John Hayes
John Hayes was appointed as UK Prime Minister David Cameron's senior parliamentary adviser at No 10 Downing Street in a surprise mini-reshuffle in late March 2013, after serving just seven months as Minister of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
Hayes had replaced energy minister Charles Hendry in September 2012 but his controversial tenure and strong anti-wind farm stance brought in-fighting at the department. "Ferocious clashes" with his boss the Liberal Democrat energy secretary Ed Davey had, according to the Guardian, prompted Davey to write to the prime minister to demand that Hayes be taken off the windfarm portfolio. Although Cameron had taken no action at the time, the mini-reshuffle was viewed as an acknowledgement that such "mixed messages at the department were alienating potential [renewable energy] business investors" and the government's commitment to low-carbon energy. [1]
Variously described as a "robust right-winger" and, in his own words, "the personification of blue-collar conservatism", [2] Hayes was previously a Minister of State at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.[3]
Along with Labour MP David Cairns, Hayes was a parliamentary chairman for the pro-American America In The World, also known as the London Centre for the Study of Anti-Americanism, launched in October 2008.[4]
He is the MP for South Holland and the Deepings.
Claims of plotting with energy company Eon
In July 2013 The Mail on Sunday published claims that Hayes fired as energy minister for 'secretly plotting to persuade an electricity boss to challenge Government policy'. It said it had established that just two weeks before 'climate change sceptic' Hayes was demoted to 'a minor backroom role in Number 10 that he:
- secretly met E.on chief executive Tony Cocker on March 13 and urged him to help postpone the closure of power stations such as Kingsnorth in Kent.
Affiliations
- Cornerstone Group - Co-founder and member
- America In The World
External resources
- Utility Week, Eon denies role in John Hayes' exit from energy minister post, 15 July 2013
Notes
- ↑ Patrick Wintour,Energy minister John Hayes switches to No 10 role in surprise reshuffle, guardian.co.uk, Thursday 28 March 2013 21.07 GMT
- ↑ Tim Montgomerie, John Hayes: "I am the personification of Blue Collar Conservatism", Conservativehome.blogs.com, January 11, 2013, acc 3 April 2013
- ↑ Full list of new cabinet ministers and other government appointments, guardian.co.uk, 13 May 2010.
- ↑ About AITW, America In The World, 17 August 2008, accessed 27 October 2012
- ↑ Simon Walters, Climate change sceptic energy minister fired for security asking energy companies to warn of blackouts unless coalition watered down its green crusade, 13 July 2013, acc 15 July 2013
