Ben Goldsmith

During the last Conservative government, it was common to hear the refrain that the prime minister of the day was waging a 'war on nature'. As someone who played a role in advising a string of environment ministers, I always thought that to be somewhat hyperbolic. I always admire the passion of campaigners, and I share with them a longing for our government to go further and do more for nature; but, at least until the last couple of years of Conservative government, I didn’t think many of the criticisms were fair. I’m starting to worry now, though, that we’re living in an altogether different world. The new Labour government was elected on a promise to protect and restore nature. And yet here we are a year later wistfully contemplating those halcyon days when No.

The surprise appearance and subsequent safe capture this week of a seemingly tame family of Eurasian lynx in the Scottish Highlands, more than a millennium after the species was extirpated from Britain, has been by far the most bizarre British news story of the year so far. For a brief moment, one of Britain’s most iconic extinct species is now dominating the national discourse – which can only be a good thing. The big question arising from this story, though, is not how the unfortunate creatures got there; but why the lynx, a secretive, beautiful British native species, was not officially reintroduced to Britain long ago. There are no good reasons for not doing so.

For people who love the natural world, each new season brings new excitements. We are a nation of nature lovers. We feed the birds in our gardens and we revere David Attenborough. Which makes it surprising that – until now – governments have not cottoned on to how much of a vote-winner concerted action to restore and protect nature can be. Year in year out the abundance of life around us diminishes. Most adults can remember car windscreens splattered with dead insects after even the shortest of summer journeys. No longer. Insect populations are crashing almost everywhere, and with them everything else.

Those on the left tend to think that British Conservatism is a derivative of US Republicanism. But environmental policy shows that it’s a far more pragmatic mix. The latest Conservative manifesto encompasses George W Bush’s marine conservation ambition and Obama’s selective interventions to raise the pace of clean technology innovation.  This partly reflects the fact that the environment is still a largely non-partisan issue in British politics, but also that Cameron has protected discreet space for Conservative modernisers to bring forward new green ideas. As one of them I’m pleased with the progress we’ve been able to make.