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{{Short description|British peer (born 1952)}} | |||
{{About|the journalist and politician|the musician|Christopher J. Monckton|Baron Lang of Monkton|Ian Lang}} | |||
{{Redirect|Christopher Monckton|the musician and travel agent|Christopher J. Monckton}} | |||
{{Infobox person | |||
{{Redirect|Lord Monckton|other people titled Lord Monckton}} | |||
| name = Christopher Walter Monckton | |||
{{pp-blp|small=yes}} | |||
| honorific_prefix = | |||
{{Use British English|date=March 2013}} | |||
| honorific_suffix = ] | |||
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}} | |||
| image = Monckton-washington-09.jpg | |||
{{Infobox officeholder | |||
| image_size = 180px | |||
| honorific-prefix = ] | |||
| alt = photograph | |||
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| name = The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley | ||
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| image = Monckton-washington-09.jpg | ||
| image_size = 220px | |||
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1952|2|14|df=y}} | |||
| |
| caption = Monckton in 2009 | ||
| |
|office = Deputy Leader of the ] | ||
| |
|leader = ]<br />] | ||
|term_start = 3 June 2010 | |||
| education = MA in classics, 1974; diploma in journalism studies | |||
|term_end = 8 November 2010 | |||
| alma_mater = ]<br/>] | |||
|predecessor = ] | |||
| occupation = Politician, journalist | |||
| |
|successor = ] | ||
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| office2 = Leader of the ] | ||
| |
| leader2 = ] | ||
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| term_start2 = 10 January 2013 | ||
| term_end2 = 1 December 2013 | |||
| parents = Major-General ] and Marianna Letitia Bower | |||
| predecessor2 = ] | |||
| relations = ] (sister), Timothy Monckton (brother) | |||
| |
| successor2 = ] | ||
| |
| birth_name = | ||
| |
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1952|2|14|df=y}} | ||
| birth_place = | |||
| website = <!-- {{Url|www.example.com}} --> | |||
| education = MA in classics, 1974; diploma in journalism studies | |||
| box_width = 300px | |||
| alma_mater = ]<br />] | |||
| occupation = Politician, journalist | |||
| party = ] (before 2009)<br />] (2009–present) | |||
| spouse = Juliet Mary Anne Malherbe Jensen | |||
| parents = ]<br />Marianna Letitia Bower | |||
| relatives = ] (sister) | |||
}} | }} | ||
'''Christopher Walter Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley''' (born 14 February 1952) is a British politician, journalist, and ]. Formerly a member of the ], Monckton has been the deputy leader of the ] since June 2010. He served in ] and worked for ]'s ] during the 1980s. He also worked for '']'', '']'', '']'' and '']'' newspapers. | |||
'''Christopher Walter Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley''' (born 14 February 1952) is a British public speaker and ]. He is known for his work as a journalist, ] political advisor, ] political candidate, and for his invention of the mathematical puzzle '']''.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Eternity puzzle solved|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/953316.stm|work=BBC News|date=2 October 2000|access-date=20 July 2010}}</ref> | |||
He became known in the 1990s for his invention of the ], a mathematical puzzle for which he offered a prize of one million pounds to the person who could solve it within four years.<ref>{{cite article|title=The Eternity puzzle solved|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/953316.stm|publisher=BBC News|date=2 October 2000|accessdate=20 July 2010}}</ref> In recent years he has come to public attention in the UK and elsewhere for his outspoken scepticism about anthropogenic ].<ref>{{cite article|title=Climate deniers to send film to british schools|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/climate-deniers-to-send-film-to-british-schools-396895.html|publisher=The Independent|date=2 October 2007|accessdate=20 July 2010}}; {{cite article|title=Climate chaos? Don't believe it|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1533290/Climate-chaos-Dont-believe-it.html|publisher=Telegraph|author=Christopher Monckton|date=4 November 2006|accessdate=20 July 2010}}; {{cite article|title=Wrong problem, wrong solution|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1533912/Wrong-problem-wrong-solution.html|author=Christopher Monckton|publisher=Telegraph|date=12 November 2006|accessdate=20 July 2010}}</ref> | |||
Early on in his public speaking career topics centred on his mathematical puzzle and conservative politics. In recent years, his public speaking has garnered attention due to his ]<ref>{{cite news|title=Climate deniers to send film to British schools|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/climate-deniers-to-send-film-to-british-schools-396895.html|work=The Independent|date=2 October 2007|access-date=20 July 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Climate chaos? Don't believe it|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1533290/Climate-chaos-Dont-believe-it.html|work=Telegraph|author=Christopher Monckton|date=4 November 2006|access-date=20 July 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Wrong problem, wrong solution|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1533912/Wrong-problem-wrong-solution.html|author=Christopher Monckton|work=Telegraph|date=12 November 2006|access-date=20 July 2010}}</ref><ref name=guardian11aug2010>{{cite news|title=Lords distance themselves from climate sceptic Christopher Monckton|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/aug/11/lords-climate-christopher-monckton|author=Leo Hickman|work=The Guardian|date=11 August 2010|access-date=20 February 2011}}</ref> and his views on the ]<ref name=euro>"'I'm bad at doing what I'm told. I'm a born free-thinker' – The 5-Minute Interview", ''The Independent'', 24 August 2007</ref> and ]. | |||
==Personal life== | ==Personal life== | ||
Monckton |
Monckton is the eldest son of Major-General ] (1915–2006), and Marianna Letitia, Viscountess Monckton of Brenchley ({{nee}} Bower; 1929–2022), one-time ] and ].<ref>{{cite web |title=Heart of Kent Hospice patron Marianna, Viscountess Monckton of Brenchley, has died |url=https://www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/news/viscountess-and-hospice-patron-dies-270094/ |website=Kent Online |date=11 July 2022 |access-date=26 October 2022}}</ref> He has three brothers, Timothy, Jonathan and Anthony, and a sister, ], wife of journalist ].{{cn|date=July 2022}} | ||
Monckton was educated at ] and ], where he received |
Monckton was educated at ] and ], where he received a B.A. (Classics, 1974, now M.A.), and at ], where he obtained a diploma in journalism studies. In 1990, he married Juliet Mary Anne Malherbe Jensen. | ||
Monckton is a liveryman of the ], an ], a ], and a member of the Roman Catholic Mass Media Commission. He is also a qualified Day Skipper with the ], and has been a trustee of the Hales Trophy for the ] of the Atlantic since 1986.<ref name="whoswho">''Who's Who 2007'', p. 1599</ref> | |||
On the death of his father in 2006 Monckton inherited the title ], but owing to the ] he did not gain a seat in the ]. | |||
==Career== | ==Career== | ||
===Journalism=== | ===Journalism=== | ||
Monckton joined the '']'' in 1974 at the age of 22, where he worked as a reporter and leader-writer. From 1977 to 1978, |
Monckton joined the '']'' in 1974 at the age of 22, where he worked as a reporter and leader-writer. From 1977 to 1978, he worked at ] as a press officer, becoming the editor of the Roman Catholic newspaper '']'' in 1979, then managing editor of '']'' magazine in 1981. He joined the London '']'' newspaper as a leader-writer in 1982.<ref name="whoswho"/> After a hiatus in his career as a journalist Monckton became assistant editor of the newly established, and now defunct, tabloid newspaper '']'' in 1986. He was a consulting editor for the '']'' from 1987 to 1992 and was its chief leader-writer from 1990 to 1992.<ref name="whoswho"/> | ||
Since 2002 Monckton has had several newspaper articles published critical of the ] and ].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8210739/The-climate-bugaboo-is-the-strangest-intellectual-aberration-of-our-age.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101220120728/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8210739/The-climate-bugaboo-is-the-strangest-intellectual-aberration-of-our-age.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 December 2010|title=The climate bugaboo is the strangest intellectual aberration of our age|author=Christopher Monckton|work=The Telegraph|date=17 December 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1533290/Climate-chaos-Dont-believe-it.html|title=Climate chaos? Don't believe it|author=Christopher Monckton|work=The Telegraph|date=5 November 2006}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=April 2014}} | |||
===Policy advisor=== | |||
Monckton joined the ] ] in 1979 and served as the secretary to the centre's economic, forward strategy, health and employment study groups between 1980 and 1982.<ref name="Seldon">{{cite book|title=Ideas and think tanks in contemporary Britain, Volume 2|page=59, 62|author1=Kandiah, Michael|author2=Seldon, Anthony|publisher=Routledge|year=1997|isbn=9780714647715}}</ref> ], the head of the ] and a former director of Centre for Policy Studies, brought Monckton into the Policy Unit in 1982, where he served as special policy advisor for housing and parliamentary affairs until 1986.<ref name="Seldon" /> <ref name="Tory project">{{cite news|title=Tory project to phase out council houses|work=The Times|date=1982-12-06|page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Policy unit at full strength|work=The Times|date=1984-11-06}}</ref> At the Policy Unit, Monckton worked with Mount and Peter Shipley<ref>{{cite news|title=Two more advisers at No 10|work=The Times|date=1982-11-25}}</ref> on projects such as the phasing out of ].<ref name="Tory project" /> | |||
=== Entrepreneurship === | |||
Monckton and his wife opened ''Monckton's'', a high-end shirt shop in ], ], in 1995.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Undie-Serving Rich|publisher=Evening Standard|date=November 10, 1995}}</ref> | |||
===Entrepreneurship=== | |||
In 1999, Monckton created and published the Eternity puzzle, a geometric puzzle that involved tiling a ] with 209 irregularly shaped ]s called ]s. A £1 million prize was won after 18 months by two Cambridge mathematicians.<ref name="bbcwin">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/992393.stm | publisher=BBC | work=BBC News Online | title=£1m Eternity jackpot scooped | date=2000-10-26}}</ref> By that time, 500,000 puzzles had been sold. Monckton said he had to sell his home, Crimonmogate, to pay the prize;<ref name="bbcwin" /> he later said the story was a publicity stunt.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Aristocrat-admits-tale-of-lost.3340554.jp |title=Aristocrat admits tale of lost home was stunt to boost puzzle sales|publisher=The Scotsman|author=Frank Urquhart }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title=Aristocrat's game plan puzzle | first=Neil | last=Mackay |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_19991128/ai_n13943538 | publisher=] | date=1999-11-28 | accessdate=2008-05-05 }}</ref> A second puzzle, Eternity II, was launched on 28 July 2007, with a prize of $2 million. | |||
In 1995, Monckton and his wife opened Monckton's, a shirt shop in ], Chelsea.<ref>{{Cite news|title=The Undie-Serving Rich|work=Evening Standard|date=10 November 1995}}</ref> | |||
In 1999, Monckton created and published the ], a geometric puzzle that involved tiling a ] with 209 irregularly shaped ]s called "]s". A £1 million prize was won after 18 months by two Cambridge mathematicians.<ref name="bbcwin">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/992393.stm|publisher=BBC|work=BBC News Online|title=£1m Eternity jackpot scooped|date=26 October 2000}}</ref> By that time, 500,000 puzzles had been sold. Monckton launched the ] in 2007, but, after the four-year prize period, no winner came forward to claim the $2 million prize. | |||
Monckton has also been the director of RESURREXI Pharmaceutical since 2008. According to the UK Independence Party, he is "responsible for invention and development of a broad-spectrum cure for infectious diseases", including ], ], ], and ] VI, as well as ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukip.org/content/latest-news/1675-christopher-a-man-of-many-talents|title=Christopher: A Man of Many Talents|date=2010-06-04|accessdate=2010-08-28}}</ref> | |||
