DisMember writes
Told there was no bottomless bucket of cash for green energy, Miliband has simply acquired the largest bucket of money on the planet.
The historical echo
Chris Huhne
27 July 2010 · House of Commons
What they said
Huhne manages to pair his green credentials with a lecture on the empty Treasury cupboard, essentially telling Labour that money doesn't grow on wind turbines.
"Although I have enormous respect for the green credentials of the right hon. Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband), I do not think that he does the cause of progressive politics or green politics any good by pretending that there is a bottomless bucket of money that we can dip our hands into and throw at problems."
DisMember on 27 July 2026 — why this matters today
In 2010, Chris Huhne stood at the Dispatch Box, adopting the patronising air of a vicar explaining the parish accounts to a toddler. His target was Ed Miliband. Huhne, then Energy Secretary, claimed "enormous respect" for Miliband's environmental credentials, but gently informed him that progressive politics could not be funded by "pretending that there is a bottomless bucket of money that we can dip our hands into."
Sixteen years later, Huhne is a distant trivia question in the pub quiz of British politics. Miliband, conversely, is Foreign Secretary. More pressingly, he has just announced his intention to take up Britain’s seat at the World Bank to place the climate crisis at the heart of global development.
Told there was no bottomless bucket of cash for green energy, Miliband has simply acquired the largest bucket of money on the planet. One can only admire the sheer, grinding stamina of his grudge. While the Liberal Democrats now spend their days demanding mandatory air conditioning for semi-detached homes, Miliband is preparing to dip his hands into the global reserves.
The contemporary echo
Sixteen years after being told green policies couldn't be funded by a bottomless bucket of money, Ed Miliband has commandeered the World Bank.
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