The older brother of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has labelled 16-year-old environmental activist Greta Thunberg an “ignorant brainwashed child”.
Piers Corbyn, 72 and a climate change sceptic who runs forecasting firm WeatherAction in south London tweeted: “listening to an ignorant brainwashed child is deranged.”
Alongside the comment, Mr Corbyn reposted a BBC article titled “Teen tells UK politicians ‘listen to climate change scientists.”
He added: “I am an actual scientist of physics, meteorology, astrophysics and climate and say Greta Thunberg is wrong and suffers mental abuse by manipulative adults.”
It comes a week after he called protesters, who glued themselves to his brother’s house, ‘deranged’ as he staged a counter-protest at the Waterloo Bridge occupation.
The meteorologist held two banners, one which denounced global warming as a “hoax” and another calling carbon dioxide “gas of life.”
Greta, a Swedish Nobel Peace Prize nominee who describes herself as having been diagnosed with Asperger’s, OCD and selective mutism visited the UK this week in support for the ongoing Extinction Rebellion protests in London.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn met Ms Thunberg on Tuesday, describing the meeting as “absolutely fascinating.”
“We agreed that we would continue those discussions when we put forward policy so that we are measuring our policy against the environmental impact,” he said.
“We have to have a much more focused and serious approach towards climate change and the damage we are doing to our natural world.”
Environment Secretary Michael Gove also told Ms Thunberg: "Suddenly in the past few years it has become inescapable that we have to act.
"The time to act is now, the challenge could not be clearer, Greta you have been heard."
The latest tweet follows major backlash faced by Spike magazine, who published an article describing Greta Thunberg’s activism a millennial cult in the wake of her visit to the UK.
Shadow Home secretary Diane Abbott joined those who condemned the article writing: “Horrible for this magazine to attack a very brave young girl in this way.”
