 On 27 July, he announced protection from fracking for National Parks, seen as a method of reducing anger in Conservative constituencies ahead of the election.Interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 "Today" programme, he rejected the suggestion that fracking was highly unpopular but when challenged was unable to name a single village which supported it.In his role as Minister of State for Energy, he was criticised for hiring a private jet to fly back from a climate conference and accepting money from a key backer of climate change denial organisation Global Warming Policy Foundation.