Monckton is a director of Resurrexi Pharmaceutical. It asserts it is "responsible for invention and development of a broad-spectrum cure for infectious diseases." In the BBC documentary, "Meet the Sceptics" (2011), he claimed to have cured himself of ].<ref>Rupert Murray , '']'', 3 February 2011.</ref> UKIP's CV for Monckton claims that his methods have produced cures for ], ], and ], as well as reducing the viral load of an ] patient.<ref name=UKIPbio>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukip.org/content/latest-news/1675-christopher-a-man-of-many-talents |title=Christopher: A man of many talents |publisher=UKIP.co.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100608023401/http://www.ukip.org/content/latest-news/1675-christopher-a-man-of-many-talents |archive-date=8 June 2010 |access-date=31 August 2016}}</ref> In an interview with Australia's ], Monckton said that his methods had had some initial successes but "we cannot claim that we can cure anything".<ref>{{Citation|last=Carlisle|first=Wendy|publication-date=17 July 2011|title=The Lord Monckton Roadshow|series=Background Briefing|date=13 July 2011|publisher=]|publication-place=Australia|at=46min 48sec|url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/the-lord-monckton-roadshow/2923400|access-date=2 September 2012<!--|format=Radio broadcast-->|format=Transcription and podcast}}</ref> | |||
===Political career=== | ===Political career=== | ||
Although Monckton is a hereditary peer, his father's membership of the House of Lords was ended by the ].<ref name="Original_act">{{cite web|url=http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1999/ukpga_19990034_en_1|title=House of Lords Act 1999 (original text) |date=1999-11-11 |accessdate=2008-05-21}}</ref> Monckton has referred to himself as "a member of the Upper House but without the right to sit or vote."<ref>{{cite web|title=Questions from the Select Committee Concerning My Recent Testimony|last=Monckton|first=Christopher|date=2020-07-15|publisher=Science & Public Policy Institute}} Monckton said: "The House of Lords Act 1999 debarred all but 92 of the 650 Hereditary Peers, including my father, from sitting or voting, and purported to – but did not – remove membership of the Upper House. Letters Patent granting peerages, and consequently membership, are the personal gift of the Monarch. Only a specific law can annul a grant. The 1999 Act was a general law. The then Government, realizing this defect, took three maladroit steps: it wrote asking expelled Peers to return their Letters Patent (though that does not annul them); in 2009 it withdrew the passes admitting expelled Peers to the House (and implying they were members); and it told the enquiry clerks to deny they were members: but a written Parliamentary Answer by the Lord President of the Council admits that general legislation cannot annul Letters Patent, so I am The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley (as my passport shows), a member of the Upper House but without the right to sit or vote, and I have never pretended otherwise."</ref> | |||
====Political advisor to the Conservative Party==== | |||
The House of Lords has said he is not and never has been a member, and that there is no such thing as a non-voting or honorary member.<ref name="Hickman">{{cite news|last=Hickman|first=Leo|title=Lord Monckton throws his safari helmet in the ring as Ukip candidate|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/apr/20/monckton-mp-general-election|date=2010-04-20}}.</ref> The ], the chief clerk of the House of Lords, wrote to Monckton in July 2010 "confirming that he has no association with the House and advising him to stop branding himself as such", and instructing him not to use any emblem resembling the portcullis symbol of Parliament. He was also referred to the ] over his use of the portcullis emblem, which belongs to the Queen.<ref>{{cite news|title=Christopher Monckton told to stop claiming he is a member of the Lords|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/11/christopher-monckton-house-of-lords-claims|last=Hickman|first=Leo|date=2010-08-11|accessdate=2010-08-28|work=The Guardian}}</ref> | |||
In 1979, Monckton met ], who co-founded the pro-Conservative ] the ] (CPS) with ] and ] in 1974. Sherman asked Monckton to take the minutes at the CPS's study group meetings.<ref name="Cockett">{{cite book|last=Cockett|first=Richard|title=Thinking the unthinkable: think tanks and the economic counter-revolution 1931–1983 |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-00-637586-9}}</ref> Monckton subsequently became the secretary for the centre's economic, forward strategy, health and employment study groups.<ref name="Seldon">{{cite book|title=Ideas and think tanks in contemporary Britain, Volume 2 |pages=59, 62 |author1=Kandiah, Michael|author2=Seldon, Anthony |publisher=Routledge |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-7146-4771-5}}</ref> He wrote a paper on the privatisation of ] by means of a rent-to-mortgages scheme that brought him to the attention of Downing Street.<ref name="Cockett" /> ], the head of the ] and a former CPS director, brought Monckton into the Policy Unit in 1982.<ref name="Seldon" /> He was recruited as a domestic specialist with responsibilities for housing and parliamentary affairs,<ref name="Tory project">{{cite news |title=Tory project to phase out council houses|work=The Times|date=6 December 1982 |page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Policy unit at full strength|work=The Times|date=6 November 1984}}</ref> working alongside Mount and Peter Shipley<ref>{{cite news|title=Two more advisers at No 10|work=The Times|date=25 November 1982}}</ref> on projects such as the phasing out of council housing.<ref name="Tory project" /> He left the unit in 1986 to join the ''Today'' newspaper.<ref name="Seldon" /><ref name="Womersley">{{cite news|last=Womersley|first=Tara|title=Puzzle inventor sells £1m home to Chanel model|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1312292/Puzzle-inventor-sells-1m-home-to-Chanel-model.html|date=22 June 2001|work=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref> | |||
He stood unsuccessfully in four by-elections for vacant seats created by deaths among the 92 hereditary peers remaining in the Lords after the reforms. He stood for a Conservative seat in a March 2007 by-election; of the 43 candidates, 31 received no votes, Monckton included.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/HoLNotice070307.pdf | title=Conservative Hereditary Peers Byelection March 2007 Result | publisher=British Parliament | date=2007-03-07 | accessdate=2008-08-18 }}</ref> He subsequently stood in the ] by-elections of May 2008,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-information-office/byelectionresults080522.pdf|title=Crossbench Hereditary Peers’ By-election, May 2008: Result|date=2008-05-22}}</ref> July 2009,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-information-office/byelectionresults090715.pdf|title=Results: Crossbench hereditary Peers' by-election following the death of Viscount Bledisloe|date=2009-07-15}}</ref> and June 2010,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-information-office/crossbench-byelection-results.pdf|title=Results: Crossbench Hereditary Peers’ by-election|date=2010-06-23}}</ref> again receiving no votes. He was highly critical of the way the Lords was reformed, describing the procedure in the March 2007 by-election, with 43 candidates and 47 electors, as "a bizarre constitutional abortion."<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2007/feb/24/conservatives.lords | title=Born to run: There are 47 voters, 43 candidates, and the race to be elected a hereditary Tory peer is on. Is this democracy at last in the House of Lords? | last=Beckett | first=Andy | publisher=The Guardian | date=2007-02-24 | accessdate=2008-04-30 | location=London}}</ref> | |||
Monckton has said that he served as science adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during his years with the Number 10 Policy Unit, and that "it was I who—on the prime minister's behalf—kept a weather eye on the official science advisers to the government, from the chief scientific adviser downward."<ref name="Ward">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/jun/22/thatcher-climate-sceptic-monckton|title=Thatcher becomes latest recruit in Monckton's climate sceptic campaign|last=Ward|first=Bob|date=22 June 2010|access-date=30 May 2012}}</ref> ], who was Environment Minister under Thatcher said Monckton was "a bag carrier in Mrs Thatcher's office. And the idea that he advised her on climate change is laughable."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/british-mp-calls-for-a-carbon-tax/3014168|title=British MP calls for a carbon tax|publisher=ABC|location=Australia|date=21 March 2011|access-date=30 May 2012}}</ref> Writing in ''The Guardian'', Bob Ward of the ] notes that Thatcher's memoirs, ''The Downing Street Years'', do not mention Monckton and refer to George Guise as her science advisor.<ref name="Ward"/> | |||
He has also considered standing for election to the House of Commons (which hereditary peers are entitled to do if they are not members of the House of Lords). At the ] he was nominated as the UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate for the Scottish constituency of ], but withdrew in accordance with UKIP's policy of not opposing other Eurosceptic parliamentary candidates.<ref name="Hickman" /> In June 2010, UKIP announced he had been appointed its deputy leader, to serve alongside ].<ref name="UKIP-Lord Monckton">{{cite web|title=Lord Monckton is new deputy leader|url=http://www.ukip.org/content/latest-news/1666-lord-monckton-is-new-deputy-leader|date=3 June 2010|publisher=UK Independence Party|accessdate=7 July 2010}}</ref> | |||
===Lawsuits=== | |||
In 1989 Monckton claimed damages for libel over the article "Rosa's bit of cheek" in the March 9 edition of the ].<ref>{{cite news | |||
|title=Law Update: In court: who's suing whom | |||
|publisher=The Independent | |||
|date=March 24, 1989}}</ref> In 1991, Monckton won a libel case over a September 28, 1990 article about his financial affairs in ].<ref>{{cite news | |||
|title=Law Update: In court: who's suing whom | |||
|publisher=The Independent | |||
|date=October 12, 1990}}{{cite news | |||
|title=Journalist Wins Libel Apology | |||
|publisher=Press Association | |||
|date=May 24, 1991}}</ref> | |||
====Standing in by-elections for the House of Lords==== | |||
==Political views== | |||
Monckton inherited a peerage after the passing of the ],<ref name="Original_act">{{cite web|url=http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1999/ukpga_19990034_en_1|title=House of Lords Act 1999 (original text)|date=11 November 1999 |access-date=21 May 2008}}</ref> which provided that "o-one shall be a member of the ] by virtue of a hereditary peerage".<ref name="guardian">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/jul/18/climate-monckton-member-house-lords|title=Climate sceptic Lord Monckton told he's not member of House of Lords|last=Hickman|first=Leo|date=18 July 2011|work=]|access-date=18 July 2011}}</ref><ref name="houseoflords">{{cite press release |title=Letter to Viscount Monckton of Brenchley from the Clerk of the Parliaments |publisher=] |date=15 July 2011 |url=http://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2011/july/letter-to-viscount-monckton/ |access-date=9 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101000000/http://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2011/july/letter-to-viscount-monckton/ |archive-date=1 January 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
===Climate change=== | |||
Monckton is critical of the theory of anthropogenic causes for ] and the stated scope of it, which he regards as a controversy catalysed by "the need of the international left for a new flag to rally round following the ]".<ref name="brown">Brown, Allan. "From here to Eternity II". ''The Sunday Times'', 22 July 2007</ref> He has expressed doubt about the reality of ] in a number of newspaper articles and papers. However, his credentials as a commentator on climate change have been questioned. James Hoggan and Richard Littlemore note in their book ''Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming'' that Monckton has "no training whatsoever in science" and criticise his asserted credentials as "unfounded self-promotion."<ref>{{cite book|author1=Hoggan, James|author2=Littlemore, Richard|title=Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming|page=85, 113|publisher=Greystone Books|year=2009|isbn=9781553654858}}</ref> | |||
