Lord Deben:

We started well, which is really important. The science becomes more and more clear and people's experience of climate change becomes greater. It then becomes more difficult to defend the opposite line, which must be accepted. The third thing is that we are very tough about not becoming party political. Part of the reason for this is that it is known that I have been a politician all of my life and that I have to keep my independence. It would be very easy to make points as somebody who sits as a Conservative in the House of Lords. The element that has been very effective is that we have clamped down and been really tough on anyone who tries to use climate change as a party political operation. As a politician, I know that in oppositon it is very much easier be green. All parties are greener in opposition than they are in government. In opposition one does not have the pressures of delivering electricity next week, or, for example, a protest march. We are very careful. The only time I speak politically is when I wish to object when a party of any kind tries to use climate change as differentiating, except when it proposes going further than the government, of which I am all in favour, but not when it is used as a party political weapon.