A climate change activist threw a cup of green “slime” over British Business Secretary Lord Mandelson today as he arrived at the launch of the British government’s low carbon economy summit in London.
Leila Deen from campaign group Plane Stupid said she was protesting at reports that the current business secretary met lobbyists from Heathrow owner BAA before the government gave the controversial go-ahead for a third runway at the London airport.
The incident happened a few seconds after the former Northern Ireland secretary got out of his ministerial car to attend the summit.
Ms Deen (29), threw a cup full of what she described as “green slime” over the minister, who tried to duck when he realised what was happening.
Ms Deen, who calmly walked away after the incident, said: “The only thing green about Peter Mandelson is the slime coursing through his veins.”
Mr Mandelson was attending a conference aimed at promoting investment in green industry with the hope of creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. He spoke to reporters outside after he had cleaned himself up. He dismissed the incident, which raises questions about his personal security, as an “adolescent protest”.
“She was so busy throwing what seemed like green soup or something in my face that she failed to tell me what the protest was about but, as you can see, thankfully it wasn’t paint and I’ve come through it intact," he told Sky News.
"I'm alive and well and talking about the low carbon economy that we are going to become and the huge business and job creation opportunities that will involve, so we need to get back on to the positive stuff I think."
The government approved plans in January for the expansion of Heathrow airport by adding a third runway and another terminal, angering environmentalists.
Today's incident was Plane Stupid's second protest this week. On Tuesday, seven of their activists were arrested after cutting through a perimeter fence at Aberdeen airport and disrupting flights.
Last year they staged several high-profile demonstrations, including scaling the roof of the House of Commons and draping banners down the side of the building.
Agencies