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Labour climate campaigner racks up thousands of air miles

December 3, 2023

By Paul Homewood

 

h/t Ian Magness

 

 

 image

A Labour councillor has been accused of hypocrisy after clocking up an estimated 40,000 air miles since taking on a climate change role.

Mete Coban, who as Hackney’s cabinet member for climate change, environment and transport, has been the face of a £61 million fund for protecting the environment and reducing emissions, has told social media followers that “if we all take action we’ll have cleaner air”, and that the council must ensure it “leads by example”. He has championed low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), walking and cycling.

In March this year, he warned that “the way we travel” can “have a huge impact on the climate”. In the months that followed, he travelled to Istanbul, Guatemala, Miami and Washington, DC.

Analysis by The Telegraph suggests that he could have racked up approximately 40,000 air miles (equivalent to about 17 tonnes of CO2) since his appointment in 2021.

In posts on his Instagram account, followed by 50,000 people, Mr Coban has kept followers abreast of his travels and of his efforts toward saving the environment, writing: “Tackling the climate crisis starts locally” and “we will continue to do everything in our power to reduce toxic pollution and protect the lungs of our children”.

However in other posts, he boasts of a “cheeky weekend in Miami”, featuring a photograph of a car, as well as himself about to drive a race car in Dubai.

In January this year, Mr Coban said it was time for Hackney citizens to “redouble [their] efforts” in fighting climate change, before heading off for a “cheeky trip to Malta”. Days later he photographed himself in Paris and posted about the importance of reducing “Hackney borough’s impact on climate change”.

The mileage estimate is based on flights from London to the destinations Mr Coban posts about, taking account of trips within the same continent.

Neil Garratt AM, leader of City Hall Conservatives, said: “Londoners will be exasperated to read of high-carbon Coban, the latest recruit to Labour’s red-faced ranks of climate hypocrites. His pious lectures on clean air, climate, and how we must all change the way we travel ring hollow when delivered from a lay-over on his jet-set tour of the Americas.

“I hope he had a lovely time, but I hope too that he uses his time away to reflect on why he thinks his travel is so special. Londoners will suspect that if long-haul travel is okay for air-miles Mete, it’s alright for them too.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/02/labour-climate-campaigner-thousands-air-miles/

27 Comments
  1. David permalink
    December 3, 2023 10:28 am

    Perhaps the council should give free long haul flights to every citizen so they can go to darkest Africa to see how the natives walk and then come home and try it on Hackney Downs.

    • saighdear permalink
      December 3, 2023 12:15 pm

      Come Home? Naw, they can stay there. We have a kind of picture frame on the wall which can show people moving around, and animals and cars and lots more. We can see in it how the “other half” lives – great thing for armchair travel. So I know how the natives walk and live, PLUS I see many other people have things stuck to their Ears or not far removed from their noses, but also shows these things. SO a 1-way ticket will be fine. I’m sure many will agree.

  2. Phoenix44 permalink
    December 3, 2023 10:37 am

    Couldn’t care less about the CO2 but what a waste of taxpayers money. And I bet he also champions working from home whilst claiming he has to meet face to face when it’s a nice trip abroad.

    • saighdear permalink
      December 3, 2023 12:16 pm

      Hoch, Mebbe gonnae meet the relations ?like our Scottish Head of Police, at public expense, it seems. Mixing business with pleasure.

  3. glenartney permalink
    December 3, 2023 10:40 am

    Show a bit of respect that man has an MBE, degrees from Greenwich university and been in politics for ten years. Not bad for the son of Cypriot asylum seekers
    /sarc

    • Rowland P permalink
      December 3, 2023 12:30 pm

      Yes, worth reading up on a person’s CV. He has obviously achieved a lot having lived here most of his life. Just a pity that he is committed to the climate change fraud.

  4. 2hmp permalink
    December 3, 2023 11:10 am

    Hypocrisy has no horizons

    • gezza1298 permalink
      December 3, 2023 11:18 am

      A prime facet of being a leftie, along with economic illiteracy.

