Harry Wilkinson

Credentials

University of York (2012 – 2015).¹

Background

Harry Wilkinson is Head of Policy at the Global Warming Policy Forum, campaign wing of the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), a UK think tank found by climate change denier Nigel Lawson with the purpose of combating what the foundation describes as “extremely damaging and harmful policies” that set out to mitigate climate change.²

Wilkinson is also the Head of Policy for Net Zero Watch (NZW), which is run by the Global Warming Policy Forum.³

As of February 2022, Wilkinson is also a parliamentary aide to Craig Mackinlay, the Conservative MP for South Thanet and leader of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group (NZSG), a loose group of MPs and affiliates that is critical of the government’s net zero policies.

Wilkinson was previously a researcher at the Forum.⁴ ⁵ ⁶

The GWPF created the Forum in 2014, following an investigation by the UK Charity Commission when “concerns were raised with the commission that the charity was promoting views that were of a political rather than an educational nature.” The investigation resulted in the Forum’s creation, which acts as a “campaigning body” operating outside of charitable restrictions.⁷

Wilkinson has privileged access to parliament through being listed as an aide to GWPF founder Nigel Lawson in the House of Lords.⁸

He is a regular contributor to the right-wing Conservative Woman blog.⁹

Stance on Climate Change

September 22, 2018

Taking issue with the BBC‘s coverage on climate change, Wilkinson wrote an article for The Conservative Woman criticising what he described as “alarmist” coverage:¹⁰

“That global warming can be somehow ‘irreversible’ is pure propaganda; the climate has always been changing and it always will. […] A temperature rise of more than two degrees is not inherently dangerous either,” Wilkinson claimed.

August 23, 2017

Wilkinson described targets set in the UK’s Climate Change Act as “draconian.” Denouncing a report by Carbon Trust on green energy, Wilkinson declared:¹¹

“The supposed savings [in green energy] are calculated against the cost of continuing to be straight-jacketed by draconian climate change targets, but without investing any new resources in flexibility measures. […] Any illusory savings from flexibility measures will be dwarfed by the cost of renewable subsidies.”

Key Quotes

January 17, 2020

Wilkinson was invited to speak on talkRADIO where he claimed:¹²

“A lot of these extreme weather events are actually not analysed rationally but are instead blown up as something that almost the climate is collapsing around us and that we’re in this very imminent crisis.”

On IPCC research, Wilkinson said:

“They have low confidence in any trends in drought globally; flooding the same low confidence, if anything flooding might be getting less likely than before; wildfire – there’s now less fire in the global landscape than before.”

On the potential of 4 to 5 degrees warming, Wilkinson said:

“That’s not the case, that’s if emissions increase continually to 2100, but nobody thinks that is likely anymore. It’s actually looking like emissions will peak maybe even in the 2020’s, so they’re going to peak much much earlier than was earlier suggested, so that means we’re on track for a lower amount of warming.”

He also said he was “not so pessimistic about what climate change might do to us” and described a David Attenborough video he watched as “a pure piece of propaganda.”

July 3, 2019

In an article on foreign aid for The Conservative Woman, Wilkinson wrote:¹³

“Making humanitarian objectives conditional on reducing carbon dioxide is the apotheosis of an establishment group-think that has abandoned reason in favour of hysteria.”

November 30, 2018

“The cruel absurdity of global efforts to reduce emissions is sadly invisible to most politicians, who characterise any opposition to this objective as a form of denialism. In doing so they are denying the suffering of the many victims of climate policy, who desperately need a voice,” Wilkinson wrote in an article for The Conservative Woman.¹⁴

July 30, 2018

Wilkinson wrote that an announcement that Britain would burn more waste than it recycles was reason to “celebrate”:¹⁵

“There is no reason to be alarmed. Indeed, this is a day we should look forward to celebrating,” Wilkinson wrote at The Conservative Woman, discussing a recent Daily Mail story. “Incineration may be an environmental non-problem, but the alternative, the recycling of waste, is anything but. “

August 2017

On renewables:¹⁶

“Everyone knows that renewable power is inherently unreliable, or as engineers put it: ‘intermittent’. Nonetheless, there is a plan in place to become ever more reliant on these technologies for our electricity supply.”

