Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Guess whose Lincoln Greenery is skin-deep...?

Guess which politician took a chauffeur-driven car 140-miles from Lincoln to London after the recording of last Thursday's BBC Question Time programme...?

No, not Tory or Labour...but Caroline Lucas, leading light of the er, Green Party. Her first contribution to the BBC debate in Lincoln was to criticise other political parties for what she described as their 'skin-deep greenery'.

The Green member of the European Parliament, went on to call for a dose of 'political honesty' over the costs of motoring.

The Lincolnshire Echo reveals that Ms Lucas missed a train to Lincoln and so took a car and that after the programme she was chaffeurred back to London in another car...

She'd prefer to portray a very different image - like this one of her 'cycling in her constituency' from her website.

Almost as hypocritical as when Tory Leader David Cameron was caught cycling to work to demonstrate his 'greenery' - with a chauffeur-driven gas-guzzler following behind carrying his shoes and briefcase!

Yes, almost...But not quite!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Phil. I'd like to make the point that I believe Caroline missed a connecting train from Retford by pure human error on that day, meaning she had to take a taxi for the remaining 20 miles - otherwise she would have missed the programme entirely. There are no trains from Lincoln to London after 20.43, so she had to share a BBC car (most people who take part in a BBC show are offered one) back to London from Lincoln with a fellow panellist to enable her to make meetings in London early next morning. Given that the majority of her travel is done by Eurostar and given everything she has done to pressure the EU to curb damaging climate emissions, I'm not sure that this vindictive story is a true representation of her green credentials. Thanks, Milly

fairdealphil said...

thanks Milly,

take your point, but you must agree that given the circumstances, Caroline's attack on all the politicians for what she called their 'skin-deep greenery' does smack of just a little hypocrisy...

take the point about trains out of Lincoln - but the recording of Question Time is usually over well before 8.43, and the station is a two minute walk from the Drill Hall where it was reecorded...

people in glass houses etc...

Anonymous said...

Phil, I do hate to be pedantic but I am told by the programme makers that the recording takes place between 8.30 and 9.30pm every week. We all wish there were magic carpets for such occasions, but alas...! Milly

fairdealphil said...

No magic carpet Milly, but there is a 10.26 London train from Newark, which is a 15-minute cab ride from Lincoln!

But as you tell me she shared the chauffeur-driven car with another panel member, it's certainly worthy of note, but I agree not in the Cameron-on-his-bike scale of hypocrisy...!