The Tory members choosing the next PM couldn’t care less about climate change

The Tory leadership campaign is hotting up, with MPs voting to whittle down the candidates to just two people.

After this point, Tory members will vote on which of the two want to be leader of the party and Prime Minister of the country.

Also reaching boiling point, is the literal planet.

Well not quite boiling point, but over the next couple of days we’re set to hit 40°C in the UK. That, technically speaking, is really fucking hot.

It would be reassuring if the next leader of the country, whoever that is, would just step out their front door at some point today, sweat a bit, and maybe realise that climate change is the number one issue affecting all of us.

But there’s little chance of that happening, as a Times poll found that climate change was the least important issue to Conservative party members- the very slippery fuckers with their talons hovering over the ballot box.

Four per cent of those surveyed said that hitting the target of net zero emissions by 2050 was among their top three priorities for the next leader of the Conservative Party.

The most pressing issue to Tory members was winning the next election, followed by immigration controls and cost of living support.

Back in April, a YouGov poll found that hitting the net zero target came out bottom on a list of ten priorities for Tory members.

Unsurprisingly, some of the power-hungry Tory leadership candidates have taken note of the preferences expressed by their supporters.

Kemi Badenoch said that the 2050 net zero target was “arbitrary” and that the policies relating to the target represented “unilateral economic disarmament”.

Tom Tugendhat reportedly told the backbench committee that the 2050 target for reaching net zero should be delayed. He did, however, later re-establish his commitment to the target.

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are both avoiding talking about the subject while Penny Mordaunt is more positive, saying that a commitment to net zero “represents a huge opportunity for jobs and growth”.

With net zero policies cast in doubt, the leadership candidates are receiving widespread scrutiny from across the political spectrum.

Alok Sharma, the cabinet minister who was in charge if Cop26, told The Observer: “Anyone aspiring to lead our country needs to demonstrate that they take this issue incredibly seriously, that they’re willing to continue to lead and take up the mantle that Boris Johnson started off.

“I want to see candidates very proactively set out their support for our net zero agenda for green growth. This is absolutely a leadership issue.”

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband, said in a tweet: “That the Conservatives have leadership candidates talking down net zero is a sign of their fundamental unseriousness.”

For more politics and current affairs follow our new channel Agenda on Twitter.

Related articles recommended by this writer:

• The Tory MP who flicked her middle finger at people outside No.10 is now in charge of unis

• A definitive ranking of the Tory leadership election campaign videos from least to most nauseating

• Meet Kemi Badenoch: The PM hopeful who misgendered trans people and mocked LGBTQ+ rights