QUENTIN LETTS: Adopting a policy the public might actually like caused a rupture in Blob’s molten core

You might have expected so insurrectionary a speech to have been made at a blue-collar venue far from Whitehall’s wonkish towers.

But things were moving fast and it was already mid-morning when we heard that Rishi Sunak would be making his announcement at teatime in that airless capsule of a media centre at 9 Downing Street. Right in the citadel. An explosion in the molten core of the Blob. Down the chimney plopped the bomblet.

The room was divided: a few supportive ministers and MPs on one side, sceptical reporters on the other.

‘Let me get straight to it,’ began the Prime Minister.

He was using his sad, serious voice, the one a dad assumes after Tiddles the family gerbil has fallen into the Zanussi and perished half way through the mixed- cottons wash.

He was using his sad, serious voice, the one a dad assumes after Tiddles the family gerbil has fallen into the Zanussi and perished half way through the mixed-cottons wash (Pictured: Rishi Sunak announcing changes to the government’s net zero policies on Wednesday)

He said there was no point setting some random date for the abolition of new petrol cars unless the public supported it. To normal mortals, common sense (pictured: the BMW Mini plant in Oxford, where the new electric Mini will be built)

Mr Sunak wanted ‘consent not imposition, pragmatism not ideology’. Net Zero fundamentalists tend to want precisely the opposite. They think populations should be bossed about like woollyback ruminants (pictured: various colours of wheelie bins)

READ MORE: Rishi Sunak takes axe to Tory net zero plans warning current 2030 target would cost families £15,000: PM waters down ban on gas boilers and petrol and diesel cars, scraps plans for seven bins per home and says there will be no extra tax on flights or meat

Tiddles’s surprised little face gazed through the glass as it whizzed round at top spin cycle. Revolutionary in its most real sense.

So was this. Mr Sunak was doing something the elite cadre of green lobbyists, eco-advisers, global corporates and centrally-programmed mandarins never contemplated: he was putting British voters’ wallets above Net Zero purity.

He said there was no point setting some random date for the abolition of new petrol cars unless the public supported it. To normal mortals, common sense. To blobistas, heresy. It was as if he had just denounced the Athanasian creed.

‘This is not about politics,’ he said. Ha! That will have pushed a few more of his critics over the Reichenbach Falls.

This rethink on green rules was in fact rivetingly political – political in a way that our technocratic class has forgotten to be.

Mr Sunak wanted ‘consent not imposition, pragmatism not ideology’. Net Zero fundamentalists tend to want precisely the opposite. They think populations should be bossed about like woollyback ruminants.

Even as Rishi made the short stroll from No 10 to the media room, the political world was going nuts. Boris Johnson accused him of ‘losing ambition’. That has never been a problem for Boris himself. The UN’s climate-change supremo had a pop. Civil servants briefed off the record, aggressively.

One dreads to think of the tears shed by blub-prone Alok Sharma MP. Suffice it to say that the Thames barrier was put on alert and sandbags were sent to Mr Sharma’s constituency.

Former Tory environment minister Zac Goldsmith, not short of a few bob, was appalled by this move to save families bills of up to £20,000.

Brother Goldsmith, who despite his devotion to greenery takes a disposable attitude to wives, demanded an immediate general election.

Former Tory environment minister Zac Goldsmith, not short of a few bob, was appalled by this move to save families bills of up to £20,000. Brother Goldsmith, who despite his devotion to greenery takes a disposable attitude to wives, demanded an immediate general election (pictured: Zac Goldsmith)

Sir Lindsay Hoyle had exploded in rage that this change of policy had not been made in the Commons on Tuesday. Particulates from Sir Lindsay’s eruption may stay in the upper atmosphere for decades (pictured: Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle)

Then came a ‘ka-boom’ and a mushroom of black smoke rose over Speaker’s House.

Its occupant, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, had exploded in rage that this change of policy had not been made in the Commons on Tuesday. Particulates from Sir Lindsay’s eruption may stay in the upper atmosphere for decades. It will do the ozone layer nae good.

Back in the media capsule, Mr Sunak was calmly explaining his position, placing himself in the centre between the climate-change deniers and the eco-zealots.

Britain was way ahead of others in de-carbonising.

With our new rules we would merely be aligning with Germany, France and nut-loafed California. New Zealand, which until recently was governed by the Left’s sainted Jacinda Ardern, is way behind.

And Mr Sunak relished the coming fight.

Staying on the old course would have left families in Darlington (swing seat, m’lud) at least £10k worse off. He looked forward to Sir Keir Starmer, the Lib Dems’ Sir Ed Whatnot and assorted other green-freaks explaining why such bills were a good thing. Long Term Decisions For A Brighter Future’ said a panel on the PM’s lectern. This is the slogan for the coming Tory party conference. Bit naughty to use it at a government event.

But as reporters noted, Mr Sunak needs to improve his party’s popularity. Nothing dishonourable in that.

Adopting policies the public might actually like: it’s what prime ministers are meant to do.

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