Steve Baker

[[File:Official portrait of Mr Steve Baker crop 2.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Baker in 2017]]
{{UKpolitics}}
'''Steven John Baker''' {{lived|1971}} is a British former [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] MP, and a prominent [[nationalism|nationalist]], [[Global warming#Denial tactics|climate change skeptic]], and critic of [[COVID-19]] lockdowns. 

As a key figure in the European Research Group of Conservative MPs, he advocated for the hardest possible [[Brexit]]. He was also a leader of the Covid Recovery Group which called for a swift end to COVID restrictions. As recently as 2022 he was involved with the Net Zero Scrutiny Group,<ref>[https://www.desmog.com/2022/03/18/mapped-how-the-net-zero-backlash-is-tied-to-climate-denial-and-brexit/ How the Net Zero Backlash is Tied to Climate Denial] DeSmog March 18, 2022</ref> which argues for minimal reductions in greenhouse gases.

His webpage bears the slogan "enjoy [[freedom]] responsibly".<ref>[https://www.stevebaker.info/ Homepage], SteveBaker.info, accessed 7 July 2022</ref> There is little sign of him enjoying anything, or being responsible, and he's constantly complaining about not being free.

Baker lost his seat to [[Labour Party|Labour]] in the [[2024 United Kingdom general election|2024 general election]].

==Career==
Born in Cornwall in 1971, he was MP for Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, [[England]]. Surprisingly, he was one of the few Conservative MPs with a [[science]]-related background, although it should be noted he was an engineer, a [[Engineers and woo|profession often associated with strange ideas]]. He was an Engineer Officer with the Royal Air Force before switching to commercial IT, including for financial services firm {{wpl|Lehman Brothers||,}} until it filed for bankruptcy in 2008 (no connection). He became an MP in 2010.<ref>[https://www.stevebaker.info/about/detailed-biography/ Detailed biography], SteveBaker.info, accessed 7 July 2022</ref>

==European Union==
{{main|European Union}}

According to right-wing [[think tank]] the [[Institute of Economic Affairs]], he has described himself as the "hard man of Brexit".<ref>[https://thinktent.co.uk/2021/09/27/in-conversation-with-steve-baker-mp/ In Conversation with… Steve Baker MP], ThinkTent, 27 September 2021</ref>

He advocated for the UK to leave the European Union (EU), forming pro-referendum group Conservatives for Britain in 2015. This was followed by a leading role in the European Research Group (ERG) after the 2016 Brexit referendum decided Britain should leave the EU. In 2017 Baker and the ERG were criticised for misdirecting government money meant for MPs' office expenses to fund the ERG.<ref>[https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/revealed-tory-mps-using-taxpayers-cash-to-fund-sec/ Revealed: The Tory MPs using taxpayers’ cash to fund a secretive hard-Brexit group], OpenDemocracy, 7 September 2017</ref>

Under [[Theresa May]] he was a minister in the Department for Exiting the European Union, but he resigned in July 2018 after claiming May's negotiated agreement would leave the UK too close to the EU, and he returned to the backbenches to advocate for less contact with Europe.<ref>[https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/steve-baker-tells-theresa-may-he-cannot-sincerely-back-chequers-brexit-deal-as-he-quits-government Steve Baker tells Theresa May he cannot 'sincerely' back Chequers Brexit deal as he quits government], Politics Home, 9 July 2018</ref>

==Environmentalism==
He has a long history of [[Anti-environmentalism|opposition to environmentalism]] and action to tackle [[global warming]]. He attacks most green measures as "anti-human life on [[Earth]] in the name of environmentalism", and has suggested there is no short-term danger from an ever-heating earth producing storms, fires, rising sea levels, and changing climate patterns.<ref name=guardian20220707>[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/07/anti-green-mp-steve-baker-considering-running-for-pm-if-boris-johnson-goes Anti-green MP Steve Baker considering running for PM if Boris Johnson goes], The Guardian, 7 July 2022</ref> He has claimed that the worst case predictions about climate change are "infinitesimally likely" in which case "you just don't do anything about it because it won’t happen".<ref name=guardian20220707/> Again this goes against what scientists say, with IPCC reports splattered with phrases like "virtually certain" and statements like "due to relative sea level rise, extreme sea level events that occurred once per century in the recent past are projected to occur at least annually at more than half of all tide gauge locations by 2100 (''high confidence'')".<ref>[https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-i/ Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis], IPCC, 2021</ref>

