Maitlis: Oil activists are like suffragettes

FORMER BBC presenter Emily Maitlis has compared Just Stop Oil protesters to the suffragettes and US civil rights protesters.

In her podcast The News Agents, the ex-Newsnight host rejected a claim by fellow former BBC journalist Jon Sopel that Just Stop Oil were ‘grandstanding’ with ‘extreme’ protests.

She said: ‘One person’s grandstanding is another person’s civil rights action.

‘I don’t think Rosa Parks was grandstanding when she asked to sit down on a bus in Alabama. I don’t think anyone would call [suffragette] Emily Davison grandstanding when she ran in front of a horse. The only difference was the time.’

Miss Maitlis, who now works for LBC radio station owner Global, also read out an advert for podcast sponsor Virgin Atlantic airline.

However, climate activists condemn flying as damaging to the planet.

Miss Maitlis was last night unavailable for comment.