UK

Just Stop Oil to continue protests outside MPs’ homes despite Sunak’s call to end ‘mob rule’


Jonathan Leake
Sun, 3 March 2024

Just Stop Oil protesters outside Rishi Sunak's London home last year - PA

A leading Just Stop Oil activist has confirmed that the group will continue targeting businesses and MPs’ homes despite Rishi Sunak warning against the rise of “mob rule” in Britain.

Dr Grahame Buss, a retired scientist who previously spent 40 years working for oil giant Shell, has said Just Stop Oil’s demonstrations will not stop even as the Prime Minister tries to halt “intimidatory” protests.

The spotlight has been thrown on protecting MPs following an increase in threats in recent months, albeit these have been linked to the conflict in Gaza rather than environmental issues.


Dr Buss said: “We’re going to be standing outside the homes and offices of MPs but in an entirely non-violent way.”

His comments come after Conservative backbencher Tobias Ellwood’s home was targeted by pro-Palestine protesters last month, while Tory MP Mike Freer has said he will step down over safety fears after arsonists attacked his office.

Dr Buss said Just Stop Oil needs to distinguish itself from “violent mobs”, as he claimed that his group’s actions were legitimate, justified and safe.

He said: “I think that if you look at the attacks on MPs, they’ve not been from activists. They’ve been from lone wolves, people with mental health problems and other issues.

“The risks to other people associated with [environmental] activism are extraordinarily low. This whole [mob rule] thing has been cooked up by the Government.”

Mr Sunak, whose home in Yorkshire was targeted by Just Stop Oil activists last year, spoke out on Friday against a “shocking increase in extremist disruption and criminality”.

He said that people had a right to protest but should do so “decently, peacefully and with empathy for your fellow citizens”.

Just Stop Oil has refused to say which politicians may be targeted.

Businesses will also remain a key target, as Just Stop Oil activists last Friday occupied the Colmore Building in Birmingham - which is home to leading insurance companies that work with fossil fuel firms.

Despite spending 40 years at Shell, Dr Buss said that most of the research he worked on was “largely greenwash”.

He said: “I’ve looked back on my career, and I think it was wasted. It was very interesting. I had a lot of fun. A lot of the time I had a lot of money. But I don’t think I achieved anything of any value.”

Dr Buss said his time at Shell had shown him that the millions of pounds being invested in technological solutions to climate change, such as sustainable aviation fuel, were being misspent.

He opted to join Just Stop Oil shortly after his retirement, where he is now a spokesman and an organiser.

“It’s now my life,” he said.

A Home Office spokesman said: “While the right to protest is a pillar of our democracy, so is the right for democratically elected officials to go about their daily lives and we utterly condemn the targeting of MPs’ family homes.

“We will do whatever is necessary to defend our democracy which is why we have given the police a comprehensive range of powers to tackle protests that cause harassment, alarm, distress or intimidation, including those outside MPs’ homes, offices and Parliament.”