Monckton stood unsuccessfully in four by-elections for vacant seats created by deaths among the 92 hereditary peers remaining in the Lords after the 1999 reforms. He first stood for a Conservative seat in a March 2007 by-election, and was among 31 of 43 candidates who received no votes.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-information-office/holnotice070307.pdf | title=Conservative Hereditary Peers' By-election, March 2007: Result | publisher=British Parliament | date=7 March 2007 | access-date=13 April 2013 }}</ref> He subsequently stood in the ] by-elections of May 2008,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-information-office/byelectionresults080522.pdf |title=Crossbench Hereditary Peers' By-election, May 2008: Result |date=22 May 2008}}</ref> July 2009,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-information-office/byelectionresults090715.pdf |title=Results: Crossbench hereditary Peers' by-election following the death of Viscount Bledisloe |date=15 July 2009 |access-date=25 June 2012}}</ref> and June 2010,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-information-office/crossbench-byelection-results.pdf |title=Results: Crossbench Hereditary Peers' by-election|date=23 June 2010 |access-date=25 June 2012}}</ref> again receiving no votes. He was highly critical of the way the Lords was reformed, describing the procedure in the March 2007 by-election, with 43 candidates and 47 electors, as "a bizarre constitutional abortion."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/feb/24/conservatives.lords | title=Born to run: There are 47 voters, 43 candidates, and the race to be elected a hereditary Tory peer is on. Is this democracy at last in the House of Lords? | last=Beckett | first=Andy | work=The Guardian| date=24 February 2007 | access-date=30 April 2008}}</ref> | |||
In the first of two '']'' editorials published in November 2006, Monckton disputed whether global warming is man-made, suggested that it is unlikely to prove catastrophic, and criticised the science presented by the ] (IPCC). In particular, he has criticised the IPCC's interpretation of the ], cited the ] as evidence of faulty science, argued that the science in the IPCC reports has misapplied the ], and supported the ] as a possible explanation of global warming. In an apparent reference to claims made by ], he further stated "There was little ice at the North Pole: a Chinese naval squadron sailed right round the Arctic in 1421 and found none."<ref name=MoncktonNov2006>Monckton, Christopher. , ''The Sunday Telegraph'', 5 November 2006. Accessed 2010-06-17 when an internal link to Monckton's calculations was no longer working. His calculations of climate sensitivity to increased atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide can be viewed on-line in a 2006 article for ''Quarterly Economic Bulletin'', . | |||
</ref> He subsequently apologised for mentioning the "perhaps apocryphal" story.<ref name="Monckton-Wrong" /> | |||
====Spokesperson and candidate for UK Independence Party==== | |||
In his second ''Sunday Telegraph'' opinion piece Monckton looked at economic aspects of the UK government's ], arguing that the review's recommendation to invest 1% of global GDP ''per annum'' in climate change mitigation would be ineffective, as would the introduction of ]es and ], as a means of curbing carbon emissions. He has proposed instead that the best solution should be to "go nuclear and reverse 20th-century deforestation."<ref name="Monckton-Wrong">Monckton, Christopher. , ''The Sunday Telegraph'', 15 November 2006.</ref> | |||
Monckton joined the ] (UKIP) in 2009 and became its chief spokesperson on climate change.<ref name="Vaughan 11 Dec">{{cite news|last=Vaughan|first=Adam|title=In denial: Lord Monckton's climate change rant at activists|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/dec/11/climate-change-denial-lord-monckton|date=11 December 2009|work=The Guardian|location=London|access-date=26 March 2010}}</ref><ref name="BBC News 25-06-2012">{{cite news|title=Viscount Monckton warned off Lords membership claim|date=18 July 2011|access-date=25 June 2012|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14190400}}</ref> At the ] he was nominated as the UKIP candidate for the Scottish constituency of ]; although a hereditary peer, he was entitled to stand for election for the House of Commons as he is not a member of the House of Lords. He subsequently withdrew in accordance with UKIP's policy of not opposing other Eurosceptic parliamentary candidates.<ref name="Hickman" /> In June 2010, UKIP announced he had been appointed its deputy leader, to serve alongside ]<ref name="UKIP-Lord Monckton">{{cite web|title=Lord Monckton is new deputy leader|url=http://www.ukip.org/content/latest-news/1666-lord-monckton-is-new-deputy-leader|date=3 June 2010|publisher=UK Independence Party|access-date=7 July 2010|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120530193059/http://www.ukip.org/content/latest-news/1666-lord-monckton-is-new-deputy-leader|archive-date=30 May 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> under party leader ], who owns an estate in Scotland adjoining Monckton's.<ref name="Guardian-22-06-2012">{{cite news|title=Rio+20 summit: the final day as it happened|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2012/jun/22/rio-20-summit-final-day-live-blog|work=The Guardian|date=22 June 2012|access-date=25 June 2012}}</ref> He was succeeded in the role of deputy leader by ] in November 2010.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ukip.org/content/latest-news/1972-nec-unanimous-on-new-ukip-team|title=NEC unanimous on new UKIP team|date=8 November 2010|access-date=25 June 2012|publisher=UK Independence Party|archive-date=16 April 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130416004523/http://www.ukip.org/content/latest-news/1972-nec-unanimous-on-new-ukip-team|url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
In 2011 he stood as lead party-list candidate for UKIP in the Scottish Parliament constituency of ]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukip.org/scotland/articles/903-invitation-to-stirling-on-sun-3-april-2011|title=Invitation to Stirling on Sun 3 April 2011|publisher=]|date=31 March 2011|access-date=15 April 2011|archive-date=13 September 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120913163629/http://www.ukip.org/scotland/articles/903-invitation-to-stirling-on-sun-3-april-2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> but did not gain election, with the UKIP list coming seventh after scoring 1.1% of the region's vote.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fifedirect.org.uk/topics/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.display&p2sid=C589BDD5-E102-906C-796DBA48E80CF9FD&themeid=2B892409-722D-4F61-B1CC-7DE81CC06A90|title=Scottish parliamentary results 2011|publisher=Fife Council|access-date=25 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121216020229/http://www.fifedirect.org.uk/topics/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.display&p2sid=C589BDD5-E102-906C-796DBA48E80CF9FD&themeid=2B892409-722D-4F61-B1CC-7DE81CC06A90|archive-date=16 December 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> Monckton also headed UKIP's policy unit for a while but according to the party's spokesman he had relinquished any formal role by June 2012, moving into a "semi-detached" relationship with UKIP.<ref name="Guardian-22-06-2012" /> By January 2013 he had become UKIP's president in Scotland<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jan/10/hugh-muir-diary-nigel-farage|title=Hugh Muir's Diary|last=Muir|first=Hugh|work=The Guardian|date=10 January 2013|access-date=25 January 2013}}</ref> but was sacked by UKIP leader ] in November 2013 following factional infighting.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/referendum-news/ukip-wiped-out-north-of-the-border-after-its-scots-leader-is-sacked.22833054|title=Ukip 'wiped out' north of the Border after its Scots leader is sacked|last=Hutcheon|first=Paul|work=The Herald|date=1 December 2013|access-date=11 December 2013}}</ref> | |||
Editorial writer for '']'' ] criticised Monckton's arguments, labelling them "cherry-picking, downright misrepresentation and pseudo-scientific gibberish".<ref>Monbiot, George. , ''The Guardian'', 14 November 2006</ref> In response, Monckton argued that he "got the science right", claiming that Monbiot got "too many facts wrong" and had shown "ignorance of the elementary physics".<ref>Monckton, Christopher. , ''The Guardian'', 16 November 2006</ref> | |||
===Public speaking=== | |||
In February 2007, he published a critique of the ] on climate change.<ref>{{cite web | author=Monckton, Christopher | url=http://ff.org/centers/csspp/pdf/20070201_monckton.pdf | title=IPCC Fourth Assessment Report 2007 Analysis and Summary |date=February 2007}}</ref> | |||
Since 2008 he has toured Britain, Ireland, the US, China, Canada, India, Colombia, South Africa, and Australia delivering talks to groups related to the subject of Climate Change.<ref name=publicspeaking>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliamentspeakers.com/Speaker/Christopher+Monckton++Viscount+Monckton+of+Brenchley|title=Christopher Monckton profile: Viscount Monckton of Brenchley (£8,000–£25,000)|publisher=Parliament Speakers}}</ref> As the Chief Policy Adviser for the US lobby group Science and Public Policy Institute he appeared at the ]'s 2008 "International Conference on Climate Change". | |||
Monckton's CV <ref>{{cite web| title=SPPI Personnel | url=http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/personnel.html | accessdate=2010-06-19 }}</ref> as Chief Policy Adviser at the Science and Public Policy Institute (SPPI) claims that "the correction of a table inserted by IPCC bureaucrats... earned him the status of Nobel Peace Laureate." In January 2010, Monckton voiced this claim on an Australian radio broadcast. When later questioned about this by reporters <ref>{{cite news| title=Nobleman is no Nobel man | first=NICK | last=O'MALLEY |url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-diary/nobleman-is-no-nobel-man-.20100125-muky.html | publisher=] | date=2010-01-26 | accessdate=2010-06-19 }}</ref>, Monckton conceded that his claim to have won the ] in 2007 was "a joke". As of 6 June 2010, the claim that Monckton is a Nobel Peace Laureate has not been removed from the SPPI web site | |||
In 2009–10 he was invited on four occasions before Congress to testify by Republican representatives. On 25 March 2009 he appeared before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, and in 2010 before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming invited by ].<ref name=Congresstestimony>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/sep/21/climate-scientists-christopher-monckton|title='Chemical nonsense': Leading scientists refute Lord Monckton's attack on climate science|author=Leo Hickman|work=The Guardian|date=21 September 2010}}</ref> He followed this up with his January 2010 and July 2011 tours of Australia and New Zealand, as well as tours of China and India in December 2011. He was invited again to the US in 2012 by Republican ] to speak before the California State Assembly<ref>{{cite news|url=http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/03/19/447678/california-gop-invite-hate-speech-promoter-lord-monckton-to-address-legislature|last=Romm|first=Joe|title=California GOP Invite Discredited Hate-Speech Promoter Lord Monckton To Address Legislature!|date=19 March 2012|newspaper=ThinkProgress.com}}</ref> and later in the year travelling to Australia at the invitation of Democratic Labor Party Senator ].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thecourier.com.au/story/571816/dlp-invites-climate-change-sceptic-lord-monckton-to-ballarat/|last=McIlroy|first=Tim|title=DLP invites climate change sceptic Lord Monckton to Ballarat|date=4 November 2012|newspaper=TheCourier.com.au}}</ref> | |||
Monckton played a role in a ] heard in the ] in October 2007 in a bid to prevent '']'' from being shown in English schools. In an interview with the conservative American talk radio host ], Monckton stated that he had prompted an unnamed friend to fund the case "to fight back against this tide of unscientific freedom-destroying nonsense" and had played a direct role in the litigation against the British government.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/196/6783/ | title=Glenn talks with Lord Monckton | publisher=Glenn Beck | date=2008-03-04}}</ref> He was also reported to have funded the distribution to schools of the documentary '']'' as a riposte to Gore's film.<ref name="leake">{{cite news | author=Leake, Jonathan | url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article2652851.ece | title=Please, sir - Gore's got warming wrong | publisher=The Times | date=2007-10-14 | location=London}}</ref> | |||
