Britain Cuts Climate Change Diplomatic Staff by 25%

Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson. By UK Government – https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/hong-kong-special-administrative-region-20th-anniversary-written-ministerial-statement, OGL 3, Link

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

The Guardian is upset that the British Government foreign minister Boris Johnson has cut the number of staff tasked with negotiating international acceptance of global climate treaties and initiatives.

Foreign Office climate staff cut by 25% under Boris Johnson

Damian Carrington

Environment editor

Exclusive: The prime minister says the UK leads the world on climate action, but Foreign Office officials dedicated to the issue have plunged since 2016

The number of full-time officials dedicated to climate change in the Foreign Office has dropped by almost 25% in the two years since Boris Johnson became foreign secretary, according to data released under freedom of information (FoI) rules.

“It is extremely disappointing,” said Prof Sir David King, who was the foreign secretary’s special envoy for climate change from September 2013 until March 2017.

“Yes, we have the Paris agreement, but everybody knows the difference between what the agreement says – if possible no more than 1.5C rise – and what countries have promised is enormous,” he said. “There is a very big amount of work to be done. Other countries have had an enormous amount of respect for what Britain has delivered. If you then cut back the British effort then of course there is a real danger that the focus drifts away.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/25/foreign-office-climate-staff-cut-by-25-under-boris-johnson

The Guardian also notes that Boris Johnson poked fun at climate change in 2015.

I can’t stand this December heat, but it has nothing to do with global warming

By Boris Johnson

We may all be sweating in the winter air, but remember, we humans have always put ourselves at the centre of cosmic events

Imagine if we have nothing in these long, dark months save a muggy and melancholy mildness, soft, damp and unwholesome; nothing but rain and a louring grey sky pressing down on our hungover eyeballs. The thought made me feel almost unwell.

In my despair, I rang the great physicist and meteorologist Piers Corbyn. You know Piers: he is the older brother of Jezza, and he is famous for believing that the world – on the whole – is getting colder, and that the whole global warming theory is unsound, to say the least. Piers thinks that whatever the role of humanity in affecting the temperature of the planet, that role is pitifully trivial next to the Sun, the supercolossal boiling ball of gas about which we revolve and which enables life on Earth.

Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/weather/12060976/I-cant-stand-this-December-heat-but-it-has-nothing-to-do-with-global-warming.html

Boris Johnson came close to being Britain’s Prime Minister in 2016, but his leadership campaign was derailed when one of his key political allies, current British Environment Minister Michael Gove, abruptly withdrew his support for Johnson’s candidacy.

… “This was a carefully planned assassination,” an ally said. “It was systematic and calculated to do the maximum damage to Boris.

“When he saw his opportunity for an act of midnight treachery he took it.” …

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/30/boris-johnsons-allies-accuse-michael-gove-of-systematic-and-calc/

I doubt Boris Johnson is a serious climate skeptic. Boris Johnson has poked fun at climate dogma a few times, which greens obviously find unforgivable; but Boris Johnson also seems content to be a senior figure in a one of the deepest green governments in Britain’s history.

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Ralph Knapp
April 25, 2018 3:02 pm

The Guardian may be laying off a few dedicated “warmist” writers if the sun stays in this cool phase for a few years.

philincalifornia
Reply to  Ralph Knapp
April 25, 2018 9:40 pm

I doubt it. They will most likely redistribute their resources to lie harder.

Hugs
Reply to  philincalifornia
April 25, 2018 11:54 pm

Don’t be that pessimistic. The Guardian is upset is the thing they sell. They have a number of things to be upset about. But being upset on the politically correct side sells badly, so they might end up bought by someone. That would be a thing to be upset about.

MarkW
Reply to  philincalifornia
April 26, 2018 8:22 am

“The Guardian is upset”
You say that like it was something unusual.

