Insulate Britain Spox Compares Climate Protesters to Churchill Opposing Hitler

Union flags fly near a bronze statue of British war-time Prime Minister Winston Churchill,
JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images
Victoria Friedman

The spokesman for Insulate Britain has compared his eco-activists blocking traffic on some of Britain’s busiest roads to Winston Churchill and the handful of MPs who backed him in opposing Adolf Hitler in 1937.

Liam Norton made the remarks on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Wednesday after attempting to downplay the severe injury of a 74-year-old woman whose stroke was allegedly worsened because she was stuck in traffic for six hours as a result of an Insulate Britain protest last week.

The group campaigns for government action on “fuel poverty” and home insulation, with its spokesman Mr Norton — who declined to respond to reports that his own home was not insulated — saying that despite the dangers posed to people, his activists would not stop because of climate change.

“The future of this country is at stake,” he told GMB’s Richard Madeley, before going on to compare his protesters to wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill.

Norton said: “In 1937, do you know how many MPs supported Churchill when he was trying to fight Hitler? Six MPs supported him, and Churchill was right, wasn’t he? And he only had the support of six MPs… Not always the public are with you, but you’re still right. And we’re right now.”

“We’re right,” Norton said as Madeley attempted to question his claim, continuing to rant before walking off the set.

Following the eco-activist’s departure, Madeley remarked with incredulity: “Ladies and gentlemen watching this programme, we now know that these protesters are actually following in the footsteps of Winston Churchill.

“That is the level of intellectual debate that they’re able to bring to the table. They actually compare themselves to the stand Winston Churchill took against Hitler. That’s their parallel.”

Norton had been speaking to several media outlets in the past week, notably coming to blows with LBC’s Nick Ferrari over his refusal to give a meaningful apology for the injury of the woman last week.

The Insulate Britain spokesman had managed somewhat of an apology on GMB this morning, but as he had done previously, appeared to brush off the injury as unimportant in the grander scheme of the battle against alleged anthropomorphic climate change, saying: “We obviously feel terrible and I would apologise… but it doesn’t change the position we’re in, in terms of the climate.”

Norton also disturbed co-host Susanna Reid by refusing to acknowledge not only that an activist could be killed on the road but of the impact it would have on a driver who accidentally kills them.

“The thing is Suzanna, this is the other truth: your worry doesn’t affect what we do in terms of climate change,” he responded.

“What we’re saying is we’re in this awful position, aren’t we when nobody is doing enough to try to save the next generation from destruction… people are going to lose their lives if nothing’s done,” Norton claimed.

Mr Norton is not the only Insulate Britain activist to take an apathetic view of individual life in light of the grander schemes of the group’s loftier goals.

Zoe Cohen — who according to Guido Fawkes went to a £14,000-a-year private school — had refused when asked four times on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if the protests would still be worth it if someone came to serious harm.

Like her colleague Norton, Cohen has also made grand allusions between Insulate Briton and other historical figures, comparing themselves to the Suffragettes.

“We hate doing this, we don’t want to do it. We have to cause disruption. It is the only thing we have left in our liberal democracy. We are not really expecting to get public support. The Suffragettes were hated at the time,” she told LBC’s Ferrari on Tuesday.

Speaking on GMB this morning after the departure of Norton, fellow panellist and former editor of the Daily Star Dawn Neesom had remarked that she thought the actions of Insulate Britain were “on a par with terrorism”.

“Whenever I have this debate from anyone from that movement, they say, ‘We are like what the Suffragettes were.’ Well, the Suffragettes did admit back in the day that they were terrorists. So they are literally admitting to terrorism,” Ms Neesom claimed.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.