December 28, 2017

“Real world evidence demonstrates that improving economic outcomes will have a far greater benefit than any from attempted temperature reductions,” Wilkinson wrote in an article at The Conservative Woman.¹⁷

July 2017

On shale gas in the UK:¹⁸

“Opposition from local groups and green NGOs is proving to be a significant barrier to further development. Much of this opposition is fuelled by misinformation campaigns, which repeat discredited claims about the hydraulic fracturing process. These campaigns have even been linked to Russia, where lower gas and oil prices are having a big impact.”

Key Actions

February 16, 2022

DeSmog revealed that Wilkinson had been hired as a parliamentary aide by Craig Mackinlay, the Conservative MP for South Thanet and leader of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group (NZSG). Wilkinson had not yet been declared on the House of Commons register, despite having a parliamentary pass, due to official rules giving aides a 28-day window to register.

Shortly after DeSmog approached him for comment, Wilkinson tweeted that he was “pleased to be able to take a position in Craig Mackinlay’s office” and confirmed he would continue working at Net Zero Watch while in the role.

Speaking to POLITICO about the hiring, Mackinlay said that Wilkinson’s continuing employment with Net Zero Watch “is fully disclosed according to parliamentary rules applying to MPs’ employees and his depth of knowledge acquired there is invaluable to my interest and work on net zero issues.”¹⁹

October 31–November 12, 2021

Wilkinson, representing CFACT, attended the twenty-sixth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland. According to Peter Murphy, one of CFACT’s other representatives shown in the official provisional list of registered participants (PLOP), CFACT activists handed out copies of Marc Morano‘s Climate Hustle 2 film during the event.²⁰ ²¹

Murphy wrote:²²

“CFACT got to ask the only question permitted by NGOs. I stepped forward and asked them to comment about scientific findings which show that increased carbon emissions actually boost crop yields, which have led to record harvests for feeding the world. This would mean that CO2 isn’t just a ‘problem,’ but a benefit to helping feed the world. The panelists were having none of it — with one of them saying that any impact from CO2 has only a’negative’ effects, particularly on Africa, the region he represented.
Call that real climate denial.”

Listed CFACT representatives included:

Craig Rucker
Harry Wilkinson
Marc Morano
Peter Murphy
Travis Burk

May 5, 2021

Wilkinson wrote an article for The Conservative Woman which cited a report by former Physics professor Dr. Ralph B Alexander, written for the Global Warming Policy Foundation, disputing that extreme weather events in 2020 had worsened due to climate change. According to the report: “Careful examination of the actual data reveals that if there is any trend in weather extremes, it is downward rather than upward.”²³ ²⁴

Wilkinson’s article claimed that “Climate chaos, it turns out, is all right, and certainly no worse than whatever the climate was before it earned this dramatic new moniker,” criticising “our bereft political and media establishment, which refuses to cast a critical eye over climate change claims”.

2020

Wilkinson wrote an article for FreeMarketConservatives, a blog describing itself as dedicated to “free markets, free speech, free people,” which asserted that “green extremists” aimed to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic to extend the ‘precautionary principle,’ effectively eliminating risk from society. He stated: “The growing band of eco-fundamentalists are not invested in developing a rational response to climate change because they are far more interested in spreading fear.”²⁵

Wilkinson also disputed the effectiveness of decarbonising the economy, stating: “Net Zero is looking more and more like the worst possible kind of insurance policy. We are planning to cripple our own economy in the pursuit of steep emissions reductions, all in the (hopefully unfounded) expectation that developing countries will do the same.”

October 5, 2020

In an article for Global Vision, Wilkinson criticised French President Emmanuel Macron’s La Convention Citoyenne pour le Climat (citizens assembly on climate), stating that “the mere attempt to reach this supposed utopia would condemn the poor to higher prices and intolerable levels of coercion”.²⁶

Wilkinson concluded:

“make no mistake, climate assemblies are not balanced forums for open debate, but an elaborate ploy by politicians desperate to shift responsibility for policies they know will be costly and damaging. Radical green groups have quickly capitalised on this opportunity to give a false democratic legitimacy to their backward-looking neo-luddite agenda.”