Reply to  Ralph Knapp
April 26, 2018 1:52 am

Preliminary estimates suggest that Excess Winter Deaths in Britain this winter totaled about 48,000, or about HALF that of the average for the USA, a country with FIVE times the population of Britain. This means that the Excess Winter Mortality Rate in Britain this year is about 2.5 times the average rate for the USA. Why?
I warned of these needless Excess Winter Deaths of British elderly and poor people years ago – some examples are included below from 2013 and 2015.
When misinformed politicians fool with energy systems, real people suffer and die. That is the tragic consequence of false global warming alarmism.
___________________
HERE ARE TWO ARTICLES ON THE 48,000 EXCESS WINTER DEATHS IN BRITAIN THIS YEAR:
48,000 BRITS DEAD AFTER WORST WINTER IN 42 YEARS
Hayley Coyle, Daily Star, 7 April 2018
https://thegwpf.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c920274f2a364603849bbb505&id=cc6bacc6dd&e=da89067c4f
The UK is being hit by its worst winter death toll in 42 years. It is estimated that 20,275 Brits more than average died between December and March. It means this winter is set to total at least 48,000 deaths due to cold weather – which works out at an average of one death every three and a half minutes. Campaigners have called the deaths a “national tragedy” as cold weather victims fatalities could be prevented – especially in the elderly. –Hayley Coyle, Daily Star, 7 April 2018
DELINGPOLE: 48,000 BRITONS DIED OF COLD THIS WINTER; UK GOVERNMENT PRAISES CLIMATE POLICY WHICH HELPED KILL THEM
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/04/09/delingpole-48000-britons-died-of-cold-this-winter-uk-government-praises-climate-policy-which-helped-kill-them/
Unlike most of the things climate campaigners worry about, these dead people aren’t theoretical projections derived from dodgy computer models. These are real people – brothers, sisters, grandparents, great-grandparents – who might well have lived a few more years longer than they did if the cost of heating their homes hadn’t been artificially driven up by government policy. Cold is a much bigger killer for humans than heat. –James Delingpole, Breitbart News, 9 April 2018
More here:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/04/18/green-shock-entire-forests-being-murdered-to-produce-wood-pellet-biomass/comment-page-1/#comment-2794120

Eugene S. Conlin
Reply to  Ralph Knapp
April 26, 2018 4:09 am

Ralph – I doubt that very much – doncha know that anthropogenic CO2 on Earth affects the sun and the whole of the solar system, causing the sun to warm and cool in an indiscriminate manner we’re doomed … doomed I tell ya!
😉

Andy Ogilvie
Reply to  Eugene S. Conlin
April 26, 2018 5:51 am

Doomed to pay an enourmous heating bill. May starts next week and we have had to put the heating back on. 10 c here today according to the thermometer in my garden. Can somebody please send some global warming to Wolverhampton England…… think of the children!

Trebla
Reply to  Ralph Knapp
April 26, 2018 6:37 am

The staff must have comprised at least 4 people, or some multiple of that number. (I figured that one out all by myself without the need for any computer modelling).

April 25, 2018 3:02 pm

Boris Johnson may a slightly “green” heart, but at least he has a sense of humor.

Hugs
Reply to  John D. Smith
April 26, 2018 12:05 am

Oh you must have steel balls (includes women) to say “December heat” and to complain that the “global warming theory is unsound”. It is not a freaking theory! It is a paradigm that covers everything. It is madness which wastes a large portion of the productivity of the humankind.
In the meantime, look at this: (and try to find it in The Guardian) (ht Motls)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/25/world/europe/anti-semitism-germany-jews-kipa-solidarity.html
The thing is, The Guardian has a lot of difficulty to be upset about the reason why wearing a kipa has proven dangerouns in Berlin.

Bloke down the pub
Reply to  John D. Smith
April 26, 2018 3:56 am

Whether Boris believes Piers Corbyn’s view on cagw or not, I suspect he likes to quote him just to annoy younger brother Jeremy.

commieBob
April 25, 2018 3:13 pm

Boris Johnson would not be cutting back the climate change diplomatic staff on the sly. Clearly he has the support he needs to get away with it.

