Boris Johnson has taken to the pages of The Telegraph to argue the case for ending dependency on Russian gas. Or at least that’s the case he’d like you to think he’s making. As it happens, only four percent of UK gas consumption is of Russian origin. Johnson is just using this opportunity to double down on Net Zero.

Invoking the Vote Leave slogan he asserts “We need to take back control. Later this month, I will set out a British Energy Security Strategy – how the UK will become more self-sufficient and no longer at the mercy of bullies like Putin. He continues:

At the heart of the strategy is green energy of all kinds. Green electricity isn’t just better for the environment, it’s better for your bank balance. A kilowatt from a North Sea wind turbine costs less than one produced by a power station running on gas shipped to the UK from overseas. And if a quarter of our power wasn’t already coming from renewables, your bills today would be even higher than they already are.

Renewables are the quickest and cheapest route to greater energy independence. They are invulnerable to Putin’s manipulations. He may have his hand on the taps for oil and gas. But there is nothing he can do to stop the North Sea wind.

That’s why our ambition to go for net zero is not the problem. Renewable power – which is getting more efficient the whole time – is a crucial part of the solution. We are going to double down on new wind power and greatly accelerate the rollout of new offshore farms.

We will do more to exploit the potential of solar power. Even in this country, solar power is remarkably cheap and effective. We will modernise our grid and our distribution networks.

This is typical Johnsonian fact free bloviation. It cannot be said that wind is cheaper. About a third of the levelised cost of a gas power station is carbon taxes. Subtract that, and add the billions in ROC subsidies to the cost of wind and the picture is very different. If his assertion is true, that’s something that happened in the last month as gas prices have skyrocketed. Moreover, the focus on wind energy, creating massive grid instability, we have no other readily available backup option than gas. Wind energy (and the failure to renew gas storage facilities) has exposed us to the volatility of gas prices.

As yet there is no mature energy storage technology that could come anywhere close to replacing gas backup. Theoretically the system could work on renewables, but only if if there were a complete switch to EVs to provide an alternative to spinning reserve, thereby reducing the need to call on large scale batteries. But it’s all highly theoretical, coupled with smart metering and other demand side management policies. Or as rationing as it’s better known. A switch to EVs and heat pumps piles on yet more electricity demand when renewables are not keeping pace with conventional power station retirement. Thus, Johnson has set about making the energy crunch worse.

In all likelihood this increases our exposure to high gas prices. The system envisaged can’t be delivered in this decade and probably not the next when we need action now. Nuclear power is our best bet but even nuclear takes a minimum of a decade to come on stream. We need action now – and that would suggest gas being that a CCGT station can go from brownfield to operational in about four years. (Probably quicker if we clone existing designs such as Marchwood). It’s either that or extend the life of remaining coal stations. We’ll probably need to do both.

Since this Net Zero government is dragging its heels on fracking, we are set to maintain our dependency on foreign imports and because we’re turning away from Putin (for reasons of democracy and human rights), we instead turn to… um… Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Go figure.

As to talk of expanding solar, Solar energy in the UK has a pitiful output (a mere ten percent of installed capacity) just at a time when we’re looking at a global grain shortage. Instead of using land for wheat, we’re going to plaster them with useless and ugly black rectangles.

Johnson has also indicated his plan will include further support to replace gas boilers with heat pumps, a package for home insulation and further emergency support for bill payers. In other words, the exact same policy agenda as before the Ukraine crisis kicked off. The war in Ukraine hasn’t influenced policy even remotely. Johnson is taking his brief directly from the green blob. There is not an ounce of sincerity to this claim we are acting to break our dependency.

Now that Johnson’s reputational troubles and questions over his competence are buried by the war in Ukraine, he believes he is politically safe enough to dump the Tory right, just as Cameron did. That’s what this policy statement amounts to. He’s giving his own voters the two fingered salute. Leave voters have served their purpose (putting Johnson into office) and now he’s restoring the establishment policy agenda. He seems to have forgotten that such treachery is exactly what cost Cameron an outright majority in 2010.

If it wasn’t already abundantly obvious, Johnson is a puppet PM. He’s not steering the ship of state. He may as well be the janitor in Number Ten for all the influence he has on energy policy – or is willing to exert. There has been a complete failure among our political class to recognise that we are amidst an energy emergency – and Johnson is prepared to let the British people go cold and hungry in order to parade his eco credentials on the world stage, as though anybody actually cares.

Britain is about to commit economic suicide and Johnson is pulling the trigger.