Bernard Ingham

Sir Bernard Ingham worked as press secretary for former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

He is secretary of Supporters of Nuclear Energy (SONE), a pro-nuclear energy lobbying group with strong links to the British Nuclear Energy Society [1] [2].

Like many pro-nulcear activists, Ingham is vehemently anti-wind energy. He has been the Vice-President of the anti-wind pressure group Country Gaurdian since the summer of 1993, although he claims that he only became a Country Guardian patron in 1999.

Ingham’s stance on nuclear vs wind is clear from his speeches and writings. As far back as 1993 he wrote a column in the Hebden Bridge Times entitled ‘Nuclear power is greener than windfarms’.

He is also a global warming skeptic. At an anti-wind conference at Saddleworth Moors organised by Country Guardian in 2004 he said: “I am a skeptic about global warming�; “wind will never compete with nuclear�; “windpower is for the brainwashed or the braindead. Wind “is not an answer to global warming�; “nuclear is benign on two counts: pollution and land-use�.

He also argues that energy conservation is no solution, because people are only motivated to save money on bills, rather than saving energy itself. He argues that all people do when they save money is simply buy more electrical goods which use more energy. “Having been responsible for the [Save It] policy, I wouldn’t rely on energy conservation to get me through�. “My solution to this problem… is a mix of energy supply: coal, nuclear, oil and gas� – he also says that most oil comes from unstable regimes and nuclear is the safest form of energy production.

Ingham also repeats the often anti-environemental argument that puts forward the theory that groups “want to return to a pre-industrial society�.

REF FOR SADDLEWORTH

On the Today programme on November 29, 2005, Ingham claimed that nuclear power is "the cheapest option" and "the cleanest of all methods of electricity generation", and dismissed windpower as "unreliable, intermittent, and therefore basically mucky". He also claimed that "nuclear doesn't want subsidies". [3] [4]

Ingham is an avowed anti-European.

External links

• Biography on website of Celebrity Speakers Associates (CSA), October 28, 2003.
• List of committee members, SONE website, October 7, 2005.
• Audio archive of the Today programme, BBC Radio 4, November 29, 2005. Audio clip featuring Ingham speaking on behalf of nuclear power at 2m45s, and transcript.

Articles

• Peter Preston, "Who to press-gang in Wakeham's wake?", The Observer, February 3, 2002.
• Chris Grimshaw, "It's official: no dark Machiavellian conspiracy for new nuclear power", Corporate Watch newsletter, issue 21, December 2004.