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A former Senator has lodged a complaint with the Commissioner for Standards about the conduct of two States Members during a visit last month from a leading member of a UK organisation that challenges the mainstream response to climate change.
Dr John Constable was invited by the Jersey Climate Group to address politicians in a room in the States Assembly building.
A press release at the time described Dr Constable as “the executive director of Net Zero Watch, a group founded by the late Nigel Lawson, one of Britain’s most successful Chancellors and initially formed as the Global Warming Policy Forum", adding that "Net Zero Watch is a charity group set up to highlight the serious economic and social implications of expensive and poorly considered climate and energy policies, both domestically and internationally”.
The decision to allow him to give a talk in the States Assembly building was heavily criticised on social media, and the venue had to be switched at short notice to St Paul’s Centre when Privileges and Procedures Committee (PPC) Chair, Constable Karen Shenton-Stone, intervened.
Pictured: Privileges and Procedures chair, Constable Karen Shenton-Stone.
She wrote to States Members to say that no such presentations could be hosted until the PPC had considered policy guidelines governing external groups’ use of the facilities.
Ted Vibert claims that Mrs Shenton-Stone, as well as fellow politician Deputy Catherine Curtis – who claimed that the presentation was “akin to States Members receiving a briefing from anti-vaxxers or covid deniers” – both broke the States Members’ code of conduct, and is calling for them to be censured by the Assembly.
Dr Constable had been due to give a presentation to States Members on whether “wind farms or solar power could sustain a modern economy”. The event had been arranged in consultation with the Greffier of the States, Lisa Hart.
The venue was changed the day before the talk, and only six politicians attended the rescheduled event. Around 120 people attended a public event at the Town Hall the night before.
Pictured: Dr Constable had been due to give a presentation to States Members on whether “wind farms or solar power could sustain a modern economy”.
Mr Vibert claims that Mrs Shenton-Stone’s intervention had been influenced by “nothing else but tittle-tattle on social media”, and he described Deputy Curtis’ comments as “not only deeply insulting to a respected and distinguished visiting academic from the UK but also offensive to all members of the Jersey Climate Group”.
He claims that both breached the code of conduct by failing to treat members of the public with respect and courtesy, and without malice.
Mrs Shenton-Stone and Deputy Curtis both declined to comment, saying that if a complaint had been filed, no comment should be made until the conclusion of the investigation.
In addition to asking for a vote of censure in the States Assembly, Mr Vibert also wants a written apology to the Jersey Climate Group, which describes itself as a “climate watchdog”, and he wants the States to refund the £250 hire charge for the alternative venue.
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