David Cameron’s new policy chief Camilla Cavendish is a former Greenpeace member who believes “mankind’s desperation to chase fossil fuel reserves has led us to the edge of technology and the edge of reason“. Writing in the Sunday Times back in 2013, Cavendish lavishly praised Greenpeace’s efforts to stop deep sea oil drilling and lambasted the government for not taking action:
“The less that politicians, journalists and friends talk about these issues, the more we assume they cannot really matter — since otherwise someone would do something. Experiments have shown that the inaction of other people can make us underestimate threats. We have retreated into a comfortable conspiracy of silence, which is dangerous.“
She goes on to warn how Arctic sea ice has shrunk by about 500,000 sq km a decade since 1979 and it could disappear completely by 2023. Last year Arctic ice increased significantly for the second year in a row…
David Cameron has hired another of his Oxford contemporaries, Sunday Times columnist Camilla Cavendish, to do policy:
Congrats to Camilla Cavendish, Sunday Times (and former Times) columnist who is heading into Downing Street in top policy role
— Sam Coates Times (@SamCoatesTimes) May 21, 2015
Cavendish did PPE at Brasenose College the year after Dave. Critics will be able to point to one more addition to the Downing Street old boys’ (and girls) club.
She is also yet another Policy Exchange graduate moving across to government, though readers will more likely recognise her being punchy on Question Time. She says she spent the days after the election “cycling with [Steve] Hilton through the sunny Californian campus of Stanford University”. And now she is in the wigwam of trust…
UPDATE: A fuller list of appointments via James Forsyth:
- Ed Llewellyn – Chief of Staff
- Kate Fall – Deputy Chief of Staff
- Craig Oliver – Political and Communications Director
- Ameet Gill – Director of Strategy
- Liz Sugg – Director of Operations and Campaigns
- Gabby Bertin – Director of External Relations
- Graeme Wilson – Press Secretary
