Chris Packham destroys Reform over its dodgy donors

Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Chris Packham has called out the fossil fuel billionaires who are backing British and American politicians. Not to worry, though – Kuenssberg leaped straight to the defence of Reform UK:

Note how Kuenssberg says ‘what’s your response to that’ as if crooked politicians abandoning climate commitments was a gotcha rather than an ongoing embarrassment https://t.co/9tkMwIh5Xr

— Willem Moore (@willem_moore_uk) November 9, 2025

Dirty money, as highlighted by Chris Packham

In the video above, Chris Packham says:

More than $454 million went into the Republican campaign in 2024, more than $90 million went into Trump’s campaign. Here in the UK it’s not a secret the fossil fuel companies are funding Reform and the Conservatives. These people are either denying something which is extremely dangerous, or they’re puppeting for their paymasters.

What we need to do is to make sure our politicians are better informed. On 24th November I will be opening a National Emergency Briefing in Westminster Hall – we have hundreds of MPs and peers coming to that. We need our decision makers to listen to the science.

Kuenssberg responded:

Reform UK is not here to answer our claim that they are being funded by those companies

This demonstrates how mainstream journalism works in a nutshell. It doesn’t matter how Reform would answer the claim; what matters is whether or not the claim is true, and you guessed it – it’s 100% factually accurate.

Writing for the Canary in April this year, James Wright pointed out:

the Green Party branded the Reform head a “performer, a con artist”. They pointed to DeSmog research that shows Farage’s party has accepted £2.3 million from fossil fuel interests, big polluters and climate deniers since 2019.

Reform received £200,000 from First Corporate Consultants, which Terence Mordaunt owns. He is chairman of the notorious and opaquely funded Global Warming Policy Foundation, which denies man made climate change is happening.

Harriet Williamson of Novara Media, meanwhile, described Reform as a “handful of oil execs in a trench coat“. In that same piece, she reported:

Reform’s treasurer and billionaire property developer Nick Candy has been busy wooing wealthy offshore donors in low-tax jurisdictions like Monaco, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. In fact, in 2024, more than half of the party’s donations – £2.5m – came from those with residences in low-tax countries or business interests in offshore jurisdictions. Part of this new funding drive involves soliciting cash from oil and gas executives. Candy told the Financial Times last month that Reform’s targets are donors in the fossil fuel sector who are “very disillusioned” with UK taxes on the industry’s profits. He also shared that he recently met an energy executive who donated £100k to the party and pledged to give up to £1m.

These politicians are pissing on our shoes, and the media is telling us it’s raining.

Red Alert

Speaking on his National Emergency Briefing, Chris Packham said:

Hello, I’m Chris Packham and I’m going to be opening a national emergency briefing in Westminster Hall on the 27th of November.

We’re going to bring together all of the greatest minds, the scientists – those who’ve studied climate breakdown and biodiversity loss – because let me be clear, we are on the brink of our endgame.

We live in one of the most nature depleted set of countries on earth, and we have to stand up and make a difference. So please, can I implore you to ask your MP to attend. It’s absolutely vital that they understand the gravity of the situation that we are in.

Thank you.

You can write to your MP by using this link.

I’ve just announced I’ll be leading a National Emergency Briefing on 27 November . At a time when climate is in free fall on the political agenda , it’s vital our leaders realise what is at stake if we do not accelerate a just , green transition for all .@nebriefing 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/sM2SUrMwCZ

— Chris Packham (@ChrisGPackham) November 9, 2025

Packham also had it out with LBC‘s Lewis Goodall:

We’re always told we have no power to tackle the climate crisis as a nation .

But the fact is we could be true world leaders in the green transition , instead Govt wants to open new runways and drill new oilfields .

It signals we’re just not serious .pic.twitter.com/YmRLDJ4zj6

— Chris Packham (@ChrisGPackham) November 9, 2025

Maddening

The maddening thing about the mainstream British media is that they don’t bat an eyelid when you tell them we have to go to war, or you tell them that regular people have to get poorer, or you tell them we must sell the public good to the private bad. If you tell them things could be better for people, however, they suddenly turn into attack dogs.

We don’t envy Chris Packham for having to engage with these people, but we do respect the effort he’s making.

And like we said, you can write to your MP here.

Featured image via BBC / Pexels