On 6 December 2012 Monckton took ]'s seat at the ] in Doha without permission and made a short speech ] ]. He was escorted from the building and given a lifetime ban from attending UN climate talks. Monckton said that there had been no global warming over the last sixteen years, and thus the science should be reviewed.<ref>{{cite news |last=Harvey |first=Fiona |author-link=Fiona Harvey |date=7 December 2012 |title=Ukip's Lord Monckton thrown out of Doha climate talks |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/dec/07/doha-climate-talks-ukip-lord-monckton |access-date=7 January 2014 |newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> | |||
In March 2007, Monckton ran a series of advertisements in '']'' and '']'' challenging Al Gore to an internationally televised debate on climate change. The former U.S. Vice President responded in writing but refused to debate.<ref>http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2007/dec/16/news/chi-naysayers_bddec16</ref> The ] provided funding for Monckton to produce a response to ''An Inconvenient Truth'', titled ''Apocalypse?, No!'', described as "showing Monckton presenting a slide show in a vitriolic attack on climate change science."<ref name="leake" /> The film includes footage of Monckton giving a Gore-style presentation on 8 October 2007 at the ] in which he asserted that Gore and the IPCC had systematically falsified and exaggerated the evidence for global warming.<ref name="leake" /><ref>Hardie, Josh. "", ''The Cambridge Student'', 13 October 2007</ref> | |||
Between 2009 and 2010 the film maker ] followed Monckton on his climate change tour. The film was later broadcast on 31 January 2011 on ] titled ''Meet the Sceptics''. Prior to its broadcast its depiction of Monckton was described by fellow denialist ] as "another hatchet job"<ref name=bbc4>{{cite news|url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100074116/meet-the-sceptics-another-bbc-stitch-up|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203003423/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100074116/meet-the-sceptics-another-bbc-stitch-up/|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 February 2011|title=Meet The Sceptics: another BBC stitch-up|author=James Delingpole|date=31 January 2011}}</ref> and Monckton's attempt to gain an injunction failed.<ref name=scepticinjunction>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/bbc-wins-battle-over-climate-show-2199930.html|title=BBC wins battle over climate show|agency=Associated Press|work=The Independent|date=31 January 2011}}</ref> | |||
In July 2008 Monckton wrote an article about climate sensitivity for the ]'s Forum on Physics and Society,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/200807/editor.cfm|author=Editor Jeffrey Marque, Alvin Saperstein |title=Editors Comments |year=2008 |month=July |publisher=American Physical Society}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/200807/monckton.cfm |title=Climate Sensitivity Reconsidered |last=Monckton |first= Christopher | journal = Forum on Physics and Society |publisher= American Physical Society | year= 2008 | month= July}}</ref> concluding: "it is very likely that in response to a doubling of pre-industrial carbon dioxide concentration will rise not by the 3.26 °K suggested by the IPCC, but by <1 °K." | |||
==Dispute over his non-membership of the House of Lords== | |||
Some media commentators interpreted the publication of his paper as a sign that the American Physical Society had abandoned its earlier support for the scientific consensus on climate change.{{Citation needed|reason=source does not support this as discussed on the talk page|date=August 2010}}<ref>, Pruden, Wesley. '']'', 18 July 2008.</ref> In response, the APS reaffirmed its unchanged position on climate change and pointed out that the newsletter of the APS Forum on Physics and Society "carries the statement that 'Opinions expressed are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the APS or of the Forum.' This newsletter is not a journal of the APS and it is not ]ed."<ref>"APS Climate Change Statement: APS Position Remains Unchanged." American Physical Society, 18 July 2008</ref> The APS further added a disclaimer to the top of Monckton's article stating: "...Its conclusions are in disagreement with the overwhelming opinion of the world scientific community. The Council of the American Physical Society disagrees with this article's conclusions." The American Physical Society, however, was later compelled to remove the portions of its disclaimer about the opinions of the world scientific community and of its own Council, which had not in fact taken a position on Monckton's paper.<ref>Wagenseil, Paul. "". ], 21 July 2008</ref> In a response, Monckton called the APS "red flag" "discourteous" and claimed his paper had been "scientifically reviewed in meticulous detail".<ref>{{cite web | |||
Monckton asserts that the ], that deprived him of a hereditary seat, is flawed and unconstitutional. In 2006 he referred to himself as "a member of the Upper House of the United Kingdom legislature" in a letter to US Senators,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ff.org/centers/csspp/pdf/20061212_monckton.pdf|title=Uphold Free Speech about Climate Change or Resign|publisher=Frontiers of Freedom|date=11 December 2006|access-date=17 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904190755/http://www.ff.org/centers/csspp/pdf/20061212_monckton.pdf|archive-date=4 September 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> and has said he was "a member of the Upper House but without the right to sit or vote."<ref>{{cite web|title=Questions from the Select Committee Concerning My Recent Testimony|last=Monckton|first=Christopher|date=14 July 2010|url=http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/monckton/answers_to_committee.html|publisher=Science & Public Policy Institute|access-date=13 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130406055927/http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/monckton/answers_to_committee.html|archive-date=6 April 2013|url-status=usurped}}</ref> The House of Lords authorities have said Monckton is not and never has been a member and that there is no such thing as a non-voting or honorary member of the House.<ref name=guardian11aug2010/><ref name="Hickman">{{cite news|last=Hickman|first=Leo|title=Lord Monckton throws his safari helmet in the ring as Ukip candidate|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2010/apr/20/monckton-mp-general-election|date=20 April 2010|work=The Guardian}}</ref> | |||
| url = http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/images/stories/papers/monckton/monkton_letter_pys.pdf | |||
| title = Lord Monckton's Letter to Dr. Bienenstock | |||
| publisher = ] | |||
| date = 2008-07-19 | accessdate = 2008-09-27 | |||
}}</ref> | |||
In July 2011 the House of Lords took the unprecedented step of publishing online a ] letter to Monckton from the ], which said: "I must repeat my predecessor's statement that you are not and have never been a Member of the House of Lords." It concluded, "I am publishing this letter on the parliamentary website so that anybody who wishes to check whether you are a Member of the House of Lords can view this official confirmation that you are not."<ref name="guardian"/><ref name="houseoflords"/> | |||
During the autumn of 2009, Monckton toured North America to campaign against the ]. He warned that a treaty was planned for the conference that would "impose a ] ] on the world", which no country would then be able to repeal.<ref>{{cite news|title=Warming treaty to usher in one-world government?|url=http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2009/10/19/monckton/index.html|last=Koppelman|first=Alex|publisher=Salon|date=2009-10-19}}</ref><ref></ref> Monckton's comments were picked up by numerous commentators on the American right, including ]. The ]'s ''PolitiFact.com'' described his assertions as "not only unsupported but preposterous" and stated "...Lord Monckton earns a special ruling — Britches on Fire!".<ref>{{cite news|title=British climate-change skeptic says Copenhagen treaty threatens "democracy," "freedom"|url=http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/oct/20/christopher-monckton/british-climate-skeptic-says-copenhagen-treaty-thr/|date=2009-10-14|work=The St. Petersburg Times}}</ref> After attending one of Monckton's talks, Ethan Baron of the Canadian newspaper '']'' criticised Monckton's assertions as the product of a "whacked-out, far-right ideology, combined with an ego the size of the Antarctic ice sheet."<ref>{{cite news|last=Baron|first=Ethan|title=Difficult to warm to climate-change denier|url=http://www.theprovince.com/technology/Difficult+warm+climate+change+denier/2080348/story.html|date=2009-10-07|work=The Province}}</ref> The scientific assertions made by Monckton have been criticised as "pure fantasy" by Professor ] of ], who comments: "when you see a complete amateur raising objections about a highly technical subject, claiming that he or she has blown the lid off several decades of research in the discipline, you should be highly suspicious."<ref>http://www.sltrib.com/ci_14856887</ref> | |||
==Views== | |||
], the president of the Czech Republic, defended Monckton's views, commenting: "I agree with Lord Monckton that the cap-and-trade bill 'is the largest tax increase ever to be inflicted on a population in the history of the world'",<ref>http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/11/05/v-225-clav-klaus-largest-tax-increase-in-world-history.aspx</ref> and nationally syndicated US right-wing conservative radio commentator ] praised Monckton's tour, saying: "it is very rare we get someone as succinct, and as literate, and as passionate ... as Lord Christopher Monckton."<ref>http://vodpod.com/watch/2584299-dr-savage-interviews-lord-christopher-monckton-4</ref> | |||
===Climate change=== | |||
In October 2009, during his tour of North America, Monckton gave a talk on climate science at an event held at ]'s ], sponsored by the ]. In response, ] professor of thermal engineering John Abraham published an online rebuttal of the claims made by Monckton in his talk. Abraham's presentation, in which he asserted that Monckton had misrepresented and misunderstood scientific findings, received praise as a "long-needed factual voice on climate change."<ref>{{cite news|last=McAuliffe|first=Bill|url=http://www.startribune.com/local/99072699.html?page=1|date=July 22, 2010|work=Minneapolis Star Tribune}}</ref> Monckton's response accused Abraham of misrepresentation and libel, criticised the university and its head, and demanded a retraction, apology, disciplinary action against Abraham and a compensatory payment. The University of St Thomas supported Abraham, threatening legal action if Monckton continued making "disparaging or defamatory comments".<ref>{{cite news|last=Karnowski|first=Steve|url=http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/state-and-regional/mn/article_3f3e7ac8-96e0-11df-a36c-001cc4c002e0.html|title=UK climate change skeptic accuses US prof of libel|agency=Associated Press|date=July 23, 2010}}</ref> | |||
