Hard-right figures take aim at Ed Miliband and UK net zero policies at ‘anti-woke Davos’

<p>One of the key figures on Tuesday was Chris Wright, a former fossil fuel executive who was appointed by Trump as energy secretary. He described energy policies in Britain as a “tragic mistake” that had impoverished citizens.</p>

<p>Wright, who believes the threat from the climate crisis is exaggerated, predicted that a “change of leadership” in the UK would radically reverse energy policy and align it more with the US.</p>

<p>“Most of the major European countries are well aware of the energy mistake they have made and are trying to understand how they are going to pivot away from it,” said Wright, who joined the conference on one of the hottest days of the year in Britain as delegates inside sweltered.</p>

<p>Badenoch and other speakers at the event – which is being funded by a host of US fossil fuel interests, major Trump donors and anti-abortion groups – repeatedly hit out at the energy secretary, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/edmiliband" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ed Miliband</a>, a villain for many at the conference.</p>

<p>Miliband, who has long been a hate figure for hard-right activists as the face of Britain’s net zero policies, has become the focus of increasing criticism on the right in recent weeks as he was mooted as a possible <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/23/in-or-out-burnham-cabinet-ed-miliband-shabana-mahmood-wes-streeting" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">chancellor in a government led by Andy Burnham</a>.</p>

<p>Speaking to Philippa Stroud, a Tory peer who was one of the co-founders of the ARC conference along with the Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, Badenoch said that there had been a “villain in Britain’s deindustrialisation.”</p>

<p>“His name is Ed Miliband and he has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/23/ed-miliband-uk-must-stick-net-zero-targets-deliver-jobs-growth" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">made our country poorer,”</a> she said, to applause.</p>

<p>“We need to make sure that this man should not be let anywhere near the levers of power, not the energy department or anywhere else.”</p>

<p>While ARC is also heavily backed by the owners of GB News – hedge fund manager Paul Marshall and the Dubai-based investment group Legatum – a list of donors for this year’s conference shows that it has received financial backing from powerful US donors with close ties to the Trump administration.</p>

<p>Analysis by the climate investigations outlet DeSmog and Greenpeace’s Unearthed found that the donors include Anthony Pratt, an Australian-born billionaire who reportedly donated $14m to the Trump-supporting Make America Great Again Super Pac, and a further $1.1m to the president’s inaugural fund.</p>

<p>He is joined on the donors list by the American fossil fuel companies Howard <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/energy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Energy</a> Partners (HEP) and Heyco Energy Group, both of which also helped to fund last year’s event. HEP is one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in the US; its CEO Mike Howard, a Republican donor, was appointed to Trump’s National Petroleum Council in February this year.</p>

<p>Aside from hostility to conventional narratives around the climate crisis, the event has also drawn together thousands of political activists and politicians from across Europe, the US and Australia who are hostile to immigration and multiculturalism.</p>

Guardian Sport · Jun 24

Guardian Sport · Jun 24

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