Given the current battle over “Net Zero” and the Conservative Party, I thought this might be illuminating.
So, on 18 November 1979 the Sunday Times reported that
“leaked Cabinet papers record the Government’s efforts to ‘reduce oversensitivity to environmental consideration'(The Sunday Times, 18 November 1979). ” (Lowe and Morrison, 1984: 86)
I don’t have digital access to The Sunday Times, sadly. But I do have access to the Times. And on October 6 1984, (on page 8, since you ask), there’s an article by one Tony Paterson (then the parliamentary liaison officer for the Bow Group) titled “Why the true blues must go green.” We learn
Characteristic of this outlook was the recommendation of the Government within weeks of the 1979 election triumph by Sir John Hoskyns, then head of Mrs Thatcher’s Downing Street Policy Unit, to reduce its “oversensitivity to environmental considerations” in planning decisions. Because it heeded this and similar advice, millions of conservationists have come to regard the Conservative Party, environmentally, as no more than a watchdog which barks when kicked – even though, philosophically, it can claim to be the natural party of conservation.
Who was John Hoskyns? Interesting chap. Came out of the military, set up businesses. According to the font-of-all-knowledge Wikipedia
“Without any political experience, Hoskyns dedicated most of the year 1977 to analysing what was wrong with Britain. This work formed a large part of the “Stepping Stones Report”, published together with Norman S. Strauss, a business executive from Unilever, in November 1977, created for the Conservative Party, then in opposition. The report included a diagram showing how the problems it identified were interlinked.”
So, another of those sort of “Mandate for Leadership” efforts (the Heritage Foundation in the US were presumably taking note?). It didn’t go so well for Hoskyns –
In March 1982 Hoskyns resigned from the Central Policy Review Staff (CPRS), frustrated by the slow pace of change,[7] including the refusal to appoint certain people to the CPRS, on the grounds that it was a non-political body.
Oh, and Hoskyns? He was someone Dominic Cummings (remember him?) spoke of as an example of how to shake things up. See this rather interesting 2020 column by Andy Beckett.
What do we learn?
I think we learn four things, in decreasing order of interest to other people.
- This current battle in “defence of Net Zero” is only the latest skirmish (albeit a mildly consequential one ) in the long long battle between – well, let’s not mince our words – economic growth and a habitable planet. My money is on growth, all the way up to us not having a habitable planet no more (sooner than you might think, I think).
- Egregious decision-making like this tends to get leaked by outraged civil servants (or even politicians) – see also the May 2004 meeting of the “Low Emissions Technology Advisory Group” called by Australian Prime Minister John Howard, in which he asked for fossil fuel companies for help in crushing the renewable energy scheme that he had been forced to introduce. Somebody, disgusted, leaked those minutes and they appeared in October 2004.
- The July 1979 kicking around of the “why bother even publishing this climate report?” discussion between (at least) Angus Maude and Keith Joseph (another Thatcher enabler) should be seen in that context.
- I geek – it’s fun to track down these nuggets.
References
Beckett, A. 2020. This is the man in No 10 who inspired Cummings – and he didn’t last long. The Guardian, July 24. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/24/no-10-dominic-cummings-john-hoskyns-margaret-thatcher-whitehall consulted July 31 2023
Lowe, P. and Morrison, D. 1984. Bad news or good news: environmental politics and the mass media. The Sociological Review Vol 32, 1. pp.75-90
Paterson, T. 1984. Why the true blues must go green. The Times, October 6, p.8.
Wikipedia. n.d. John Hoskyns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hoskyns_(policy_advisor) Consulted July 31 2023
To do
Get hold of those leaked Cabinet Minutes
Get hold of the report from the Sunday Times
Get a look at Hoskyns; memoir “Just In Time”.