Monckton advocates for ],<ref name=monbiot>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2010/jun/08/monckton-gift-climate-denial|title=Monckton's climate denial is a gift to those who take the science seriously|author=George Monbiot|work=The Guardian|date=9 June 2010}}</ref><ref name=motherjones20091204>{{cite news |first=Josh |last=Harkinson |url=https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2009/12/dirty-dozen-climate-change-denial-10-lord-christopher-monckton |title=The Dirty Dozen of Climate Change Denial |magazine=] |date=4 December 2009 |access-date=22 August 2015 |quote=Here's a guide to the dozen loudest components of the climate disinformation machine...Meet the 12 loudest members of the chorus claiming that global warming is a joke and that CO2 emissions are actually good for you.}}</ref> is a policy advisor to ]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://heartland.org/about-us/who-we-are/lord-christopher-monckton|title=Policy advisor to the Heartland Institute|publisher=The Heartland Institute|date=28 September 2019}}</ref> and has stated that those who warn of the dangers of climate change should be jailed, calling them "bogus".<ref name=Bogus>, by Graham Readfearn, at the ]; published 2 February 2012; retrieved 18 September 2017; ""So to the bogus scientists who have produced the bogus science that invented this bogus scare I say, we are coming after you. We are going to prosecute you, and we are going to lock you up."</ref> He does say a ] exists,<ref>''Sunday Telegraph'', 5 November 2005</ref> and that ] contributes to it, but claims there is no "causative link" from CO<sub>2</sub>-concentration to global average temperature.<ref name=monckton_sppi>{{cite web|url=http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/monckton/temperature_and_co2_change_briefing.html|title=Temperature Change and CO<sub>2</sub> Change – A Scientific Briefing|author=Christopher Monckton|publisher=scienceandpublicpolicy.org|date=7 January 2009|access-date=3 October 2011|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415205646/http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/monckton/temperature_and_co2_change_briefing.html|archive-date=15 April 2013|url-status=usurped}}</ref> He said the ] underestimated the costs of ] and overstated its benefits.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1533912/Wrong-problem-wrong-solution.html|title=Wrong problem, wrong solution|author=Christopher Monckton|work=The Telegraph|date=12 November 2006}}</ref> Monckton's opinions contradict the ],<ref name="The MIT Press">{{cite book|title= Climate Change: What It Means for Us, Our Children, and Our Grandchildren|editor1-last= DiMento|editor1-first= Joseph F. C.|editor2-last= Doughman|editor2-first= Pamela M.|year= 2007|publisher= The MIT Press|isbn= 978-0-262-54193-0|pages= |contribution= The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change: How Do We Know We're Not Wrong?|last= Oreskes|first= Naomi|author-link= Naomi Oreskes|url= https://archive.org/details/climatechangewha00dime/page/65}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|quote=The evidence for human influence on the climate system has grown since the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). It is extremely likely that more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951 to 2010 was caused by the anthropogenic increase in greenhouse gas concentrations and other anthropogenic forcings together |publisher=IPCC |url=http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/syr/SYR_AR5_SPMcorr2.pdf |title=CLIMATE CHANGE 2014: Synthesis Report. Summary for Policymakers |access-date=7 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227220848/http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/syr/SYR_AR5_SPMcorr2.pdf |archive-date=27 February 2015 }}</ref> where there is consensus for ], and show a decisive link between carbon dioxide concentration and global average temperatures. | |||
On 18 October 2008 Monckton posted online "More in Sorrow than in Anger, Open letter from The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley to Senator John McCain about Climate Science and Policy" after U.S. presidential candidate ] made a campaign speech at a wind farm in which he stated his belief in ]. Monckton stated in interviews and on the web site of the Science and Public Policy institute that he was a ]; he later stated that this had been a joke.<ref>{{cite web|last=Monckton|first=Christopher|title=More in Sorrow than in Anger, Open letter from The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley to Senator John McCain about Climate Science and Policy|url=http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/images/stories/papers/reprint/Letter_to_McCain.pdf|access-date=15 April 2016|publisher=]|archive-date=29 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211229064858/http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/images/stories/papers/reprint/Letter_to_McCain.pdf|url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Mann|first=Michael E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HK0CN6FVtfgC|title=The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines|date=March 2012|publisher=]|isbn=978-0-231-15254-9}}</ref><ref> ] 16 January 2010 "Christopher Walter, the third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, has conceded that his claim to have won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 was a joke."</ref> | |||
In 2009, ] criticized Monckton's claims in a lecture at ],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/jpabraham/global_warming/Monckton/Monckton%20Presentation%20June%2022/index.htm|title=Abraham presentation|publisher=University of St Thomas, Minnesota}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/jpabraham|title=John P. Abraham Published texts and Rebuttals to Monckton|author=John P. Abraham}}</ref> and Monckton filed disciplinary charges alleging academic dishonesty against Abraham.<ref name="monckton_cfact">{{cite web|last=Monckton|first=Christopher|title=Climate: The Extremists Join the Debate at Last!|url=http://cfact.eu/2010/06/04/climate-the-extremists-join-the-debate-at-last|access-date=3 October 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/monckton-warm-abra-qq2.pdf|title=Response to John Abraham|author=Christopher Monckton|publisher=WattsUpWithThat Blog}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2010/jul/14/monckton-john-abraham|title=Monckton's response to John Abraham is magnificently bonkers|author=George Monbiot|work=The Guardian|date=14 July 2010}}</ref> The ]'s lawyers wrote to Monckton that "The University of St Thomas respects your right to disagree with Professor Abraham, just as the University respects Professor Abraham's right to disagree with you. What we object to are your personal attacks against ], and Professor Abraham, your inflammatory language, and your decision to disparage Professor Abraham, Father Dease, and The University of St Thomas."<ref>{{cite web|title=Correspondence between Lord Monckton and Prof. John Abraham, and the University of St Thomas|url=http://jonova.s3.amazonaws.com/monckton/warm-abraham-correspondence.doc|access-date=3 October 2011}}</ref> The latter was in response to an interview in which Monckton characterized Abraham as "a wretched little man," the university's president Dease as "a creep," and the University of St. Thomas as "a half-assed Catholic bible college".<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150531034732/http://m.startribune.com/local/99072699.html |date=31 May 2015 }}</ref> | |||
Monckton has also been criticised by ] and ] ]. On his ] channel potholer54 in a series titled "Monckton Bunkum", Hadfield debunked Monckton's claim that the Earth had not been warming based on ] of start and end points of the global temperature record,<ref>{{cite web |title=Monckton Bunkum Part 1 - Global cooling and melting ice |author=potholer54 |website=] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbW-aHvjOgM |access-date=4 July 2023}}</ref> his claim that ] to a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide is a third of what it actually is and his confusion of sensitivity with forcing,<ref>{{cite web |title=Monckton Bunkum Part 2 - Sensitivity |author=potholer54 |website=] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTY3FnsFZ7Q |access-date=4 July 2023}}</ref> and his claim that Himalayan glaciers had been stable for the past two centuries.<ref>{{cite web |title=Monckton Bunkum Part 3 - Correlations and Himalayan glaciers |author=potholer54 |website=] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpF48b6Lsbo |access-date=4 July 2023}}</ref> Hadfield also showed how Monckton had misquoted the words of ], Murari Lau, ], and Justice ] of the ],<ref>{{cite web |title=Monckton Bunkum Part 4 -- Quotes and misquotes |author=potholer54 |website=] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3giRaGNTMA |access-date=4 July 2023}}</ref> in addition to falsely claiming that the ] had concluded at a 2004 symposium that the Sun was responsible for the majority of recent global warming.<ref>{{cite web |title=Monckton bunkum Part 5 -- What, MORE errors, my lord? |author=potholer54 |website=] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRCyctTvuCo |access-date=4 July 2023}}</ref> | |||
===Social and economic policy=== | ===Social and economic policy=== | ||
{{wikiquote|Christopher Monckton}} | |||
''Eddy Shah: Today and the Newspaper Revolution'' describes him as "a fervent, forthright and opinionated Roman Catholic Tory"<ref>MacArthur, Brian. ''Eddy Shah: Today and the Newspaper Revolution'', p. 154. David & Charles Publishers, 1988. ISBN 0715391453</ref> who has been closely associated with the "]" faction of the Conservative Party.<ref name="berridge">Virginia Berridge. ''AIDS in the UK: The Making of a Policy, 1981-1994'', p. 132. Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN 0198204736</ref> As one of Margaret Thatcher's policy advisors, he has been credited with being "the brains behind the Thatcherite policy of giving council tenants (]) the ]."<ref name="times031004">Leppard, David. "", ''The Times'', 3 October 2004</ref> Criticizing the campaign to save the ] ironworks, Monckton wrote, "The Scots are subsidy junkies whingeing like crumpled bagpipes and waiting for a fix of English taxpayers' money."<ref>{{cite news | |||
One of Margaret Thatcher's policy advisors, Monckton was credited with being "the brains behind the Thatcherite policy of giving council tenants (]) the ]."<ref name="times031004">Leppard, David. {{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, ''The Times'', 3 October 2004</ref> Monckton was a sponsor of the Conservative Family Campaign in the 1990s.<ref>{{cite news|title=Persuaded to act otherwise|work=The Independent|date=3 April 1992}}</ref> Monckton has been associated with the ], advising its founder, Sir ]. In 2003 he helped a Scottish Tory breakaway group, the ].<ref name="times031004"/> | |||
|date=April 16, 1995 | |||
|publisher=Sunday Mail | |||
|title=Christopher Monckton and his support for subsidies to Scotland | |||
|author=Angus McLeod}}</ref> | |||
In 1988, ''Eddy Shah: Today and the Newspaper Revolution'' described Monckton as "a fervent, forthright and opinionated Roman Catholic Tory"<ref>MacArthur, Brian. ''Eddy Shah: Today and the Newspaper Revolution'', p. 154. David & Charles Publishers, 1988; {{ISBN|0-7153-9145-3}}</ref> who has been closely associated with the "]" faction of the Conservative Party.<ref name="berridge">Virginia Berridge. ''AIDS in the UK: The Making of a Policy, 1981–1994'', p. 132. Oxford University Press, 1996; {{ISBN|0-19-820473-6}}</ref> In 1997, Monckton criticised works at the ] (the Scottish International Festival of Photography) and ] as "feeble-minded, cheap, pitiable, exploitative ] perpetrated by the talent-free and perpetuated by over-funded, useless, muddle-headed, middle-aged, pot-bellied, brewer's-droopy quangoes which a courageous Government would forthwith cease to subsidise with your money and mine."<ref>{{cite news|title=It is feeble-minded, exploitative sensationalism perpetrated by the talent-free|publisher=The Scotsman|date=23 September 1997|author=Christopher Monckton}}</ref> | |||
He has been associated with the ], advising its founder Sir ], and in 2003 he helped a Scottish Tory breakaway group, the ].<ref name="times031004" /> In 2009 he joined the ];<ref name="Vaughan 11 Dec">{{cite news|last=Vaughan|first=Adam|title=In denial: Lord Monckton's climate change rant at activists|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/11/climate-change-denial-lord-monckton|date=2009-12-11|work=The Guardian | location=London | accessdate=26 March 2010}}</ref> he is now deputy leader.<ref></ref> | |||
===Statements on AIDS and homosexuality=== | |||
In 1997, Monckton criticized works at the ] (the Scottish International Festival of Photography) and ] as "feeble-minded, cheap, pitiable, exploitative sensationalism perpetrated by the talent-free and perpetuated by over-funded, useless, muddle-headed, middle-aged, pot-bellied, brewer's-droopy quangoes which a courageous Government would forthwith cease to subsidise with your money and mine."<ref>{{cite news | |||
|title='It is feeble-minded, exploitative sensationalism perpetrated by the talent-free' | |||
|publisher=The Scotsman | |||
|date=September 23, 1997 | |||
|author=Christopher Monckton}}</ref> | |||
=== |
====''American Spectator'' article on AIDS (1987)==== | ||
