Thérèse Coffey has ordered the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs immediately cancels all meetings and correspondence with Greenpeace, after five of its members protested at the Sunaks’ constituency home yesterday morning. According to the Express‘ David Maddox, DEFRA Permanent Secretary Tamara Finklestein emailed staff today with instructions not to engage with Greenpeace until further notice:

“You will have seen the coverage of Greenpeace in the media today, 3 August, which involved a protest at the Prime Minister’s constituency home. Following this activity, the Secretary of State has taken the decision that the Defra Group should cease engagement with Greenpeace until further notice. This includes any planned meetings or communications.

If your teams have any engagement with Greenpeace planned, can you please contact […] as soon as possible to discuss. Please can you also alert the External Affairs team with any correspondence received from Greenpeace.”

The activists were arrested yesterday afternoon after spending a full two hours on the roof of the property. The protest has attracted criticism from across the floor, with the likes of Yvette Cooper and Chris Bryant condemning the stunt yesterday. Now Thérèse is finally cutting the loons out entirely. Resisting for once government having a dialogue with people who are behaving unreasonably…