Theresa May laid into Donald Trump last night and accused him of playing on theories that climate change is a “hoax”.
Speaking at The Independent’s Climate 100 event in New York on Wednesday, the former PM took aim at the former US president, who is standing for re-election.
Though she did not mention Trump by name, May said: “Here in the United States, action on climate change is already a feature of the upcoming presidential election, with one of the two main candidates promising to repeal recent climate legislation and ramp up drilling for fossil fuels.
“It’s a position arising partly from a long-held conspiracy theory that climate change is a ‘hoax’.”
Trump has often questioned global warming, saying in 2020 that green activists were “alarmists” who want to “control every aspect of our lives”.
Over the years, he has also described climate change as “mythical”, “nonexistence” and “an expensive hoax”, but also at times said it is a “serious subject”.
May and Trump also famously clashed when they were both in office.
Not only did they have a few awkward encounters, having being photographed somehow holding hands – in both 2017 and 2018 – at the White House, but they regularly criticised each other.
However, the former PM did not only focus on her one-time counterpart in her blistering keynote speech last night.
May also turned her attention to the UK, claiming: “Despite the opportunities ahead of us, our aspirations of transitioning our economies towards sustainability are increasingly under attack – particularly in Western democracies.”
She slammed those on the far-right across Europe who call anyone supporting the move towards net zero “fanatics and zealots”.
The former Tory MP, who stepped down at the most recent election, said those critics are just craving “deeper polarisation in our societies”.
She also attacked the Reform UK party, which is led by Clacton MP Nigel Farage – a friend of Trump.
May said: “In my own country, climate change has become politicised by some on the right of British politics.
“We saw in the recent general election how the Reform party campaigned on a platform of opposing the UK’s climate objectives.
“It framed net zero as a cost imposed from on high that threatens livelihoods and will send jobs abroad.”