March 9, 2020

In an article for the website Free Market Conservatives titled “Conservatives need to start being rational about climate change,” Wilkinson argued that “radical attempts to decarbonise the economy threaten to affect almost every aspect of our lives, and yet there are almost no questioning voices in Parliament”.²⁷

Wilkinson criticised what he called the “green religion”, electric vehicles, and the decarbonisation of heat, claiming the benefits of net-zero “do not exist” and arguing that “the right thing to do is to abandon the target and have the courage to explain why”.

September 23, 2019

Wilkinson appeared on a TalkRadio show hosted by Julia Hartley-Brewer, criticising schoolchildren taking part in “climate strikes”. He said: “They’re only ever fed negative pieces of information, and their actual knowledge about the extent of the risks posed by climate change is very, very limited.” He went on to claim: “There are all sorts of positive trends – we have global forest cover that’s now higher than it was in 1982. We’ve got the fact that there’s no global trends in droughts, according to the IPCC. The IPCC also says that they can’t distinguish the sign of the trends in flooding at a global level.”²⁸

July 3, 2019

Wilkinson wrote an article entitled “This immoral policy to put green energy before the world’s poorest people” for the right-wing blog, The Conservative Woman. The article criticises Theresa May’s announcement that Britain’s aid budget is to be spent “in a way that contributes to the transition to the global low-carbon economy”, which Wilkinson says will support the “trillion-dollar worldwide ‘green’ energy racket” at the expense of the world’s poorest.²⁹

Wilkinson cited work by fellow GWPF contributor Mikko Paunio, arguing that centralised power production would bring “clean ambient air, clean water supplies and effective food refrigeration” and should not be “subjected to an Orwellian CO2 test”.

October 15, 2018

Wilkinson wrote an article for the Conservative Woman about the news that the BBC had upheld a complaint from the GWPF regarding a statement made by Lord Deben, chair of the Committee on Climate Change. Deben had claimed in an interview on the Today programme that the government was not allowing communities to build onshore wind farms even if they wanted them. Onshore wind projects had in fact been prevented from competing for energy contracts with the government following the 2015 Conservative victory, leading to what many have described as an effective ban.³⁰

October 10, 2018

Wilkinson wrote an article for the Conservative Woman about the GWPF‘s annual lecture, given in 2018 by prominent climate science denier Richard Lindzen, a retired Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute. Wilkinson said that Lindzen’s lecture provided a “much-needed antidote to the latest climate change clap-trap from the IPCC”.³¹

July 17, 2018

Wilkinson published a blog post on The Conservative Woman attacking the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) and describing it as “the cult of anti-CO2” and a “bonkers committee” following an interview of the committee’s chairman John Gummer on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.³²

He wrote: “The CCC is an organisation that has a set conclusion and finds the ‘evidence’ to back it up. In doing so it has the backing of most of the British establishment, who always seem to benefit from the subsidies and policies it advocates.”

Wilkinson claimed that Gummer was wrong to describe onshore wind as the cheapest form of energy generation and that China was not required to reduce its emissions under the Paris Agreement.

Analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit previously found that 1GW of new onshore wind would cost £30bn a year less than 1GW of offshore wind and £100m less than new nuclear or biomass energy — making it the cheapest available form of new electricity generation.³³

China ratified the Paris Agreement in September 2016 and has so far pledged to lower CO2 emissions per unit of GDP by 65 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. The targets are due to be reviewed before the end of the year.³⁴

Wilkinson made the comments a day after the CCC chair Lord Deben, the government’s official climate change adviser, warned that politicians and policymakers are failing to rise to the challenge of a rapidly warming planet and will be judged harshly by future generations unless they act now.³⁵

August 2017

Wilkinson authored a CapX article titled “Why won’t the government admit the true cost of renewable energy?”, criticising “draconian” climate change targets.³⁶

July 2017

Wilkinson wrote a ‘note’ for the GWPF on the State of UK Shale Developments in which he criticises local opposition groups and NGOs for “misinformation campaigns, which repeat discredited claims about the hydraulic fracturing process.”³⁷

Affiliations

@HarryWilkinsonn on Twitter
Harry Wilkinson on LinkedIn

Publications

Sample publications include:

