From the Daily Skeptic
Author: David Telfer
The election is over and we all know Labor won with a huge majority. The government's hard work has begun with the appointment of a new minister for the Department of Energy and Net Zero Emissions (DESNZ).
Labor has appointed six DESNZ ministers. However, analysis of their backgrounds and experiences (see below) revealed that two of them had PPE degrees, one had a degree in history, another had a degree in political studies and another had a degree in history and politics. Another minister earned a degree in Russian studies before studying law. None of them had a background in science, engineering or mathematics. They have all worked in the public sector almost all their lives, so between them there is little experience in the commercial sector and no experience in the energy sector. Ed Miliband and Miatta Fahnbulleh have economics qualifications, but the latter describes herself as an “unorthodox economist” who advocates “using cheaper Renewable energy floods the market” and introduces “free basic energy.” Only “heretical economists” would argue that more expensive, intermittent renewable energy is cheap and that energy is free.
Ed Miliband listed three in spades. Jonty Leibowitz studied history at Cambridge. Tobias Garnett studied law in the City of London and then went to Harvard University's Kennedy School, where he wrote his thesis on “A Just Transition to a Fairer Economy: Labour's Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.” Eleanor Salter is the last, shared with DEFRA, it is not clear what her degree subject is but she is guardian Apparently, she is particularly concerned about “integrating nature into climate change.” There is also no evidence of a STEM background in spades.
You might think this doesn't matter because ministers only oversee departments and it's the civil servants who really run the show. Seven senior civil servants are listed on the DESNZ website. But when you look at their backgrounds, a similar picture emerges (see image below). There are degrees in modern history, geography and modern languages, but there is little evidence of a STEM background. Only the chief scientific adviser has a background in chemistry, specifically astrochemistry. Furthermore, there is no evidence that senior civil servants have any significant experience outside the public sector. There is no evidence of appropriate commercial business experience in any department, let alone energy.
Corruption at DESNZ has not stopped. The department may turn to advisers such as National Grid's electricity system operator, which recently published its future energy path. Their director of strategy and policy, Claire Dykta, oversaw the work and wrote the foreword to the new document. Claire describes herself as a “leading influencer in the energy industry” as if she were running a TikTok channel. Claire graduated from Aston with degrees in management, business and law, so there was no evidence of a STEM background.
DESNZ Ministers may seek advice or direction from the Climate Change Commission. The CCC currently has no chairman and chief executive, but former chairman Lord Deben has a degree in history and former chief executive Chris Stark studied finance and law. Although he has never served anything more laborious than pizza, Stark has been appointed to lead Mission Control to deliver a decarbonized grid by 2030. Emma Pinchbeck will take over as chief executive of CCC. Emma has a Classics degree from Oxford University and began her career as a climate campaigner with the WWF. Likewise, we found no evidence of STEM expertise or appropriate business experience. The CCC does have some engineers and scientists on its board, but many of them drink the Kool-Aid, are interested in renewable energy, or receive funding from billionaire climate activists.
Mad Emperor Miliband not only has no clothes, his entourage is all wearing net-zero clothing. We are the blind guiding the blind, advised by incompetent cronies who know nothing about the world of energy, engineering or business. They have no idea what they don’t know and are completely incapable of challenging the tendentious bullshit put in front of them. Their delivery concept was to draw boxes and triangles on a PowerPoint presentation. Some of them may even have enough computing power to plug numbers into a spreadsheet, but they have no idea what their models mean in the real world. That's how we set out our energy plan to halve energy use per capita by 2050, but no one thinks otherwise. The entire energy policy system is broken.
The resumes of DESNZ ministers and senior civil servants are reproduced below.
DESNZ Minister for Labor
Labor has appointed six DESNZ ministers:
- Ed Miliband becomes Secretary of State
- Sarah Jones becomes Minister of State
- Lord Hunter of King's Heath serves as Minister of State
- Kerry McCarthy serves as Parliamentary Undersecretary
- Miatta Fahnbulleh serves as parliamentary deputy minister
- Michael Shanks becomes Parliamentary Under-Secretary
Let’s take a look at their background and experience.
Ed Miliband
Ed and his brother David are the sons of Ralph Miliband, known as “one of the most renowned academic Marxists of his generation”. Ed Miliband studied PPE at Oxford University's Corpus Christi College, earned an MA in economics at the London School of Economics (LSE), and then briefly worked as political week He was then employed by Harriet Harman as a researcher and speechwriter, and later became an assistant to Gordon Brown in 1997. After more consulting work, he became Doncaster MP for North in 2005. .
He has since held various positions, including Leader of the Opposition. However, it is worth noting that he has no job outside politics and media and certainly has no first-hand knowledge of energy or engineering.