Latitude
April 25, 2018 3:14 pm

25% of what?….does anyone have any real numbers? If it’s only 4 people, and 1’s laid off…..
“Other countries have had an enormous amount of respect for what Britain has delivered.”…..roaring laughing
…..I’m sure they have $$$$$$$$$$

commieBob
Reply to  Latitude
April 25, 2018 3:30 pm

From the linked article:

But FoI documents show that the number of officials working full time on climate change fell from 72 to 55 between early 2016 and 2018, despite the issue being a “network-wide priority” across the UK’s diplomatic corps.

Johnson assumed office July 13, 2016, so the cuts were mostly on his watch.

richard verney
Reply to  commieBob
April 25, 2018 6:18 pm

But they do not work in his department.
The UK has (or had) a department for Energy and Climate Change, so presumably the staff that have been laid off come from that department.

Reply to  Latitude
April 25, 2018 3:42 pm

“Other countries have had an enormous amount of respect for what Britain has delivered.”…..roaring laughing
…..I’m sure they have $$$$$$$$$$££££££££££


FIFY

Ed Zuiderwijk
Reply to  Greg F
April 25, 2018 11:31 pm

Yep. And thanks for all those mercs we have been able to buy with your generous donations.

Jacob Frank
April 25, 2018 3:17 pm

The CO2 lord needs your help people, take to the streets and hand out pamphlets. If we don’t evangelical this shit in a few generations none will know our blessed weather god COtoo

Karlos51
Reply to  Jacob Frank
April 25, 2018 7:45 pm

And so it came to pass, King Cnut rose from the grave and looked across the vast lands he’d conquered a millennium past, and he saw what had been done.
Those who witnessed the great man’s ghost reported he said nothing to them, others swear they heard a faint whisper as he facepalmed and climbed back into his grave.
The sounds were foreign to the modern ear, it sounded like ‘Ohferfckssakes’..

Alan the Brit
Reply to  Karlos51
April 26, 2018 12:25 am

Never a truer word spoken!!!! 😉

Reply to  Karlos51
April 26, 2018 1:16 am

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/02/04/the-fantasy-of-accelerating-sea-level-rise-just-got-hosed/comment-page-1/#comment-2734412
Hello Honest,
[excerpt]
Leo above referred to a global warming hysteric as “a modern day Cnut”. I still think a spell-check is in order.
Regards, Allan

Nigel S
Reply to  Karlos51
April 26, 2018 1:50 am

There is a theory, quite a good one I think, that Cnut’s bit of theatre(er) was a message to sycophantic courtiers. Not hard to imagine Boris doing something similar.

Karlos51
Reply to  Karlos51
April 26, 2018 2:48 am

precisely Nigel, clever man he was, he found it necessary to show his clodtiers that man had no dominion over nature and to think otherwise was an egregious case of hubris.
Of course it was easier for the rabble to twist the story and mock the great man once he was off the scene. Lesser mortals rarely attack greatness head on preferring character assassination from a safe distance.

Robert of Ottawa
April 25, 2018 3:47 pm

Boris get something right!

Alan Tomalty
Reply to  Robert of Ottawa
April 25, 2018 9:07 pm

email me at korner@rogers.com I live in ottawa also.

gunsmithkat
April 25, 2018 3:57 pm

Good man! I hope our new Sec’y of State does similar work with the swamp he inherited.

Davis
April 25, 2018 4:06 pm

Can we get him as PM of Canada? Please, Please!

Reply to  Davis
April 26, 2018 11:52 am

Yes. Please take him.

April 25, 2018 4:12 pm

The Brits do things rather differently – Winston Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty, right up until he replaced Chamberlain. Coalition government systems can be very confusing at times to our American sensibilities.

markl
April 25, 2018 4:17 pm

“….staff tasked with negotiating international acceptance of global climate treaties and initiatives….” I see, the propaganda arm of their CC quango. For being “settled” there sure are a lot of people on the political CC payrolls around the world for the express purpose of convincing others, and themselves, that catastrophe is just around the corner unless a select few countries pay up and transfer their industry to other countries. The whole Globalist movement is Marxism with different lipstick.

