Just Stop Oil: Activists spray orange paint over fossil fuel lobbyists HQ in Westminster

Protestors from Just Stop Oil have sprayed 55 Tufton Street, the home of several Conservative think tanks and lobbyists this morning October 25.

Environmental activists from Just Stop Oil have sprayed orange paint on the headquarters of Conservative lobbyists near Westminster.

The climate protestors have targeted 55 Tufton Street, the home of several Conservative think tanks and lobbyists including the Global Warming Policy Foundation.

A video posted by the group on Twitter shows one protestor spraying the Georgian-era townhouse with the paint at around 11am on Tuesday (October 25) before making a brief statement.

The Metropolitan Police (Met) say the protest has blocked the junction with nearby Horseferry Road, as activists stopped traffic by sitting in the road and unfurling banners.

Around ten protesters were pictured sitting on the tarmac, arms locked, with Just Stop Oil banners and police officers trying to deter the protest.

The group, which have been demonstrating all over London this month, is demanding that the government halts all new oil and gas licences and consents.

Since the start of the protests began in October activists have glued themselves to tarmac, scaled the QEII bridge between Essex and Kent and sprayed buildings and artworks orange leading to more than 570 arrests.

A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said: “Politics is broken. It was broken here in Tufton Street by shady lobbyists who now stalk the corridors of power.

“Liz Truss’s toxic pro-oil policies helped end her career – and unless we ditch them, they’ll finish us off too.

“Their bankrupt ideas have brought the economy to its knees but it’s much worse than that.

“Decades of climate denial and delay, which they promoted, mean that we now face an existential crisis.

“We face the prospect of climate collapse. This will bring drought, heatwaves and crop failures, civil unrest and political insecurity. No-one is safe.”

Many Downing Street advisors under former-PM Liz Truss were once employed by groups based here which include the TaxPayers’ Alliance, the Global Warming Policy Foundation, the Adam Smith Institute and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).

The address was targeted by anti-Brexit political campaign group Led by Donkeys with a mock blue plaque following Truss’s mini-budget last month.

The Met tweeted: “Shortly after 11:15hrs on Tuesday, 25 October, a group of approximately 10 protesters from Just Stop Oil blocked Horseferry Road, at the junction with Tufton Street.

“Officers are on scene and are working to re-open the road. We will post an update here when we have one.”