Thom Yorke has claimed that advisers to Tony Blair tried to blackmail him into a meeting with the former prime minister in 2013.
In an interview with Guardian columnist George Monbiot which appeared on Telerama, Yorke explains that it happened when he was taking part in The Big Ask campaign which aimed to make politicians acknowledge the existence of climate change. “It got into this big fight with Tony Blair’s advisers and a whole blackmail scenario ensued,” Yorke said. “We were in the midst of the Iraq War and The Big Ask campaign was proving very successful. So Blair said: ‘I should meet this guy’. Then Blair’s advisors tried to blackmail me, saying: ‘if you don’t agree to meet the Prime Minister, Friends of the Earth will be denied all access to him.’ Because of the Iraq war, I didn’t want to do it. I felt it was morally unacceptable for me to be photographed with Blair.”
In the interview, Yorke also ponders whether he considers himself a political songwriter and discusses ways in which Radiohead have attempted to reduce their carbon footprint as well as the limitations on a touring band doing so.