“Why won’t the government admit the true cost of renewable energy?“ CAPX, August 23, 2017.
“High energy prices are fine and dandy with Greg the Green,” The Conservative Woman, December 5, 2018.
“The Climate Change Act: Ten years of punishing the poor,” The Conservative Woman, November 30, 2018.
“Jordan Peterson takes down climate change,” The Conservative Woman, November 12, 2018.
“Even the BBC has to admit: Gummer talks nonsense on climate…,” The Conservative Woman, October 15, 2018.
“Top scientist shoots the climate-change alarmists down in flames,” The Conservative Woman, October 10, 2018.
“BBC‘s climate change ‘facts’ are fiction,” The Conservative Woman, September 22, 2018.
“Arctic sea ice just won’t play the game,” The Conservative Woman, September 7, 2018.
“When we burn more rubbish than we recycle, it’s time to…,” The Conservative Woman, July 30, 2018.
“Dumb And Gummer: Selwyn’s climate-change claptrap,” The Conservative Woman, July 17, 2018.
“Heating homes, not going green, is what really matters,” The Conservative Woman, June 23, 2018.
“Energy poverty and the home truths MPs would rather ignore,” The Conservative Woman, May 18, 2018.
“Trillions going to waste on climate change ‘groupthink’,” The Conservative Woman, March 31, 2018.
“We must turn off the Russian gas tap and get fracking,” The Conservative Woman, March 18, 2018.
“Energy prices must fall to cut deaths in the cold,” The Conservative Woman, March 9, 2018.
“Ignore the biased BBC – fracking is the future,” The Conservative Woman, February 15, 2018.
“Memo to the climate ‘scientists’ – it’s capitalism that will save…,” The Conservative Woman, December 28, 2017.

