Insulate Britain activist storms off GMB
Man accused of ‘hypocrisy’ for not insulating his own home compares cause to Churchill against Nazis
AN ACTIVIST involved in the M25 protests was accused of not living in an insulated home yesterday, before storming out of a live television interview.
Liam Norton, 38, an electrician and spokesman for Insulate Britain, appeared on Good Morning Britain where he was accused of “hypocrisy” over reports that he does not live in an insulated home, when the group is campaigning for insulation to be fitted widely. He was asked by a panellist: “Why have you not insulated your own home for a start? Because I think where you are coming from is pure hypocrisy as well.”
Norton did not deny the claims, instead saying: “Whether my home is insulated or not doesn’t change the fact that millions of people’s homes aren’t insulated and aren’t going to be.”
The climate activist went on to compare the struggle of climate protesters, who were accused of causing a car crash which put a woman in hospital, to that of Winston Churchill’s fight against Nazi Germany.
“Do you know how many MPS supported Churchill in 1937?”, Norton asked the panelists on the show before continuing: “Six MPS and Churchill was right, wasn’t he? But only six supported him.” He then stormed off set after presenter Richard Madeley said that it was the “most twisted parallel I think I have ever heard”.
Insulate Britain has carried out a series of protests on the M25 over the past two weeks, bringing misery and delays to thousands of motorists trying to get to work, hospital appointments, and drop their children at school. Earlier in the week, there were reports that the group delayed a woman getting to hospital when she was having a stroke which has now left her paralysed.
When asked what he would say to the son of the woman who suffered a stroke, Norton said: “We obviously feel terrible and I would apologise and say how bad I felt. But it doesn’t change the position we are in, in terms of the climate.”
The interview came hours before 60 Insulate Britain protesters demonstrated in Westminster in response to the injunction brought against them by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary. “Take us to court, charge us, and put us in prison,” the protesters said before burning police release forms.
In May this year, Norton glued his hand to a table in a courtroom at St Albans magistrates’ court where he was on trial with five other activists for blocking the printing presses of national newspapers.
On the opening day of his trial, Norton shouted: “I would like to make clear what is going on in this court is obvious and complete criminality.”
He was subsequently banned from attending the trial and he was later found guilty and given a conditional discharge.