He is a big advocate for [[fracking]], and believes Britain's energy policy should be based around lovely warm gas oozing from the ground.<ref name=guardian20220707/>

He also opposes measures to encourage farmers to protect the environment, and opposes animal conservation.<ref name=guardian20220707/>

In April 2022, he was criticized for sharing on [[Twitter]] a paper by the Global Warming Policy Foundation which denied climate change. The paper claimed:

{{quotebox|It’s extraordinary that anyone should think there is a climate crisis. Year after year our annual assessment of climate trends document just how little has been changing in the last 30 years. The habitual climate alarmism is mainly driven by scientists’ computer modelling rather than observational evidence.<ref name=climate-denial />}}

This goes against the vast majority of scientific opinion from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other distinguished organisations.<ref name=climate-denial>[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/15/tory-mp-steve-baker-shares-paper-denying-climate-crisis Tory MP Steve Baker shares paper denying climate crisis], The Guardian, 15 April 2022</ref>

Along with another Tory MP, Craig Mackinlay, he formed the Net Zero Scrutiny Group, designed to argue that [[net zero]] is a dangerous concept and we should keep emitting greenhouse gases. They claimed not to be climate change skeptics, but said measures such as imposing a levy on fuel to fund home insulation would cripple the economy, even though in the long term insulation would save many families lots of money, as well as reducing emissions.<ref name=salter>[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/01/tory-faction-net-zero-brexit-green-policies A new Tory faction is ‘scrutinising’ net zero – with tactics learned from Brexit], Eleanor Salter, The Guardian, 1 Feb 2022</ref> He wrote in ''[[The Sun]]'' newspaper that "the cost of Net Zero could deliver a political crisis greater than the Poll Tax".<ref>[https://www.desmog.com/steve-baker/ Steve Baker], Desmog, accessed 7 July 2022</ref> He didn't say whether this is "infinitesimally likely".

He was criticised for his stance on the environment by other Tory MPs, including Chris Skidmore who set up a Net Zero Support Group, although it doesn't seem to have got as much press attention.<ref name=salter/>

==COVID==
He was a regular voice calling for COVID restrictions to end. In June 2021 he claimed further lockdown measures would eliminate all the things that "make life worth living" (pubs, discotheques, and pro wrestling, presumably).<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/08/tory-backbencher-calls-for-end-to-covid-rules-in-england-as-cases-rise Do not delay England’s Covid unlocking, says leading Tory lockdown sceptic], The Guardian, 8 June 2021</ref> According to the ''Guardian'', he was not a complete skeptic of the existence of COVID, but took a [[libertarian]] position that COVID restrictions were a grave infringement on individual freedoms.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/12/who-are-the-rebel-tory-mp-factions-that-plan-to-oppose-plan-b-covid-restrictions Who are the rebel Tory MPs likely to oppose plan B Covid restrictions?], The Guardian, 12 Dec 2021</ref> Yet despite his talk of liberty with respect to COVID, he otherwise supported Conservative clampdowns on human rights, the freedom to protest, etc.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/dec/05/tory-right-labour-boris-johnson-face-masks-net-zero-keir-starmer The new Tory right is fanatical and dangerous – and should be Labour’s prime target], John Harris, The Guardian, 5 Dec 2021</ref>

He was active in the Covid Recovery Group, an organisation of 50 to 70 MPs which opposed further restrictions after autumn 2020.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/dec/01/how-the-tory-lockdown-rebels-are-professionalising How the Tory lockdown rebels are organising to thwart restrictions], The Guardian, 1 Dec 2020</ref>

==Other policies==
As an MP, They Work For You noted his support for:
* university tuition fees
* stricter rules on asylum and [[immigration]] ("consistently" and "almost always")
* culling badgers
* reducing welfare benefits

And opposition to
* state control of bus and rail networks
* [[high speed rail]]
* measures to tackle climate change ("generally")
* regulation of gambling ("generally")
* the EU
* [[smoking]] bans
* [[euthanasia]]

His record on [[LGBT rights]] is mixed, with some votes for and some against. But he did support higher taxes on air travel.<ref>[https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/24786/steven_baker/wycombe/votes Votes: Steve Baker], They Work For You, accessed 7 July 2022</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|2|90%}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Steve}}
[[Category:British people]]
[[Category:Global warming denialists]]
[[Category:Libertarians]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Former Members of Parliament (UK)]]

Categories: British people, Global warming denialists, Libertarians, Living people, Former Members of Parliament (UK)