Sarah Jones MP
Sarah Jones studied history at Durham University and joined the Labor Party in 1992, working for Labor MP Mo Mowlam. She also worked at Shelter and was director of public affairs for the NHS Confederation. Sarah served as a senior civil servant, helping to deliver the 2012 Olympics, and held a variety of other roles, including working at Gatwick Airport. She was elected to parliament in 2017 and has since chaired the APPG on knife crime and served as shadow housing minister and later shadow police and fire service minister. Likewise, it's difficult to find any specific energy or engineering expertise.
Lord Hunter of King's Heath
Lord Hunter graduated from the University of Leeds in 1970 with a degree in Political Studies. His career has been in healthcare and since being promoted to the House of Lords he has held ministerial roles at the Department of Health, Department for Work and Pensions, DEFRA and the Department of Energy and Climate Change. It is difficult to find any evidence that he ever worked in energy or engineering, or even outside the public sector (other than as a minister).
Kerry McCarthy MP
Kerry McCarthy studied Russian Studies at the University of Liverpool and then law at City Polytechnic, London. She has worked as a lawyer for Abbey National and Merrill Lynch and held senior positions at Britain in Europe and Waterfront Partnership. She was elected to Parliament in 2005 and held various shadow ministerial posts, becoming Shadow Minister for Climate Change in 2022.
Thanks MP Fahnbulleh
Miatta Fahnbulleh studied PPE at Lincoln College, Oxford, and then earned a PhD in economic development from the London School of Economics. She describes herself as a heterodox economist who also heads the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and who certainly advocates some unconventional policies. These include “flooding energy markets with cheap renewable energy and introducing free basic energy.” Miatta and NEF also advocate for additional windfall profits taxes on oil and gas companies. Miata was promoted to a ministerial position just days after being elected to parliament for the first time this year. Maybe she might find these cheap renewable energy sources under a magical money tree. Again, no STEM experience, no private sector experience.
Michael Shanks MP
Michael Shanks graduated from the University of Glasgow with a degree in History and Politics. He worked for a while in charity before becoming a teacher. He teaches modern studies at a school in Scotland. He was elected to parliament in a December 2023 by-election.
DESNZ Senior Civil Servant
DESNZ has six senior civil servants supported by a chief scientific adviser. all these are:
- Jeremy Pocklington – Permanent Secretary
- Clive Maxwell – Second Permanent Secretary
- Jonathan Mills – Director of Energy and Market Supply
- Ashley Ibbett – Director of Energy Infrastructure
- Lee McDonough – Director General, Net Zero, Nuclear Energy and International Affairs
- Ben Rimmington – Director General, Net Zero Building and Industry
- Professor Paul Monks – Chief Scientific Advisor, DESNZ
Jeremy Pocklington
Jeremy Pocklington is a senior civil servant at DESNZ. He graduated from Oxford University with a degree in modern history and later a master's degree in economic and social history. He has been in the civil service throughout his career, serving in Treasury, Cabinet Office, DECC and MHCLG. He became DESNZ Permanent Secretary in February 2023.
Clive Maxwell
Clive Maxwell graduated from Oxford University in 1992 with a degree in Geography. Head of department. He then worked at the Treasury before moving to the Office of Fair Trading, eventually becoming chief executive. He subsequently returned to the civil service, holding various senior positions in BEIS and the DfT before becoming DESNZ Second Permanent Secretary.
Jonathan Mills
It's unclear what Jonathan Mills studied at university, but his biography on the De Montfort University website lists him as MA and MPhil, so we can reasonably be sure he doesn't come from a STEM background. Since 2017, he has held a number of senior civil service positions. His biography does not list his career before 2017.
Ashley Ibbett
Ashley Ibbett has been a civil servant for over twenty years, holding a variety of roles including trade, science, innovation, competition and energy. It is unclear whether he had a career before joining the civil service and the subjects of his degree are not listed.
Lee McDonald
Lee McDonough is a career civil servant with an MBA from Imperial College. She has worked across a variety of departments including DEFRA, health, BEIS and is now responsible for net zero, nuclear and international affairs at DESNZ. Her original degree is not listed.
Ben Rimington
Ben Rimmington is a career civil servant with a degree in Modern Languages from Cambridge University. He joined the Civil Service Fast Stream in 1995 and has worked at the Department of Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, Department of Business Innovation and Skills, City of Leeds Enterprise Partnerships, DfT and now DESNZ. There is no evidence of any business experience and he clearly has no STEM background.
Professor Paul Monks
Professor Paul Monks graduated from the University of Warwick with a degree in Chemistry, followed by a PhD in the same subject from the University of Oxford. Since then, his career has been in research and academia, including work in astrochemistry at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. He became Chief Scientific Advisor to BEIS in 2020 and to DESNZ in 2023. There is no evidence of business world experience.
Written by David Turver own values The substack page, where this article first appears.
related