Resources

1
“Harry Wilkinson,” LinkedIn. Accessed December 10, 2018. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
2
“Ed Miliband clashes with Lord Lawson on global warming,” BBC News, December 6, 2009. Archived August 12, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/47R7w
3
“Who We Are,” Net Zero Watch. Archived October 25, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/JIFzv
4
“Who we are,” Global Warming Policy Forum. Archived January 23, 2020. Archive.md URL: http://archive.md/wip/reST5
5
“WHO WE ARE,” The Global Warming Policy Forum. Archived December 10, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/YCmnl
6
“Ed Miliband clashes with Lord Lawson on global warming,” BBC News, December 6, 2009. Archived December 10, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/47R7w
7
“Operational Case ReportThe Global Warming Policy Foundation (1131448)” (PDF), Charity Commission, September 30, 2014. Retrieved from Gov.UK publishing service.
8
“Register of Interests of Lords Members’ Staff – by Member’s name,” Parliament.uk. Archived December 10, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/ImY4e
9
“Harry Wilkinson,” The Conservative Woman. Archived July 3, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/9dPIZ
10
Harry Wilkinson. “BBC’s climate change ‘facts’ are fiction,” The Conservative Woman, September 22, 2018. Archived December 10, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/1rZCK
11
Harry Wilkinson. “Why won’t the government admit the true cost of renewable energy?” CAPX, August 23, 2017. Archived December 10, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/OsHRF
12
“Harry Wilkinson Explains the Facts About Extreme Weather,” YouTube video uploaded by GWPF on January 17, 2020. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.
13
Harry Wilkinson. “This immoral policy to put green energy before the world’s poorest people,” The Conservative Woman, July 3, 2019. Archived July 3, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/0GwTC
14
Harry Wilkinson. “The Climate Change Act: Ten years of punishing the poor,” The Conservative Woman, November 30, 2018. Archived December 11, 2018. Archived December 11, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/ChDyt
15
Harry Wilkinson. “When we burn more rubbish than we recycle, it’s time to celebrate,” The Conservative Woman, July 30, 2018.. Archived December 11, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/UhQlw
16
Harry Wilkinson. “Why won’t the government admit the true cost of renewable energy?” CAPX, August 23, 2017. Archived December 10, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/OsHRF
17
Harry Wilkinson. “Memo to the climate ‘scientists’ – it’s capitalism that will save the world,” The Conservative Woman, December 28,2 017. Archived December 11, 2018. Archived December 11, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/5Eo8C
18
Harry Wilkinson. “UK Shale Developments” (PDF), GWPF, July 2017.
19
Esther Webber and Karl Mathiesen. “Tory MP hires staff linked to climate denial group,” POLITICO, February 16, 2022. Archived February 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/zW8RE
20
Peter Murphy. “COP 26: Armageddon awaits at the UN Climate Conference,” CFACT, November 3, 2021. Archived November 3, 2021. Archive URL:https://archive.ph/tx2Qo
21
“Provisional list of registered participants” (PDF), UNFCCC, November 1, 2021. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
22
Peter Murphy. “COP 26: Armageddon awaits at the UN Climate Conference,” CFACT, November 3, 2021. Archived November 3, 2021. Archive URL:https://archive.ph/tx2Qo
23
Harry Wilkinson. “A climate apocalypse now? Er, well, not really,” The Conservative Woman, May 5, 2021. Archived May 10, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/dv84L
24
Ralph B. Alexander. “Extreme Weather in 2020,” The Global Warming Policy Foundation. Archived April 27, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/XiYAk
25
Harry Wilkinson. “We must not let green extremists exploit the Coronacrisis,” FreeMarketConservatives. Archived February 2, 2021. Archive.vn URL: https://archive.vn/mPkhS
26
Harry Wilkinson, Macron’s Luddite charter: grimly predictable and utterly unworkable, Global Vision, April 27, 2020. Archived October 5, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/RWTPv
27
Harry Wilkinson. “Conservatives need to start being rational about climate change,” Free Market Conservatives, March 9, 2020. Archived July 8, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/qeHse
28
“GWPF researcher @HarryWilkinsonn calls out the extreme exaggeration and alarmism being forced upon Britain’s schoolchildren, on @JuliaHB1’s breakfast show. Listen here #ClimateStrike,” Tweet by @thegwpfcom, September 23, 2019. Retrieved from Twitter.com. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.
29
Harry Wilkinson. “This immoral policy to put green energy before the world’s poorest people,” The Conservative Woman, July 3, 2019. Archived July 3, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/0GwTC
30
Harry Wilkinson. “Even the BBC has to admit: Gummer talks nonsense on climate change,” Conservative Woman, October 15, 2018. Archived January 23, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.md/gHcUL
31
Harry Wilkinson. “Top scientist shoots the climate-change alarmists down in flames,” Conservative Woman, October 10, 2018. Archived January 23, 2020. Archive.md URL: http://archive.md/nMpky
32
Harry Wilkinson. “Dumb And Gummer: Selwyn’s climate-change claptrap,” The Conservative Woman, July 17, 2018. Archived December 10, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/MXrNz
33
Michael Holder. “Report: UK’s ‘outdated’ onshore wind ban blocks cheapest form of new energy,” BusinessGreen, October 25, 2017.
34
Tom Phillips. “China ratifies Paris climate change agreement ahead of G20,” The Guardian, September 3, 2016. Archived December 10, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/7OF1r
35
Matthew Taylor. “UK politicians ‘failing to rise to the challenge of climate change’,” The Guardian, July 16, 2018. Archived December 10, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/BK8hc
36
Harry Wilkinson. “Why won’t the government admit the true cost of renewable energy?” CAPX, August 23, 2017. Archived December 10, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/OsHRF
37
Harry Wilkinson. “UK Shale Developments” (PDF),GWPF, July 2017.
38
“WHO WE ARE,” The Global Warming Policy Forum. Archived December 10, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/YCmnl
39
“Register of Interests of Lords Members’ Staff – by Member’s name: L,” House of Lords. Archived July 3, 2019. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
40
“Harry Wilkinson,” The Conservative Woman. Archived July 3, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/9dPIZ

DeSmog

DeSmog

Harry Wilkinson

Harry Wilkinson

Credentials

Background

Stance on Climate Change

Key Quotes

Key Actions

Affiliations

Publications

Resources

Related Profiles

Harry C. Alford

Global Vision

TCW Defending Freedom (formerly The Conservative Woman)

Global Warming Policy Foundation

DeSmog

DeSmog

Harry Wilkinson

Harry Wilkinson

Credentials

Background

Stance on Climate Change

Key Quotes

Key Actions

Affiliations

Social Media

Publications

Resources

Related Profiles

Subscribe to our newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter