‘It’s all a bit cynical’: the politicians behind the Tory attack on net zero agenda

Amid fears about the cost of living crisis, those opposed to government's climate agenda appear to have sensed an opportunity

• Tories fighting net zero plans are dragging climate into new culture war, experts say

In the run-up to Christmas, as the UK government was frantically attempting to manage the latest wave of Covid infections, the Conservative MP and long-time agitator Steve Baker was apparently touring the tea rooms of parliament trying to persuade colleagues to sign up to his latest cause.

The self-described Brexit hardman, who as the then head of the European Research Group had relentlessly harried Theresa May's government over Brexit and then become a thorn in Boris Johnson's side with his anti-lockdown Covid Recovery Group, had a new - and he believed potentially explosive - target: the government's climate agenda.