Personal and political attacks from the RSPB are nothing new

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The RSPB have attracted attention after posting a series of statements on the social media platform “X” (formerly Twitter) accusing Government Ministers – including the Prime Minister – of being liars. 

The charity criticised Prime Minister Mr Sunak, Housing Secretary Michael Gove and Environment Secretary Therese Coffey directly, writing "Liars! You said you wouldn't weaken environmental protections. And yet that's just what you are doing. You lie, and you lie, and you lie again.” After initially standing by the comments, the charity then apologised for the outburst, blaming anger and frustration for the posts.  

One of their trustees, Dr Ben Caldecott, criticised the RSPB, stating that the postings were "simply not an appropriate contribution to our public discourse from such an important and highly respected organisation. We can strongly disagree and make our case without calling people 'LIARS!'". An MP, Mark Jenkinson, has called for the regulator the Charity Commission to strip the organisation of its charity status. The Charity Commission have said they will assess the matter. 

This morning on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the RSPB Chief Executive Beccy Speight denied that the charity were involved in political campaigning, but blamed anger and frustration for the outburst.  

Launching an outright attack on the Prime Minister and senior Ministers publicly is a strong statement even for the RSPB. However, many of those who follow their work would not be surprised at their ‘attack dog’ approach. The RSPB have continuously attacked both gamekeepers and the shooting community more widely for years:

♦Take for instance the RSPB Birdcrime Report, which makes sweeping statements against gamekeepers and the shooting community which do not equate with the evidence provided by the RSPB.  

♦What about their campaigns urging the public to ‘report the burn’ whenever they spot any burns happening in the uplands – despite the fact that controlled burning is both legal and a hugely important tool in the fight against wildfires in many parts of the UK, not just in the uplands? 

♦Just two weeks ago the RSPB president, the GP Dr Amir Khan dismiss peer-reviewed research carried out by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust and published in the European Journal of Wildlife Research as ‘crap’ and stated that grouse shooting ‘does nothing for conservation’ in response to research which found that curlew are thriving on grouse moors. 

♦Since the Avian Flu epidemic emerged in the UK the RSPB have a number of times called for a moratorium on gamebird releasing; this despite the fact that DEFRA have told the RSPB that there is no evidence to substantiate their demands. 

♦And let us not forget the RSPB’s campaign against a plan to reintroduce Hen Harriers to the south of England. While the government and many organisations, including the NGO, were working to try and increase the Hen Harrier population, the RSPB actively worked against it, withdrawing from the project themselves and encouraging their partners in Europe to also step away.

Why would a charity which wants to conserve bird species and increase their populations not support a project working to increase the population of one of our rarest birds of prey? You tell us…

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Notes to Editors:

The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation: The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation (NGO) represents the gamekeepers of England and Wales. The NGO defends and promotes gamekeeping and gamekeepers and works to ensure high standards throughout the profession. The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation was founded in 1997 by a group of gamekeepers who felt that keepering was threatened by public misunderstanding and poor representation. Today, there are 13,000 members of the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation.  www.nationalgamekeepers.org.uk