‘This is like Glastonbury for climate science deniers, Trump acolytes, manosphere enthusiasts and nihilists in general’
Leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch and Reform leader Nigel Farage have been announced as keynote speakers at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference later this month, alongside close allies of President Donald Trump.
A report by the investigative environmental publication DeSmog has revealed that Badenoch and Farage will share a stage with individuals who have called climate change a “hoax,” claimed that global warming “is probably doing good,” and labelled climate activists “eco-fascists.”
Michael Gove, who served environment secretary between 2017 and 2019, and Daniel Hannan, a founder of Vote Leave, will also be speaking at the event.
The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), fronted by Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, states that its conference aims to “re-lay the foundations of our civilisation”.
ARC is backed by UAE-based investment firm Legatum Group and hedge fund millionaire Paul Marshall, who jointly own right-wing news channel GB News.
According to Byline Times, Marshall provided £1 million in funding to ARC in 2023, which is run by Tory peer Baroness Stroud.
The conference, which will be held from 17 to 19 February, will host several figures close to Trump’s administration.
These include Vivek Ramaswamy, who recently helped to set up Trump’s new US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with tech billionaire Elon Musk, before quitting.
Ramaswamy’s resignation came amid reports there had been differences of opinion between him and Musk.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, new US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, tech founder and 2016 Trump donor Peter Thiel, and Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, the group behind the radical ‘Project 2025’ blueprint for a second Trump term, will also be attending the event.
Badenoch has called herself a “net zero sceptic”, while Farage and his Reform UK party have pledged to scrap the UK’s 2050 net zero targets.
“This is like Glastonbury for climate science deniers, Trump acolytes, manosphere enthusiasts and nihilists in general,” Good Law Project campaigns manager, Hannah Greer, told DeSmog.
“But the serious point is that some of the people that Paul Marshall has assembled in this right-wing rogues gallery have huge amounts of money and power over our media, medical data and the future of our planet – and they are set on creating a new oligarchy.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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