Commitment
He likes to brag about his action-man approach: He likes to suggest in interviews that if he’s not talking to reporters, he’s heading to the mountains from the back seat of an airplane or on a motorcycle. In real life, he is an engineer.
There was always a Tigger-like light in his eyes. In fact, if Steve Baker wasn’t an existential threat to our grandkids, the brazenness of everything he did might have earned him a sneaky fan base, even among people of different political beliefs in the same.
How is Steve Baker so important to anti-climate activists?
Let’s go back to the beginning of this article, where Steve Baker met with some of his constituents to talk about climate.
Gemma Rogers told me: “Baker didn’t seem to know much about climate issues at the time, but he promised to meet us again when he had the chance to investigate.
toggle
“A few months later I learned that he had become a trustee of the notorious denialist organisation Global Warming Policy Foundation. When asked later why he had joined, he said it was ‘because Lord Lawson asked me. ‘”
But if Baker is flattered by the choice, he has made climate contrarianism his own and, with ex-UKIP Craig McKinley, formed a net of 20 MPs who oppose the net-zero carbon target. Zero Review Panel.
Now he has brought the policy to the newly formed, pro-market, far-right Tory Way Forward group.
But if the meeting with voters meant little for Baker, it was crucial for Gemma Rogers, who decided to go up against him on the issue.
“He stood on the 2019 Conservative manifesto, which included a net zero target. It doesn’t feel right that he’s changing his position without explaining why to voters.”
dismantling
So she reached out to a few others: first Stephen Morton from her local Friends of the Earth group, and myself and Tom Hardy, who have been working on anti-GWPF issues on a national level. The four of us co-founded Steve Baker Watches.
The goals are: to inform Wycombe voters what their MPs are doing in their name; convince Baker to either change his climate stance, including leaving the GWPF, or his job, and finally, to build a network of resilient, democratically-minded citizens .
Because despite Steve Baker’s swagger, he has only a 4,000-vote majority in his constituency. So he is vulnerable.
So far, the campaign has been a huge success. The original crowdfunder brought in three times the original target amount, with some donors voluntarily making monthly payments.
Flyers have been distributed to every household in the constituency, noting Baker’s partnership with the Global Warming Policy Network, now renamed Net Zero Watch. In August, we ran an ad campaign in local newspapers to explain what the congressman was doing and push back on his climate arguments.
vitality
Ms Rogers added: “MPs should work for us. We mean, protect the future of our children on earth, or change your job. People love it. Because it feels like you can do something positive and direct not only for the climate , but you can also make your voice heard democratically.
“People spontaneously emailed Steve Baker Watch to help, including comedian Stuart Lee, who offered profits from comedy gigs in the area. There was also a local footballer who asked what he could do.
“We’re not party politics. If there were active pro-climate MPs in the Conservatives, some of our members would support them. But the Conservative Environment Network is a lame duck. They need to up their game. There’s just no more time for it. Green purges and delayism gone.”
Steve Baker Watch is not a separate team: the idea took off elsewhere as well. Two other watch groups have been launched – Craig Mackinlay Watch by Thnet and Robert Courts Watch by Witney. Ten more groups are planned for the fall.
Ms Rogers concluded: “By the next election, we hope there will be watch groups up and down the country. Wouldn’t it be interesting if Steve Baker inadvertently started a phenomenon that would reinforce net zero carbon and ultimately bring him down? There’s a “energy in our campaign. I wouldn’t bet on us. “
this author
Jessica Townsend is a founding member of Steve Baker Watches.