Reply to  markl
April 26, 2018 1:23 am

markl wrote:
“The whole Globalist movement is Marxism with different lipstick.”
You are entirely correct Sir.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/04/21/18-examples-of-the-spectacularly-wrong-predictions-made-around-the-first-earth-day-in-1970/comment-page-1/#comment-2796279
The self-styled “Progressives”, the US Democrats, the Canadian Liberals and NDP, the British Labour Party and the Greens worldwide are pawns of the extreme left and have been so since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Here is some history:
“Surprisingly enough the second event that caused the environmental movement to veer to the left was the fall of the Berlin Wall. Suddenly the international peace movement had a lot less to do. Pro-Soviet groups in the West were discredited. Many of their members moved into the environmental movement bringing with them their eco-Marxism and pro-Sandinista sentiments.”
Source: “The Rise of Eco-Extremism”, by Dr. Patrick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace (1994).
http://ecosense.me/2012/12/30/key-environmental-issues-4/
Many of these imbeciles don’t even know it, but they are following a covert Marxist agenda intended to damage our economies, cloaked in phony green rhetoric.
Marxism made simple:
The Groucho Marxists are the leaders – they want power for its own sake at any cost, and typically are sociopaths or psychopaths. The great killers of recent history, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot. etc. were of this odious ilk – first they get power, then they implement their crazy schemes that do not work and too often kill everyone who opposes them.
The Harpo Marxists are the followers – the “sheeple” – these are people of less-than-average intelligence who are easily duped and follow the Groucho’s until it is too late, their rights are lost and their society destroyed. They are attracted to simplistic concepts that “feel good” but rarely “do good”.
George Carlin said: “You know how stupid the average person is, right? Well, half of them are stupider than that!”
One can easily identify many members of these two groups in the global warming debate – and none of them are ”climate skeptics”.
Need more evidence? Read the quotations at http://www.green-agenda.com
Just a few examples:
“The goal now is a socialist, redistributionist society,
which is nature’s proper steward and society’s only hope.”
– David Brower,
founder of Friends of the Earth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“If we don’t overthrow capitalism, we don’t have a chance of
saving the world ecologically. I think it is possible to have
an ecologically sound society under socialism.
I don’t think it is possible under capitalism”
– Judi Bari,
principal organiser of Earth First!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the
industrialized civilizations collapse?
Isn’t it our responsibility to bring that about?”
– Maurice Strong,
founder of the UN Environment Programme
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“A massive campaign must be launched to de-develop the
United States. De-development means bringing our
economic system into line with the realities of
ecology and the world resource situation.”
– Paul Ehrlich,
Professor of Population Studies
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Russ Wood
Reply to  ALLAN MACRAE
April 29, 2018 9:10 am

-And, of course, one only has to look at the Socialist triumph of Venezuela to see just how successful an ecological triumph it was! (Do I really have to use the /Sarc note?)
One of the big problems we have in South Africa, is that the ANC government are using Venezuela and Zimbabwe as exemplars of how they want to go about ruling the country….

John Bell
April 25, 2018 4:18 pm

“Climate change diplomatic staff” think about that for a moment, what a dream job for a bureaucrat, being paid to work on a non-existent problem, and it never gets better.

Peter s
Reply to  John Bell
April 25, 2018 9:44 pm

With all those international junket trips tossed in.

April 25, 2018 4:20 pm

Keep going Boris! That is the right direction. The aim should be 0 staff within three years, in time for the great cooling episode.

Vic Pearson
April 25, 2018 4:20 pm

Piers Corbyn is right about insignificant man made C02 effect and deserves credit for doing the necessary research to prove this.I hope the Green juggernaut started by the infamous Al Gore will continue to swerve and
soon crash off its fraudulant route !

