John Hayes
|
This article is part of the Nuclear Spin project of Spinwatch. |
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.
He was appointed a Minister of State at the Department for Transport in July 2014.[1]
He has been the Conservative Party MP for South Holland and the Deepings since 1997. In the 2015 general election, Hayes retained his seat with a majority of 18,567. [2]
On the 11 May 2015 Hayes was appointed to Security Minister for the Home Office, overseeing counter-terrorism, Home Office Science and small and medium enterprise.[3]
Contents
Anti-wind stance provokes in-fighting at DECC
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. [4]
Variously described as a "robust right-winger" and, in his own words, "the personification of blue-collar conservatism", [5] Hayes was previously a Minister of State at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.[6]
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.[7]
Claims of plotting with energy company Eon
In July 2013 The Mail on Sunday published claims that 'climate change sceptic' Hayes had been fired as energy minister in March for 'secretly plotting to persuade an electricity boss to challenge Government policy'. It said it established that just two weeks prior to Hayes being demoted to 'a minor backroom role in Number 10, that he had:
- ...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. [8]
Ministerial disclosures show that Hayes met with Eon sometime in March 2013 to discuss 'energy policy issues'.
Hayes also discussed 'energy policy issues' with a range of nuclear industry representatives, including the UK Nuclear Industry Council (twice in February 2013), AREVA and GDF Suez Energy UK.
Other energy firm meetings included UK Coal, Drax, Shell, Scottish Power, Exxon Mobile, Dana Petroleum, Carlton Power, British Gas and SSE between February and March 2013. [9]
Staff
- Ian Bettles [10]
- Scott Kelly - Lecturer, New York University [10]
- Lee Rotheram - Director of special projects, Vote Leave [10]
Affiliations
- Cornerstone Group - Co-founder and member
- America In The World
- Lee Rotherham is listed by Hayes on the UK MPs' register of interests of secretaries and research assistants as of July 2015. Rotherham also works as an advisor to Business for Britain
- Clare Foges, David Cameron's speechwriter worked for him for while
External resources
- Utility Week, Eon denies role in John Hayes' exit from energy minister post, 15 July 2013
Notes
- ↑ Ministerial appointments: July 2014, Prime Minister's Office, 15 July 2014.
- ↑ John Hayes Express, accessed 15 May 2015
- ↑ John Hayes ProfileGov.UK, accessed 25 September 2015.
- ↑ 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
- ↑ [https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/212659/john_hayes_meetings_external_organisations_jan_mar_2013.pdf DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE QUARTERLY INFORMATION January – March 2013, Meetings with External Organisations, published 15 July 2013 acc 29 October 2013
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Register of interests of members' secretaries and research assistants, 23 March 2016, parliament.uk, accessed 20 April 2016