In a 1987 article for '']'', "AIDS: A British View", Monckton argued "there is only one way to stop ]. That is to screen the entire population regularly and to quarantine all carriers of the disease for life. Every member of the population should be blood-tested every month ... all those found to be infected with the virus, even if only as carriers, should be isolated compulsorily, immediately, and permanently." This would involve isolating between 1.5 and 3 million people in the United States ("not altogether impossible") and another 30,000 people in the UK ("not insuperably difficult"). The article concluded that current Western sensibilities would not allow this standard protocol for containing a new, fatal and incurable infection to be applied: therefore, he said, many would needlessly die. ], then assistant managing editor of ''The American Spectator'', denounced it in the letters column of the same issue.<ref name=moncktonaids>{{cite book|last=Bawer|first=Bruce|title=A place at the table: the gay individual in American society|page=|publisher=Poseidon Press|year=1993|isbn=978-0-671-79533-7|url=https://archive.org/details/placeattablegayi00bawe/page/75}}</ref> Monckton appeared on the ]'s '']'' programme in February 1987 to discuss his views and present the results of an opinion poll that found public support for his position.<ref name="berridge"/> Monckton has since stated "the article was written at the very outset of the AIDS epidemic, and with 33 million people around the world now infected, the possibility of is laughable. It couldn't work." He also said that this standard protocol could have worked at the time; that senior HIV investigators had called for it; and that many of the lives that have been lost could have been saved.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/08/14/ertl-in-puzzle-as-gay-group-protests/|title=Ertl in Puzzle As Gay Group Protests|publisher=Chicago Tribune|author=Ray Moseley|date=14 August 1999}}</ref> | |||
====Article on homosexuality (2014)==== | |||
Monckton has since stated "the article was written at the very outset of the AIDS epidemic, and with 33 million people around the world now infected, the possibility of is laughable. It couldn't work." | |||
Monckton returned to the subject of homosexuality in a November 2014 article for the '']'' website describing the campaign of Councillor Rosalie Crestani in the ], near Melbourne, Australia. In the article, he claims that "official survey after official survey had shown that homosexuals had an average of 500-1,000 partners in their sexually active lifetime, and that some had as many as 20,000."<ref name="Meredith">Charlotte Meredith , ''The Huffington Post'', 27 November 2014</ref> He rejected the use of the LGBT acronym for the order of the alphabet on QWERTY keyboards. "That ought to cover every real or imaginary form of sexual deviancy they may dream up," he wrote.<ref name="Meredith"/> | |||
"Now, I'm not sure where Viscount Monckton is getting his statistics," wrote UKIP leader ] in '']'', "but to frame these comments as he has is both deeply offensive and fundamentally wrong."<ref>Nigel Farage , ''The Independent'' (London), 27 November 2014</ref> | |||
===European integration=== | ===European integration=== | ||
Monckton has been |
Monckton has been a ], an opponent of ]. In 1994, he sued the Conservative government of ] for agreeing to contribute to the costs of the Protocol on Social Policy agreed in the 1993 ], although the UK had an opt-out from the protocol. The case was heard in the Scottish ] in May 1994. His petition for ] was dismissed by the court for want of relevancy.<ref>"Lawful for UK to contribute to European social policy costs – Scots Law report", ''The Times'', 12 May 1994</ref> In a 2007 interview he said he would "leave the ], close down 90 per cent of government services and shift power away from the atheistic, humanistic government and into the hands of families and individuals."<ref name=euro/> | ||
==Published works== | ==Published works== | ||
* ''The Laker Story'' (with Ivan Fallon). Christensen, 1982. ISBN |
* ''The Laker Story'' (with Ivan Fallon). Christensen, 1982. {{ISBN|0-9508007-0-8}} | ||
* ''Anglican Orders: null and void?''. |
* ''Anglican Orders: null and void?''. Family History Books, 1986. | ||
* ''The AIDS Report''. 1987 | * ''The AIDS Report''. 1987 | ||
* ''European Monetary Union: opportunities and dangers.'' University of St. Andrews, Department of Economics. 1997 | * ''European Monetary Union: opportunities and dangers.'' University of St. Andrews, Department of Economics. 1997 | ||
* ''Sudoku X''. Headline Publishing Group, 2005. ISBN |
* ''Sudoku X''. Headline Publishing Group, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7553-1501-4}} | ||
* ''Sudoku X-mas''. Headline Publishing Group, 2005. ISBN |
* ''Sudoku X-mas''. Headline Publishing Group, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7553-1502-2}} | ||
* ''Sudoku Xpert''. Headline Publishing Group, 2006. ISBN |
* ''Sudoku Xpert''. Headline Publishing Group, 2006. {{ISBN|0-7553-1529-4}} | ||
* ''Junior Sudoku X''. Headline Publishing Group, 2006. ISBN |
* ''Junior Sudoku X''. Headline Publishing Group, 2006. {{ISBN|0-7553-1528-6}} | ||
* ''Sudoku Xtreme''. Headline Publishing Group, 2006. ISBN |
* ''Sudoku Xtreme''. Headline Publishing Group, 2006. {{ISBN|0-7553-1530-8}} | ||
* {{cite web |url=http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/200807/monckton.cfm |title=Climate Sensitivity Reconsidered |publisher= Forum on Physics and Society, American Physical Society | |
* {{cite web |url=http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/200807/monckton.cfm |title=Climate Sensitivity Reconsidered |publisher= Forum on Physics and Society, American Physical Society |date=July 2008}} | ||
], of which Monckton is policy director, has published |
], of which Monckton is policy director, has published nine non-peer-reviewed articles by Monckton on climate-change science.<ref>{{usurped|1=}}</ref> | ||
== |
==Arms== | ||
{{Infobox COA wide | |||
* ] | |||
|image = ] ] | |||
* ] | |||
|escutcheon = 1st & 4th Sable on a chevron between three martlets Or three mullets Sable (Monckton) 2nd & 3rd Or a chevron Gules a chief Vair (St Quintin). | |||
|crest = A martlet Or. | |||
|supporters = On either side a horse Argent crined and unguled Or gorged with a chain Gold pendant therefrom an escutcheon Sable charged with a roses also Argent barbed and seeded Proper quartering St Quintin (Gules a chevron Or a chief Vair). | |||
|badge = Within an annulet a martlet Or. | |||
|motto = Famam Extendere Factis <ref>{{cite book|title=Burke's Peerage |date=1959}}</ref>}} | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{Reflist| |
{{Reflist|30em}} | ||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
{{Wikiquote|Christopher Monckton}} | {{Wikiquote|Christopher Monckton}} | ||
* | * (PDF) | ||
* by Christopher Monckton | * {{usurped|1=}} by Christopher Monckton | ||
* Monckton's response to Gore | * (PDF) Monckton's response to Gore | ||
*, ''The Observer'', |
* , ''The Observer'', 6 May 2007 | ||
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{{s-reg|uk}} | {{s-reg|uk}} | ||
{{ |
{{S-bef| before=] }} | ||
{{s-ttl| title=] | years=2006–present}} | |||
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{{incumbent succession box|title=Deputy Leader of the ]|before=]|start=<small>with ]</small></br>2010}} | |||
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| years = 2010 | |||
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}} | |||
{{S-end}} | {{S-end}} | ||
{{British viscounts}} | {{Current British viscounts}} | ||
{{UKIP}} | |||
{{Authority control}} | |||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monckton of Brenchley, Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount}} | |||
{{Persondata | |||
|NAME=Christopher Walter Monckton | |||
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Christopher Monckton | |||
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=Publisher | |||
|DATE OF BIRTH= 14 February 1952 | |||
|PLACE OF BIRTH= | |||
|DATE OF DEATH= | |||
|PLACE OF DEATH= | |||
}} | |||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monckton Of Brenchley, Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 17:57, 21 December 2024
British peer (born 1952) "Christopher Monckton" redirects here. For the musician and travel agent, see Christopher J. Monckton. "Lord Monckton" redirects here. For other people titled Lord Monckton, see Lord Monckton (disambiguation).
The Right HonourableThe Viscount Monckton of Brenchley | |
---|---|
Monckton in 2009 | |
Deputy Leader of the UK Independence Party | |
In office 3 June 2010 – 8 November 2010 | |
Leader | The Lord Pearson of Rannoch Nigel Farage |
Preceded by | David Campbell Bannerman |
Succeeded by | Paul Nuttall |
Leader of the Scottish UK Independence Party | |
In office 10 January 2013 – 1 December 2013 | |
Leader | Nigel Farage |
Preceded by | The Lord Pearson of Rannoch |
Succeeded by | David Coburn |
Personal details | |
Born | (1952-02-14) 14 February 1952 (age 72) |
Political party | Conservative (before 2009) UKIP (2009–present) |
Spouse | Juliet Mary Anne Malherbe Jensen |
Parent(s) | Gilbert Monckton Marianna Letitia Bower |
Relatives | Rosa Monckton (sister) |
Education | MA in classics, 1974; diploma in journalism studies |
Alma mater | Churchill College, Cambridge University College, Cardiff |
Occupation | Politician, journalist |
Christopher Walter Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley (born 14 February 1952) is a British public speaker and hereditary peer. He is known for his work as a journalist, Conservative political advisor, UKIP political candidate, and for his invention of the mathematical puzzle Eternity.
Early on in his public speaking career topics centred on his mathematical puzzle and conservative politics. In recent years, his public speaking has garnered attention due to his denial of climate change and his views on the European Union and social policy.
Personal life
Monckton is the eldest son of Major-General Gilbert Monckton, 2nd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley (1915–2006), and Marianna Letitia, Viscountess Monckton of Brenchley (née Bower; 1929–2022), one-time High Sheriff of Kent and Dame of Malta. He has three brothers, Timothy, Jonathan and Anthony, and a sister, Rosa, Baroness Monckton of Dallington Forest, wife of journalist Dominic Lawson.
Monckton was educated at Harrow School and Churchill College, Cambridge, where he received a B.A. (Classics, 1974, now M.A.), and at University College, Cardiff, where he obtained a diploma in journalism studies. In 1990, he married Juliet Mary Anne Malherbe Jensen.
Monckton is a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Broderers, an Officer of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, a Knight of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and a member of the Roman Catholic Mass Media Commission. He is also a qualified Day Skipper with the Royal Yachting Association, and has been a trustee of the Hales Trophy for the Blue Riband of the Atlantic since 1986.
On the death of his father in 2006 Monckton inherited the title Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, but owing to the House of Lords Act 1999 he did not gain a seat in the House of Lords.
Career
Journalism
Monckton joined the Yorkshire Post in 1974 at the age of 22, where he worked as a reporter and leader-writer. From 1977 to 1978, he worked at Conservative Central Office as a press officer, becoming the editor of the Roman Catholic newspaper The Universe in 1979, then managing editor of The Sunday Telegraph magazine in 1981. He joined the London Evening Standard newspaper as a leader-writer in 1982. After a hiatus in his career as a journalist Monckton became assistant editor of the newly established, and now defunct, tabloid newspaper Today in 1986. He was a consulting editor for the Evening Standard from 1987 to 1992 and was its chief leader-writer from 1990 to 1992.
Since 2002 Monckton has had several newspaper articles published critical of the IPCC and scientific consensus on climate change.
Entrepreneurship
In 1995, Monckton and his wife opened Monckton's, a shirt shop in King's Road, Chelsea.
In 1999, Monckton created and published the Eternity puzzle, a geometric puzzle that involved tiling a dodecagon with 209 irregularly shaped polygons called "polydrafters". A £1 million prize was won after 18 months by two Cambridge mathematicians. By that time, 500,000 puzzles had been sold. Monckton launched the Eternity II puzzle in 2007, but, after the four-year prize period, no winner came forward to claim the $2 million prize.
Monckton is a director of Resurrexi Pharmaceutical. It asserts it is "responsible for invention and development of a broad-spectrum cure for infectious diseases." In the BBC documentary, "Meet the Sceptics" (2011), he claimed to have cured himself of Graves' disease. UKIP's CV for Monckton claims that his methods have produced cures for multiple sclerosis, influenza, and herpes, as well as reducing the viral load of an HIV patient. In an interview with Australia's Radio National, Monckton said that his methods had had some initial successes but "we cannot claim that we can cure anything".
Political career
Political advisor to the Conservative Party
In 1979, Monckton met Alfred Sherman, who co-founded the pro-Conservative think tank the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) with Margaret Thatcher and Keith Joseph in 1974. Sherman asked Monckton to take the minutes at the CPS's study group meetings. Monckton subsequently became the secretary for the centre's economic, forward strategy, health and employment study groups. He wrote a paper on the privatisation of council housing by means of a rent-to-mortgages scheme that brought him to the attention of Downing Street. Ferdinand Mount, the head of the Number 10 Policy Unit and a former CPS director, brought Monckton into the Policy Unit in 1982. He was recruited as a domestic specialist with responsibilities for housing and parliamentary affairs, working alongside Mount and Peter Shipley on projects such as the phasing out of council housing. He left the unit in 1986 to join the Today newspaper.
Monckton has said that he served as science adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during his years with the Number 10 Policy Unit, and that "it was I who—on the prime minister's behalf—kept a weather eye on the official science advisers to the government, from the chief scientific adviser downward." John Gummer, who was Environment Minister under Thatcher said Monckton was "a bag carrier in Mrs Thatcher's office. And the idea that he advised her on climate change is laughable." Writing in The Guardian, Bob Ward of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment notes that Thatcher's memoirs, The Downing Street Years, do not mention Monckton and refer to George Guise as her science advisor.
Standing in by-elections for the House of Lords
Monckton inherited a peerage after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, which provided that "o-one shall be a member of the House of Lords by virtue of a hereditary peerage".
Monckton stood unsuccessfully in four by-elections for vacant seats created by deaths among the 92 hereditary peers remaining in the Lords after the 1999 reforms. He first stood for a Conservative seat in a March 2007 by-election, and was among 31 of 43 candidates who received no votes. He subsequently stood in the crossbench by-elections of May 2008, July 2009, and June 2010, again receiving no votes. He was highly critical of the way the Lords was reformed, describing the procedure in the March 2007 by-election, with 43 candidates and 47 electors, as "a bizarre constitutional abortion."
Spokesperson and candidate for UK Independence Party
Monckton joined the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in 2009 and became its chief spokesperson on climate change. At the 2010 general election he was nominated as the UKIP candidate for the Scottish constituency of Perth and North Perthshire; although a hereditary peer, he was entitled to stand for election for the House of Commons as he is not a member of the House of Lords. He subsequently withdrew in accordance with UKIP's policy of not opposing other Eurosceptic parliamentary candidates. In June 2010, UKIP announced he had been appointed its deputy leader, to serve alongside David Campbell Bannerman under party leader The Lord Pearson of Rannoch, who owns an estate in Scotland adjoining Monckton's. He was succeeded in the role of deputy leader by Paul Nuttall in November 2010.
In 2011 he stood as lead party-list candidate for UKIP in the Scottish Parliament constituency of Mid Scotland and Fife but did not gain election, with the UKIP list coming seventh after scoring 1.1% of the region's vote. Monckton also headed UKIP's policy unit for a while but according to the party's spokesman he had relinquished any formal role by June 2012, moving into a "semi-detached" relationship with UKIP. By January 2013 he had become UKIP's president in Scotland but was sacked by UKIP leader Nigel Farage in November 2013 following factional infighting.
Public speaking
Since 2008 he has toured Britain, Ireland, the US, China, Canada, India, Colombia, South Africa, and Australia delivering talks to groups related to the subject of Climate Change. As the Chief Policy Adviser for the US lobby group Science and Public Policy Institute he appeared at the Heartland Institute's 2008 "International Conference on Climate Change".
In 2009–10 he was invited on four occasions before Congress to testify by Republican representatives. On 25 March 2009 he appeared before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, and in 2010 before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming invited by Jim Sensenbrenner. He followed this up with his January 2010 and July 2011 tours of Australia and New Zealand, as well as tours of China and India in December 2011. He was invited again to the US in 2012 by Republican Shannon Grove to speak before the California State Assembly and later in the year travelling to Australia at the invitation of Democratic Labor Party Senator John Madigan.
On 6 December 2012 Monckton took Burma's seat at the COP18 Climate Change Conference in Doha without permission and made a short speech attacking the idea of man-made climate change. He was escorted from the building and given a lifetime ban from attending UN climate talks. Monckton said that there had been no global warming over the last sixteen years, and thus the science should be reviewed.
Between 2009 and 2010 the film maker Rupert Murray followed Monckton on his climate change tour. The film was later broadcast on 31 January 2011 on BBC Four titled Meet the Sceptics. Prior to its broadcast its depiction of Monckton was described by fellow denialist James Delingpole as "another hatchet job" and Monckton's attempt to gain an injunction failed.
Dispute over his non-membership of the House of Lords
Monckton asserts that the House of Lords Act 1999, that deprived him of a hereditary seat, is flawed and unconstitutional. In 2006 he referred to himself as "a member of the Upper House of the United Kingdom legislature" in a letter to US Senators, and has said he was "a member of the Upper House but without the right to sit or vote." The House of Lords authorities have said Monckton is not and never has been a member and that there is no such thing as a non-voting or honorary member of the House.
In July 2011 the House of Lords took the unprecedented step of publishing online a cease and desist letter to Monckton from the Clerk of the Parliaments, which said: "I must repeat my predecessor's statement that you are not and have never been a Member of the House of Lords." It concluded, "I am publishing this letter on the parliamentary website so that anybody who wishes to check whether you are a Member of the House of Lords can view this official confirmation that you are not."
Views
Climate change
Monckton advocates for climate change denial, is a policy advisor to The Heartland Institute and has stated that those who warn of the dangers of climate change should be jailed, calling them "bogus". He does say a greenhouse effect exists, and that carbon dioxide contributes to it, but claims there is no "causative link" from CO2-concentration to global average temperature. He said the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change underestimated the costs of climate change mitigation and overstated its benefits. Monckton's opinions contradict the scientific opinion on climate change, where there is consensus for anthropogenic global warming, and show a decisive link between carbon dioxide concentration and global average temperatures.
On 18 October 2008 Monckton posted online "More in Sorrow than in Anger, Open letter from The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley to Senator John McCain about Climate Science and Policy" after U.S. presidential candidate John McCain made a campaign speech at a wind farm in which he stated his belief in anthropogenic climate change. Monckton stated in interviews and on the web site of the Science and Public Policy institute that he was a Nobel Peace Prize laureate; he later stated that this had been a joke.
In 2009, John P. Abraham criticized Monckton's claims in a lecture at Bethel University, and Monckton filed disciplinary charges alleging academic dishonesty against Abraham. The University of St Thomas's lawyers wrote to Monckton that "The University of St Thomas respects your right to disagree with Professor Abraham, just as the University respects Professor Abraham's right to disagree with you. What we object to are your personal attacks against Father Dease, and Professor Abraham, your inflammatory language, and your decision to disparage Professor Abraham, Father Dease, and The University of St Thomas." The latter was in response to an interview in which Monckton characterized Abraham as "a wretched little man," the university's president Dease as "a creep," and the University of St. Thomas as "a half-assed Catholic bible college".
Monckton has also been criticised by science journalist and YouTuber Peter Hadfield. On his YouTube channel potholer54 in a series titled "Monckton Bunkum", Hadfield debunked Monckton's claim that the Earth had not been warming based on cherry picking of start and end points of the global temperature record, his claim that climate sensitivity to a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide is a third of what it actually is and his confusion of sensitivity with forcing, and his claim that Himalayan glaciers had been stable for the past two centuries. Hadfield also showed how Monckton had misquoted the words of Kevin E. Trenberth, Murari Lau, Sir John Houghton, and Justice Michael Burton of the High Court of Justice, in addition to falsely claiming that the International Astronomical Union had concluded at a 2004 symposium that the Sun was responsible for the majority of recent global warming.
Social and economic policy
One of Margaret Thatcher's policy advisors, Monckton was credited with being "the brains behind the Thatcherite policy of giving council tenants (public housing) the right to buy their homes." Monckton was a sponsor of the Conservative Family Campaign in the 1990s. Monckton has been associated with the Referendum Party, advising its founder, Sir James Goldsmith. In 2003 he helped a Scottish Tory breakaway group, the Scottish Peoples Alliance.
In 1988, Eddy Shah: Today and the Newspaper Revolution described Monckton as "a fervent, forthright and opinionated Roman Catholic Tory" who has been closely associated with the "New Right" faction of the Conservative Party. In 1997, Monckton criticised works at the Fotofeis (the Scottish International Festival of Photography) and Sensation as "feeble-minded, cheap, pitiable, exploitative sensationalism perpetrated by the talent-free and perpetuated by over-funded, useless, muddle-headed, middle-aged, pot-bellied, brewer's-droopy quangoes which a courageous Government would forthwith cease to subsidise with your money and mine."
Statements on AIDS and homosexuality
American Spectator article on AIDS (1987)
In a 1987 article for The American Spectator, "AIDS: A British View", Monckton argued "there is only one way to stop AIDS. That is to screen the entire population regularly and to quarantine all carriers of the disease for life. Every member of the population should be blood-tested every month ... all those found to be infected with the virus, even if only as carriers, should be isolated compulsorily, immediately, and permanently." This would involve isolating between 1.5 and 3 million people in the United States ("not altogether impossible") and another 30,000 people in the UK ("not insuperably difficult"). The article concluded that current Western sensibilities would not allow this standard protocol for containing a new, fatal and incurable infection to be applied: therefore, he said, many would needlessly die. Andrew Ferguson, then assistant managing editor of The American Spectator, denounced it in the letters column of the same issue. Monckton appeared on the BBC's Panorama programme in February 1987 to discuss his views and present the results of an opinion poll that found public support for his position. Monckton has since stated "the article was written at the very outset of the AIDS epidemic, and with 33 million people around the world now infected, the possibility of is laughable. It couldn't work." He also said that this standard protocol could have worked at the time; that senior HIV investigators had called for it; and that many of the lives that have been lost could have been saved.
Article on homosexuality (2014)
Monckton returned to the subject of homosexuality in a November 2014 article for the WorldNetDaily website describing the campaign of Councillor Rosalie Crestani in the City of Casey, near Melbourne, Australia. In the article, he claims that "official survey after official survey had shown that homosexuals had an average of 500-1,000 partners in their sexually active lifetime, and that some had as many as 20,000." He rejected the use of the LGBT acronym for the order of the alphabet on QWERTY keyboards. "That ought to cover every real or imaginary form of sexual deviancy they may dream up," he wrote.
"Now, I'm not sure where Viscount Monckton is getting his statistics," wrote UKIP leader Nigel Farage in The Independent, "but to frame these comments as he has is both deeply offensive and fundamentally wrong."
European integration
Monckton has been a Eurosceptic, an opponent of European integration. In 1994, he sued the Conservative government of John Major for agreeing to contribute to the costs of the Protocol on Social Policy agreed in the 1993 Maastricht Treaty, although the UK had an opt-out from the protocol. The case was heard in the Scottish Court of Session in May 1994. His petition for judicial review was dismissed by the court for want of relevancy. In a 2007 interview he said he would "leave the European Union, close down 90 per cent of government services and shift power away from the atheistic, humanistic government and into the hands of families and individuals."
