elected as Member of Parliament for North Shropshire.ref |
2016 | Became part of Leave Means Leave's political advisory board.ref |
2016 | Joined the European Research Group. |
May.2015 Conservatives (Cameron) | GE-2015: re-elected as Member of Parliament for North Shropshire. |
2014 | Established and became the Chairman of UK 2020, a right-wing think tank based in Westminster. |
2012 | Environment Secretary at DEFRA, despite his well-known denial of climate change.[4] |
May.2010 Cons/LibDem | GE-2010: re-elected as Member of Parliament for North Shropshire. Appointed to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. |
Jul.2007 Labour (Brown) | Appointed to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. |
2005‑2007 | Shadow Minister for Transport. |
May.2005 | GE-2005: re-elected as Member of Parliament for North Shropshire. |
2003-2005 | Shadow Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister. |
Jun.2001 | GE-2001: re-elected as Member of Parliament for North Shropshire. |
May.1997 Labour (Blair) | GE:1997: elected as Member of Parliament for North Shropshire. |
Apr.1992 | GE-1992: contested Wrexham unsuccessfully; incumbent Labour MP extended his lead. |
1996-1998 | President of COTANCE (the Confederation of National Associations of Tanners and Dressers of the European Community), the European Tanners Confederation.ref |
1990s | A Director of Parsons and Sons leather company in Halesowen.ref |
1979 | Joined his family business, British Leather Company; become Sales Director in 1983 and managing director from 1993-1999.ref |
Articles
- Jan.22.2019: Owen Paterson trips worth £39,000 funded by unknown donors. Tory former minister’s 10 trips including campaign for hard Brexit in US funded by donations to his personal thinktank "UK2020". The MP for North Shropshire is a leading pro-Brexit campaigner who has argued for the UK to leave the EU without a deal. In 2012, he was controversially appointed Environment secretary by David Cameron while holding questionable views on climate science. Paterson is a long-term advocate of GMOs, and has used at least 3 of the trips to promote GM technology. The Guardian has identified 2 of the donors: the Crop Protection Association, and Randox. UK2020 is based at the infamous Tufton Street, Westminster. David Pegg, Rob Evans, Felicity Lawrence, The Guardian.
- undated: "Put pensioners to work picking fruit. Bizarre plan to cut number of migrants by hiring OAPs at below minimum wage. VoxPolitical, '
- Feb.15.2018: The collapse of power-sharing in Northern Ireland shows the Good Friday Agreement has outlived its use. Owen Paterson tweeted and endorsed this article. The Telegraph, Ruth Dudley Edwards
- Mar.14.2016: Tory minister 'wanted UK pensioners to be low-wage fruit pickers'. A Conservative cabinet minister suggested getting pensioners to pick fruit and vegetables below the minimum wage instead of hiring Bulgarians and Romanians at the legal rate, a former Lib Dem coalition colleague has claimed. David Laws, who lost his seat at GE-2015, revealed the episode in a new book about his days in govt, saying the plan was hatched by Owen Paterson, then environment secretary. The account is disputed by Paterson but Laws alleges that his former Tory colleague came up with the idea after proposing to end a scheme bringing over migrants from Bulgaria and Romania to work in the fields of British farmers. The Guardian , Rowena Mason
- Jan.12.2016: Tories vote down law requiring landlords make their homes fit for human habitation. Labour MP Teresa Pearce's amendment to the Housing and Planning Bill 2016, which would place a duty on landlords to ensure that their properties are fit for habitation when let and remain fit during the course of the tenancy, was defeated by 312 votes to 219. Marcus Jones said the govt believed that homes should be fit for human habitation, but did not want to pass a new law that would explicitly require it. Other ministers claimed the proposal would impose "unnecessary regulation" on landlords, and that it would push up rents. Owen Paterson, himself a landlord, was one of those who voted "No". The Independent, Jon Stone
- Sept.21.2015: Check Your Green Privilege: It's not environmentally friendly to allow millions to die. Paterson's speech was filled with hyperbolic claims about GMOs that lack scientific rigor - like the one that GMOs "are in fact safer than conventionally bred crops ...one of the most environmentally friendly advances this world has ever seen ...can save millions of lives that today are squandered by the ideology of massively supported environmental campaign groups". The speech garnered praise from the American Council on Science and Health, a well-known industry front group, in a blog by Dr. Gil Ross entitled, "Billion Dollar Green Campaigns Kill Poor Children". Ross is a convicted felon who spent time in jail for Medicaid fraud. Paterson, a former UK Environment secretary, is widely seen as a climate change skeptic whose views are incompatible with science. Stacy Malkan, The Ecologist.
References
- ^ Bad Boys of Brexit. Molly Scott Cato, Bad Boys of Brexit, Jan.16.2018.
- ^ What they said then and what they’re saying now. Oliver Wright, The Times, Nov.16.2018.
- ^ Tory Environment Secretary wanted pensioners to pick fruit to cut immigration, Lib Dem claims. Ian Johnson, The Independent, Mar.14.2016.
- ^ Owen Paterson becomes new Environment Secretary. Climate change skeptic Owen Paterson has been promoted to be the new Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Holly Watt, The Telegraph, Sept.2012.