      • Gamecock permalink
        December 3, 2023 11:27 am

        Being a communist means you never have to say you are sorry.

      • gezza1298 permalink
        December 3, 2023 11:55 am

        That is because it is never the policy that is wrong, it just has not been implemented correctly. Communism will work perfectly once done correctly…..

    • saighdear permalink
      December 3, 2023 12:17 pm

      Not just Hypocrisy, but Air travel also has no horizons.

  5. gezza1298 permalink
    December 3, 2023 11:19 am

    There should be a ban on councillors going on paid foreign trips.

    • Martin Brumby permalink
      December 3, 2023 11:33 am

      I wouldn’t say that there is never a circumstance which might justify a councillor going on a paid foreign trip, especially being mindful of the probable alternative of sending extra local government officers on the same trip. But this should be debated properly, and a 67% of the Council in favour rule, might be appropriate.

      But ANY councillor, of any political persuasion, or any local government officer, should NEVER have duties including anything whatever to do with “Climate Change”.

      A superb example of what “Ultra Vires” is all about.

      • gezza1298 permalink
        December 3, 2023 12:00 pm

        I think 97% should be in favour.

  6. Gamecock permalink
    December 3, 2023 11:37 am

    “if we all take action”

    I assume that’s some kind of English English, where “we” means “you.”

    Kshatriyas get creds for telling Vaishyas what to do. It’s not hypocrisy, it’s their job.

  7. edwardrodolph1891 permalink
    December 3, 2023 11:39 am

    What else should we expect from a labour apparatchik? Even had a pic with khanage kh*nt. Plus, it’s ALL tripe, anyway. ________________________________

  8. DaveR permalink
    December 3, 2023 11:42 am

    Given it’s a bit cold out, here’s some background re the £25M+ ‘repair’ bill for Cairn Gorm funicular
    https://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2023/07/31/concrete-v-steel-1-hie-and-the-construction-of-the-funicular-at-cairn-gorm/

  9. December 3, 2023 11:54 am

    Amazingly this tw@t tried to justify himself on tw@tter (sorry X)

    He says he is no hypocrite and feels he is as important as the PM and Foreign Secretary of the UK.

    • Tfg permalink
      December 4, 2023 6:37 am

      Mete and two veg…..

  10. dennisambler permalink
    December 3, 2023 11:58 am

    I like the new euphemism – Active Travel. It means walking and on yer bike.

  11. December 3, 2023 12:14 pm

    Did the taxpayer fund Coban’s flights?

  12. TomO permalink
    December 3, 2023 12:34 pm

    “Charlie”

    • TomO permalink
      December 3, 2023 12:37 pm

      oops wrong thread….

      How did Starmer, Miliband and Lammy (+ entourage) get to Dubai?

      Did (Harrison Ford) the funder of Lammy’s Brazil visit step up again?

  13. Gus permalink
    December 3, 2023 1:36 pm

    Lead by example hypocrites:
    – Live in a mud hut and never burn a fire for cooking or heat
    – Walk to your office every day through winter’s cold and summer’s heat, rain and snow, and the occasional lightning storm
    – Don’t take a shower after sweating your way to work
    – Don’t drive a car
    – Never even think about getting on a plane
    – Organize protests outside airports
    – Wear clothing only made from leaves since animals produce gas
    – Never send mail or use a phone or a computer, just walk to the address to deliver your message in person
    – Grow all your food around your hut
    – Drink only water directly from lakes, streams, and rain barrels

    See how many more rules you can make for yourselves since my creativity is not that great today. In the meantime, let the rest of us make our own choices.

  14. AC Osborn permalink
    December 3, 2023 2:09 pm

    A hypocrite naming other hypocrites to justify his own hypocrisy, classic.

  15. December 3, 2023 2:18 pm

    Had a nap, woke up, checked the e-mail and read: “Labour climate chimpanzees racks up thousands of air miles” – Realised quickly the misreading, but yes, that works too …

  16. December 5, 2023 6:25 am

    All of these people are the new Marxist Political Commissars, as are the overpaid bureaucrats in the NHS.

Comments are closed.