Former Tory prime minister Boris Johnson will not back any of the party’s leadership candidates, but he is intent on influencing them all on the issue of the environment.
With nominations for the Conservative leadership now closed, Johnson has insisted that whoever is next to head the party must push on with firm support for Net Zero. He said that “continued Conservative environmental leadership is critical for our party’s electoral prospects and the environmental cause.”
During the general election campaign, Rishi Sunak—who will step down as Tory leader once his replacement has been decided—made efforts to present the environment as a dividing line between the Conservatives and Labour. However, the differences were (and are) broadly rhetorical.
Johnson, on the other hand, has long been open about his attachment to the green cause. As Mayor of London, he established the capital’s widely-hated ‘Ultra Low Emission Zone’ (ULEZ). Then, as prime minister, he was pleased to announce a new “landmark strategy” for reaching net zero. All this despite the harm done by the drive to net zero to a large range of industries—particularly farming—and, in turn, national consumers. Not to mention the former Tory government’s dire warning that a speedy rejection of fossil fuels could lead to blackouts.
It is, then, unsurprising that Johnson—who many Tories say was the party’s best leader in decades—believes it is important that the Conservatives continue to work to “finish the job of reaching net zero.”
His comments coincided with the launch of the Conservative Environment Network’s manifesto for environmentalism. This document lays out the need to “move away from expensive fossil fuels,” “double [the] renewable energy capacity” and to “require listed companies, asset managers, asset owners, and large companies to publish transition plans.”
Johnson’s insistence has also been backed by two other liberal former Tory leaders, Lord Hague and Lord Howard.
Depending on the result of the ongoing Tory leadership race, it is very likely that the party’s messaging around net zero will shift over to the Right over the coming years. But whether its voting record and—should it get back into power—actual legislative approach will change is another question altogether.