Bruce Cobb
April 25, 2018 4:36 pm

More of the Trump effect at work.

April 25, 2018 4:41 pm

““There is a very big amount of work to be done.” Now that the Paris Agreement is in place, and ratified by almost every country, why is there a need for diplomatic work? I should think that work that needs to be done would be in devising policies to reduce CO2 emissions. Time for diplomacy is, surely, over. It’s settled.

Alan Tomalty
Reply to  Retired_Engineer_Jim
April 25, 2018 9:10 pm

we need more CO2 in the atmosphere NOT less.

Russ Wood
Reply to  Alan Tomalty
April 29, 2018 9:11 am

-But isn’t that why they NEED every Civil Serpent they can get?

Michael Jankowski
April 25, 2018 4:42 pm

“…But FoI documents show that the number of officials working full time on climate change fell from 72 to 55 between early 2016 and 2018, despite the issue being a “network-wide priority” across the UK’s diplomatic corps…”
Well they got Paris “signed,” so it is only natural that they’d have less work to do.
And how many diplomatic corps are working part-time on climate change?

rogerthesurf
April 25, 2018 4:55 pm

If you then cut back the British effort then of course there is a real danger that the focus drifts away.”
Maybe this is the idea? 😉
Cheers
Roger
http://www.thedemiseofchristchurch.com

Ozonebust
Reply to  rogerthesurf
April 25, 2018 5:22 pm

rogerthesurfer
It is NIWA that is the advisor to these folk, they are the problem. The head atmospheric scientist sleeps with the IPCC handbook under his pillow. He and the shiny faced greens leader James Shaw make a good pair. I am sure the two get together with their hand books similar to a prayer meeting. Reading doom and gloom into every passage.
Did you see Shaw recently in the UK telling the world that New Zealand is going to be a leader in climate change. For goodness sake. I would have thought that people in his position would be obliged to keep up to date with reality and new scientific findings. But no, he is off on a mission of saving the world from an imagined threat.
Regards

rogerthesurf
Reply to  Ozonebust
April 25, 2018 7:33 pm

“NIWA, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, is a Crown Research Institute established in 1992. It operates as a stand-alone company with its own Board of Directors and Executive.
What is a Crown Research Institute?
Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) are Crown-owned companies established to undertake scientific research and related activities in accordance with the Crown Research Institutes Act 1992. Ownership is held equally between two shareholding Ministers appointed by the New Zealand Government and governed by a Crown-appointed Board of Directors. CRIs are subject to the Crown Entities Act 2004, the Crown Research Institutes Act 1992, and the Companies Act 1993.
Key requirements for CRIs include:
Ensure that research is undertaken for the benefit of New Zealand
Pursue excellence in all their activities
Comply with applicable ethical standards
Promote and facilitate the application of the results of research and technological developments
Be a good employer
Exhibit a sense of social responsibility
Maintain their financially viability.”
Interesting, there are at least two key requirements that a close if not over the line of being violated.
Cheers
Roger

Alan Tomalty
Reply to  Ozonebust
April 25, 2018 9:13 pm

I am reminded of the fiery sermons my Baptist minister used to preach. It was all fire and brimstone You would burn in Hell if you didnt accept some “mythical saviour” into your life.

dennisambler
Reply to  rogerthesurf
April 28, 2018 3:43 am

So long as the Climate Change Act is in being, the “British effort” will not be cut back. And of course there is Claire Perry, the Energy and Clean Growth Minister:
http://www.ukpol.co.uk/claire-perry-2018-speech-on-climate-change/

u.k.(us)
April 25, 2018 5:08 pm

Is this a “true” story, or just another well written fable.
The Onion, I would imagine, is looking for writers.
To each their own.

April 25, 2018 5:27 pm

Following the link I see that there are still 55 bureaucrats producing carefully worded climate change/global warming non-sense.

michael hart
April 25, 2018 5:28 pm

“There is a very big amount of work to be done.[.]”

