Guido was amused to see former Tory Energy Minister, Charles Hendry, adding his name to an open letter from 60 green NGOs calling for Truss and Sunak to pledge to not restart fracking. The letter, which was printed in yesterday’s Times, conveniently omitted an important piece of information. Guido wonders why Charles —  who was until recently the President of the Russo-British Chambers of Commerce — might be so keen on stopping any resumption of fracking…

In photos which have conveniently disappeared from the internet, but uncovered by Guido, Charles can be seen in 2019 at the Saint Petersburg Mining University inspecting rocks and giving a speech encouraging “mutually beneficial cooperation” between British and Russian companies in the minerals and mining sector. At the event he was also awarded an honorary professorship by the University’s rector, Vladimir Litvinenko. By happy coincidence, Litvinenko is also Putin’s ‘campaign manager’ and owner of 15% of Phosagro. Professor Hendry then returned to London where he continued to host events in Parliament advocating for closer business ties to Russia.

Russia have, for years – according to NATO – mounted a sophisticated campaign, in cahoots with green NGOs and Russia Today, to discredit fracking and the extraction of shale gas, for the purpose of maintaining European dependence on Russian fossil fuels. Friends of the Earth, who were also signatories in the letter, wrote it off at the time as scaremongering.