Iain, you could emphasize almost any sentence in that Ainsworth chappie’s remarks. For example, apropos America, the British Conservative Party’s position is this:

The leading polluter of the world hasn’t been playing a full part.

Look, the admirable Aussie government has drunk a bit more of the Eco-Kool-Aid than I care for, but they at least observe the niceties. What’s pathetic about Mr Ainsworth is that he’s framing the issue entirely in enviro-leftie terms. America is “the leading polluter of the world” only because it’s the engine of the global economy, and what’s more a critical market for a small island trading nation in the North Atlantic. One accepts that the British Conservative Party has a stickier wicket to play than the GOP, and that there are no equivalents to the abortion lobby, the Second Amendment guys, the religious right, etc. One can even rationalize their contemptible opportunism on the war. But, if they’re just parroting leftie talking points on the economy, then even the most residual fiscal conservatism seems to have vanished. They’re conservative only in the same sense Jacques Chirac and Dominique de Villepin are.