Extinction Rebellion would get a hell of a lot further if they infiltrated the Tory Party

The green argument needs political, not direct action, and through the mainstream system – laws, codes, taxes, incentives. What better way to achieve it than to change the winning party from the inside

The trouble with Extinction Rebellion is that they are confusing protest and persuasion. The protest bit is going well. Sort of. Accidentally dumping a tsunami of beetroot juice on the street instead of on the Treasury was like a bungled team challenge off The Apprentice than some chilling scene from a Saw movie. But mucking up central London and driving it into gridlock for a couple of weeks will get plenty of publicity, and raise the profile. Except when someone pegs it because the emergency ambulance taking them to St Thomas hospital or Guys got stuck behind a giant pink inflatable whale or some other political dirigible. Cause of Death: Massive coronary event during wait for floating Trump baby blimp to move. Extinction Rebellion indeed. The grieving relatives will never vote Green again.

Which brings me winning the argument: persuasion. Everyone agrees, well almost, about climate change. We know we’re killing the planet, and quite quickly. There is no need to close down Heathrow with a rogue drone to highlight the facts about aviation because we know them already. What’s more, Boris Johnson is not going to lie down in front of the bulldozers just because of some albeit extensive publicity stunts. The protests only ever affect – and alienate – a tiny minority of the voters. The rest of the populace just look on and wonder why the protesters aren’t at work.

The ER argument is lost because it is not made. It just looks like a lot of angry people shouting and throwing stuff. Their surfeit of passion doesn’t compensate for their weirdness, and failure to persuade decent people who are sympathetic but not earth murderers.

You see, we already know the planet is dying and we know you’re distraught. Same even goes for Greta Thunberg – we do “get it” actually. But ER is all about what we should not be doing. Not driving. Not flying. Not eating meat. Not buying clothes. Not consuming tech and gadgets. It is all unrelentingly depressingly unrealistically negative.

ER reminds me very much of the anti-globalisation and anti-capitalism riots about a decade ago. Remember? Takes an effort actually. After 2007 it was plain that capitalism had caused the financial crash and inequality was worse and ordinary folk were paying for financial crimes they didn’t commit. But it was all “anti” – with no proposal for a practical alternative we could vote for. The only people who capitalised on anti-capitalism and anti-globalisation were the likes of Donald Trump, Farage, Orban, Bolsonaro, Erdogan and all the other nationalist populist protectionists. The left didn’t get as much out of it as the near fascists. Thus, last time I looked we had a Tory PM making a speech in praise of capitalism to his party conference, it is business as usual in the City, Jeremy Corbyn is on about 22 per cent in the polls. The environment destroyers are in power.

The disconnect for rational people is in knowing what to do, who to vote for. This argument is not won, the action unclear, the persuasion incomplete. When the climate change sceptics dismiss the protests because China does more damage in a week than we do in a year (rhetorical but near enough) then Extinction Rebellion has no answer. Because: It’s true. When it is gently pointed out that no one in the UK is burning down rainforests but the Brazilians and the Indonesians are, it is also true. When Caroline Lucas pleads with us not to take so many flights, it’s not a good enough reason when you have to take the family on holiday. The green argument is not yet effective and compelling enough.

It needs political action, and through the mainstream political system – laws, codes, taxes, incentives. Not direct action. Labour won’t win an election and it is a waste of time relying on them for change. ER should follow the lesson of the Brexiteers and infiltrate the Tories. You can join for a few quid and do everything by post. You can elect another leader, and if you got more involved you could campaign for a new sustainable green reformed capitalism. You’d have to help to produce vote-winning policies that mesh with people’s lives and needs, even if it means compromise and taking a risk with the planet.

It would, though, mean you would take power, and do what you can here and abroad to reduce the chance of mankind’s extinction. You can reclaim your future and save the planet. You can pass new laws on emissions and carbon targets, put taxes in gyms and air travel. Subsidise recycling. Reforest the land. Lobby the UN, US, China, Indonesia, Brazil. The lot. It is a harder slog than sitting in the middle of Lambeth Bridge, and doesn’t get the adrenaline going like swearing at a copper, but it is more use. It’s called democracy, and it something we all seem to be forgetting about or disparaging, especially on the hard left and hard right.