Now George Osborne is dragged into the Greenpeace sting

By Peter Hoskin
_{Follow Peter on Twitter}

Turns out that Chris Heaton-Harris wasn’t the only person to fall foul of Greenpeace’s camera lenses. The video above was published by the group yesterday, but has only just been reported, by the Telegraph and the Independent. It includes Peter Lilley and Lord Howell of Guildford in its cast list.

Both men mention George Osborne in relation to the Government’s green energy policy. First, Mr Lilley, speaking about the recent reshuffle:

“Basically I think Osborne wanted to get people into key positions who could begin to get the government off the hook of the commitments it made very foolishly.”

And then Lord Howell, who also happens to be the Chancellor’s father-in-law:

“The Prime Minister is not familiar with these issues, doesn’t understand them … Osborne is of course getting this message and is putting pressure on.”

In many respects, this is unsurprising. It has already been widely reported that Mr Osborne is pushing to cut the subsidies handed out for renewable energy. And it doesn’t take any secret insight to see the recent reshuffle as part of that battle.

But it’s still far from ideal when the Chancellor has to release statements, as he has done this evening, emphasising that he “supports Government policy”. And it’s even less ideal that the green policies the Conservatives do have — and the ones they should have — are being subsumed by so much camera footage. Now might be the time to reinvigorate that agenda, as I suggested in a recent column.