Published works
- The Laker Story (with Ivan Fallon). Christensen, 1982. ISBN 0-9508007-0-8
- Anglican Orders: null and void?. Family History Books, 1986.
- The AIDS Report. 1987
- European Monetary Union: opportunities and dangers. University of St. Andrews, Department of Economics. 1997
- Sudoku X. Headline Publishing Group, 2005. ISBN 0-7553-1501-4
- Sudoku X-mas. Headline Publishing Group, 2005. ISBN 0-7553-1502-2
- Sudoku Xpert. Headline Publishing Group, 2006. ISBN 0-7553-1529-4
- Junior Sudoku X. Headline Publishing Group, 2006. ISBN 0-7553-1528-6
- Sudoku Xtreme. Headline Publishing Group, 2006. ISBN 0-7553-1530-8
- "Climate Sensitivity Reconsidered". Forum on Physics and Society, American Physical Society. July 2008.
The Science and Public Policy Institute, of which Monckton is policy director, has published nine non-peer-reviewed articles by Monckton on climate-change science.
Arms
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References
- "The Eternity puzzle solved". BBC News. 2 October 2000. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- "Climate deniers to send film to British schools". The Independent. 2 October 2007. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- Christopher Monckton (4 November 2006). "Climate chaos? Don't believe it". Telegraph. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- Christopher Monckton (12 November 2006). "Wrong problem, wrong solution". Telegraph. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- ^ Leo Hickman (11 August 2010). "Lords distance themselves from climate sceptic Christopher Monckton". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
- ^ "'I'm bad at doing what I'm told. I'm a born free-thinker' – The 5-Minute Interview", The Independent, 24 August 2007
- "Heart of Kent Hospice patron Marianna, Viscountess Monckton of Brenchley, has died". Kent Online. 11 July 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
- ^ Who's Who 2007, p. 1599
- Christopher Monckton (17 December 2010). "The climate bugaboo is the strangest intellectual aberration of our age". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 20 December 2010.
- Christopher Monckton (5 November 2006). "Climate chaos? Don't believe it". The Telegraph.
- "The Undie-Serving Rich". Evening Standard. 10 November 1995.
- "£1m Eternity jackpot scooped". BBC News Online. BBC. 26 October 2000.
- Rupert Murray "Meet the Climate Sceptics", Storyville, 3 February 2011.
- "Christopher: A man of many talents". UKIP.co.uk. Archived from the original on 8 June 2010. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- Carlisle, Wendy (13 July 2011), The Lord Monckton Roadshow (Transcription and podcast), Background Briefing, Australia: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (published 17 July 2011), 46min 48sec, retrieved 2 September 2012
- ^ Cockett, Richard (1995). Thinking the unthinkable: think tanks and the economic counter-revolution 1931–1983. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-637586-9.
- ^ Kandiah, Michael; Seldon, Anthony (1997). Ideas and think tanks in contemporary Britain, Volume 2. Routledge. pp. 59, 62. ISBN 978-0-7146-4771-5.
- ^ "Tory project to phase out council houses". The Times. 6 December 1982. p. 1.
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- Womersley, Tara (22 June 2001). "Puzzle inventor sells £1m home to Chanel model". The Daily Telegraph.
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- ^ Hickman, Leo (18 July 2011). "Climate sceptic Lord Monckton told he's not member of House of Lords". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
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- "Crossbench Hereditary Peers' By-election, May 2008: Result" (PDF). 22 May 2008.
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- "Results: Crossbench Hereditary Peers' by-election" (PDF). 23 June 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
- Beckett, Andy (24 February 2007). "Born to run: There are 47 voters, 43 candidates, and the race to be elected a hereditary Tory peer is on. Is this democracy at last in the House of Lords?". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 April 2008.
- Vaughan, Adam (11 December 2009). "In denial: Lord Monckton's climate change rant at activists". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
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- ^ Hickman, Leo (20 April 2010). "Lord Monckton throws his safari helmet in the ring as Ukip candidate". The Guardian.
- "Lord Monckton is new deputy leader". UK Independence Party. 3 June 2010. Archived from the original on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ "Rio+20 summit: the final day as it happened". The Guardian. 22 June 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
- "NEC unanimous on new UKIP team". UK Independence Party. 8 November 2010. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
- "Invitation to Stirling on Sun 3 April 2011". UKIP. 31 March 2011. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- "Scottish parliamentary results 2011". Fife Council. Archived from the original on 16 December 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
- Muir, Hugh (10 January 2013). "Hugh Muir's Diary". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
- Hutcheon, Paul (1 December 2013). "Ukip 'wiped out' north of the Border after its Scots leader is sacked". The Herald. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
- "Christopher Monckton profile: Viscount Monckton of Brenchley (£8,000–£25,000)". Parliament Speakers.
- Leo Hickman (21 September 2010). "'Chemical nonsense': Leading scientists refute Lord Monckton's attack on climate science". The Guardian.
- Romm, Joe (19 March 2012). "California GOP Invite Discredited Hate-Speech Promoter Lord Monckton To Address Legislature!". ThinkProgress.com.
- McIlroy, Tim (4 November 2012). "DLP invites climate change sceptic Lord Monckton to Ballarat". TheCourier.com.au.
- Harvey, Fiona (7 December 2012). "Ukip's Lord Monckton thrown out of Doha climate talks". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
- James Delingpole (31 January 2011). "Meet The Sceptics: another BBC stitch-up". Archived from the original on 3 February 2011.
- "BBC wins battle over climate show". The Independent. Associated Press. 31 January 2011.
- "Uphold Free Speech about Climate Change or Resign" (PDF). Frontiers of Freedom. 11 December 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 September 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2010.
- Monckton, Christopher (14 July 2010). "Questions from the Select Committee Concerning My Recent Testimony". Science & Public Policy Institute. Archived from the original on 6 April 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
- George Monbiot (9 June 2010). "Monckton's climate denial is a gift to those who take the science seriously". The Guardian.
- Harkinson, Josh (4 December 2009). "The Dirty Dozen of Climate Change Denial". Mother Jones. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
Here's a guide to the dozen loudest components of the climate disinformation machine...Meet the 12 loudest members of the chorus claiming that global warming is a joke and that CO2 emissions are actually good for you.
- "Policy advisor to the Heartland Institute". The Heartland Institute. 28 September 2019.
- Monckton's push for an Australia Fox News, by Graham Readfearn, at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation; published 2 February 2012; retrieved 18 September 2017; ""So to the bogus scientists who have produced the bogus science that invented this bogus scare I say, we are coming after you. We are going to prosecute you, and we are going to lock you up."
- Sunday Telegraph, 5 November 2005
- Christopher Monckton (7 January 2009). "Temperature Change and CO2 Change – A Scientific Briefing". scienceandpublicpolicy.org. Archived from the original on 15 April 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
- Christopher Monckton (12 November 2006). "Wrong problem, wrong solution". The Telegraph.
- Oreskes, Naomi (2007). "The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change: How Do We Know We're Not Wrong?". In DiMento, Joseph F. C.; Doughman, Pamela M. (eds.). Climate Change: What It Means for Us, Our Children, and Our Grandchildren. The MIT Press. pp. 65–66. ISBN 978-0-262-54193-0.
- "CLIMATE CHANGE 2014: Synthesis Report. Summary for Policymakers" (PDF). IPCC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
The evidence for human influence on the climate system has grown since the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). It is extremely likely that more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951 to 2010 was caused by the anthropogenic increase in greenhouse gas concentrations and other anthropogenic forcings together
- Monckton, Christopher. "More in Sorrow than in Anger, Open letter from The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley to Senator John McCain about Climate Science and Policy" (PDF). Science and Public Policy Institute. Archived from the original on 29 December 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
- Mann, Michael E. (March 2012). The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-15254-9.
- Sydney Morning Herald 16 January 2010 "Christopher Walter, the third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, has conceded that his claim to have won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 was a joke."
- "Abraham presentation". University of St Thomas, Minnesota.
- John P. Abraham. "John P. Abraham Published texts and Rebuttals to Monckton".
- Monckton, Christopher. "Climate: The Extremists Join the Debate at Last!". Retrieved 3 October 2011.
- Christopher Monckton. "Response to John Abraham" (PDF). WattsUpWithThat Blog.
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- "Correspondence between Lord Monckton and Prof. John Abraham, and the University of St Thomas". Retrieved 3 October 2011.
- "Climate discussion heats up on the Web", Minneapolis Star Tribune, 22 July 2010 Archived 31 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- potholer54. "Monckton Bunkum Part 1 - Global cooling and melting ice". YouTube. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - potholer54. "Monckton Bunkum Part 2 - Sensitivity". YouTube. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - potholer54. "Monckton Bunkum Part 3 - Correlations and Himalayan glaciers". YouTube. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - potholer54. "Monckton Bunkum Part 4 -- Quotes and misquotes". YouTube. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - potholer54. "Monckton bunkum Part 5 -- What, MORE errors, my lord?". YouTube. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Leppard, David. "Top Tory in a kilt hit by visa 'racket' case", The Times, 3 October 2004
- "Persuaded to act otherwise". The Independent. 3 April 1992.
- MacArthur, Brian. Eddy Shah: Today and the Newspaper Revolution, p. 154. David & Charles Publishers, 1988; ISBN 0-7153-9145-3
- ^ Virginia Berridge. AIDS in the UK: The Making of a Policy, 1981–1994, p. 132. Oxford University Press, 1996; ISBN 0-19-820473-6
- Christopher Monckton (23 September 1997). "It is feeble-minded, exploitative sensationalism perpetrated by the talent-free". The Scotsman.
- Bawer, Bruce (1993). A place at the table: the gay individual in American society. Poseidon Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-671-79533-7.
- Ray Moseley (14 August 1999). "Ertl in Puzzle As Gay Group Protests". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ Charlotte Meredith "Ukip's Former Deputy Leader, Lord Monckton, Has Some Jaw-Dropping Opinions On The Gay Community", The Huffington Post, 27 November 2014
- Nigel Farage "I saw the immigration lies a mile off - and now nobody can deny it", The Independent (London), 27 November 2014
- "Lawful for UK to contribute to European social policy costs – Scots Law report", The Times, 12 May 1994
- Science and Public Policy Institute – Monckton Papers
- Burke's Peerage. 1959.
External links
- Apocalypse Cancelled (PDF)
- Greenhouse warming? What greenhouse warming? by Christopher Monckton
- Gore Gored (PDF) Monckton's response to Gore
- Monckton saves the day!, The Observer, 6 May 2007
Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded byGilbert Monckton | Viscount Monckton of Brenchley 2006–present |
Incumbent |
Party political offices | ||
Preceded byDavid Campbell Bannerman | Deputy Leader of the UK Independence Party 2010 |
Succeeded byPaul Nuttall |
- Alumni of Cardiff University
- Alumni of Churchill College, Cambridge
- British male journalists
- British newspaper editors
- English Roman Catholics
- Knights of Malta
- Conservative Party (UK) officials
- Officers of the Order of St John
- People educated at Harrow School
- UK Independence Party politicians
- Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
- 1952 births
- Living people
- Deputy lieutenants of Greater London
- British Eurosceptics