I wrote last year about the ‘Integrity gap’ in UK politics as part of the Robin Cook memorial lecture. “The public see a political class whose proximity to wealth has corroded its independence and whose language of public service has become a hollowed-out ritual.”

Nothing represents “business as usual” and “neoliberalism” quite like the oil industry: an extractive model that has generated trillions in profits while helping push the planet towards an increasingly uninhabitable future. If the PM is serious about his stated ambitions, then allowing further extraction while the world quite literally burns would send the opposite message to the British public. It would suggest that, when confronted with the power and interests of the fossil fuel industry, those ambitions are negotiable. If we believe oil still has a strategic role during the transition, then nationalise it and treat remaining reserves as a strategic national asset. Better still, leave as much of it in the ground as possible. But allowing new oil to be extracted and sold on international markets for billions in private profit, while doing little to lower UK household bills, is incompatible with any government claiming to be serious about the climate crisis, particularly if it wants to retain credibility on the international stage.