A British lord was thrown out of a United Nations climate change summit for impersonating a Burmese delegate.
Lord Monckton, was banned for life from UN conferences after posing as a Burmese delegate at the UN climate change summit in Doha, Qatar, on Friday.
The 60-year-old has disrupted previous UN climate change conferences and is the former deputy leader of the British UK Independence Party (UKIP). He does not sit in the House of Lords and is a passionate climate change denier.
Having gained access to the event by dressing up as an Arab, once inside he changed into a suit. When the Burmese delegate was supposed to address the conference in Doha Lord Monckton rose to speak to the 7,000 delegates.
He started by saying, “In the 16 years we have been coming to these events there has been no global warning at all,” and managed to speak for around one minute before security was called to eject him.
Delegates booed and heckled with some heard to say, “Shame on you.” It is becoming more common for activists from both sides of the debate to be ejected from UN climate change conferences for being disruptive or pulling stunts.
Impersonating a delegate is considered to be a far more serious offence, although Lord Monckton’s party disagreed. “We think that his peaceful lighthearted protest was perfectly acceptable,” said a UKIP spokesperson.
