Shadow cabinet minister Wes Streeting has laughed off a campaign by Just Stop Oil after he said environmental protesters targeted the wrong house in their attempt to lobby him.
A video put online by the campaign group shows one of its members Phoebe Plummer delivering a letter to what she says is the home of the Ilford North MP.
But Streeting, who serves as Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary, said: “I don’t know which poor sod got your letter, but that isn’t my house.
“If you want to write to me, you can do so quite easily via Parliament or my constituency office.
“Constituents can also visit my surgeries.”
I don’t know which poor sod got your letter, but that isn’t my house 🤡
— Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) March 27, 2024
If you want to write to me, you can do so quite easily via Parliament or my constituency office.
Constituents can also visit my surgeries. https://t.co/69sikVc9rQ
Just Stop Oil admitted their mistake in a social media post, saying: “Oops, so apparently that's the wrong house. You win some you lose some.
“Could whoever got our letter post it on to Wes? Cheers x”.
Plummer, 21, from London, first hit the headlines in October 2022 when she and Anna Holland threw a can of tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers (1888), worth £76 million, at the National Gallery in London.
Only last month, Just Stop Oil declined to deny claims its guidelines encourage supporters to look for clues in photos to find MPs’ addresses in order to protest outside their homes.
According to the Mail on Sunday, manuals distributed by the activist group said the houses of “climate criminal” MPs were appropriate locations for protest, including the use of stink bombs and paint.
A spokesperson for Just Stop Oil (JSO) said activists were “trained in nonviolence” and chose their actions “very carefully depending on the context”.
It came as concerns have been raised by MPs around their safety, with protesters demonstrating outside their homes or filming and following them along streets.
The JSO spokesperson said: “It is important to acknowledge that we all deserve safety in our homes.
“However, these are people who are making decisions that affect all of us, and in enabling the continued drilling of new oil and gas, both major parties are endangering all of our homes and families.”
The spokesperson said the group did not encourage supporters to break windows or douse politicians’ homes in paint – as claimed in the Mail on Sunday story – but did not deny the manuals existed or that supporters might use online photographs to find out MPs’ addresses.
“We have limited options as citizens,” they added.
In November, 16 arrests were made after supporters of the environmental group held a demonstration outside Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s west London home, beating pots and pans.
The following month, supporters sang climate-themed Christmas carols outside Labour leader Keir Starmer’s house until they were dispersed by police – no arrests were made.