Too right. There is another 75% to go.
Besides, I’m sure even The Guardian would agree that saving the planet could be temporarily put on the back burner while everyone pulls together to make Brexit work properly. Guardian readers wouldn’t really want the whole nation to suffer just for the sake of their environmental vanity, would they? Would they?

April 25, 2018 6:01 pm

Since climate science is settled, why do we need climate scientists at all? Lay off the lot of them!

April 25, 2018 6:10 pm

The goal should be 100% Climate fraud layoffs. Any country, any related topic.

April 25, 2018 7:04 pm

You can go blind, reading the Guardian.
Honest.

LdB
Reply to  Leo Smith
April 25, 2018 9:15 pm

Blind? I thought it was stupid, Griff was my reference for the damage it could cause.

Har old
April 25, 2018 8:18 pm

If the Grauniad hates it, I love it.

Hugs
Reply to  Har old
April 26, 2018 12:19 am

It is an old maxim you read the Guardian, and take it as a warning.

Justin McCarthy
April 25, 2018 8:39 pm

A beginning. Imagine how much CO/2 will not be emitted jaunting around the world.

Dreadnought
April 25, 2018 9:40 pm

Well, it is high time that someone put a stop to this abject nonsense. 25% is 75% short of a proper effort.
At least it’s a promising start from old Bozzer, and it’s always fun to see the Grauniad and it’s legion of swivel-eyed lefty readers get their knickers in a twist.

Ian Macdonald
April 25, 2018 10:04 pm

I think I’m detecting a correlation between hairstyle and unexpected displays of commonsense.from politicians, Of course I might have it the wrong way round; maybe the commonsense causes the hairstyle instead.

April 26, 2018 1:09 am

Don’t be fooled for a second. This ‘government’ is hell bent on the complete and utter destruction of the UK at the behest of their totalitarian Globalist masters and by the most expedient means possible. Despite years of promises to reduce immigration to manageable levels of a few tens of thousands per annum it is still at around the half million mark. These tiny islands are absorbing enough people to create a city the size of Southampton each and every year. This while social tensions and crime rates soar at completely unprecedented out-of-control levels and infrastructure and services creak and groan under the insupportable load.
It is self-evidently absolutely unsustainable and yet there is no sign of any policy aimed at even the smallest reduction in the numbers arriving visible anywhere on the horizon. If we don’t find some way to stop the extreme left wing authoritarian lunatics who have this country by the throat we are finished in a matter of a few short years. This ‘government’ is waging a war of total annihilation against its own people while they listen to the soothing outright lies of its BBC propaganda wing and are blissfully unaware of their own imminent fate. The US Founding Fathers knew what they were about when writing the Second Amendment.

John Endicott
April 26, 2018 4:55 am

“The Guardian is upset that the British Government foreign minister Boris Johnson has cut the number of staff tasked with negotiating international acceptance of global climate treaties and initiatives.”
If I was a Brit, I’d be upset about this as well: it should have been a 100% cut!

Reply to  John Endicott
May 1, 2018 9:04 am

In the UK every town council employs a team of climate change advisers and managers; all keen to go on climate change junckets. We are in the vice like grip of globe warming extremists due to EU membership. We need a liberating figure like Donald Trump to free us from this tyrrany.

R. Wright
April 26, 2018 8:36 am

The U.S. State Department has an “Office of Global Change” whose staff functions much like their British counterparts. This office would appear ripe for similar staff cuts, based on the Trump Administration’s views on the U.N. climate agencies, the Paris Accord, etc.

s-t
April 26, 2018 9:30 am

Does Boris Johnson, or anyone elected in Britain, stand for anything?

April 30, 2018 4:47 am

The only people who read the Guardian work for BBC News and current affairs programmes. They are a left wing public sector broadcaster funded by a compulsory
tax and only quote what the Guardian says when reviewing the newspapers – they are very conscious of the fact and concerned that nobody reads it.