The reports from the meeting  of the Energy and Climate Change Committee in the House of Commons on Wednesday that Andrea Leadsom lost her temper when questioned by MPs suggests that the real views of this Minister of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change are emerging. She was appointed to this post in May 2015 despite her previous opposition to wind farms and the European Renewable energy targets. The MPs were quizzing the Minister about the Government’s controversial decision to close the renewables obligation subsidy mechanism for solar installations up to 5MW in size from 1 April, 2016 – a year earlier than originally planned. In a heated exchange about the impact of that policy, Leadsom said: “I’m getting sick and tired of the complete barrage of complaints about a failure to stop subsidising on one day, and then the next week they are complaining about fuel poverty and throwing stones at the Government for not doing enough to reduce bills for consumers. They can’t have it both ways – do they just want subsidies to continue regardless of the impact on bills?” Of course many of us do want things both ways. For that Andrea only needs to look in the mirror at the way in which as a Treasury Minister she took full advantage of the various convoluted off-shore tax avoidance opportunities she felt were open to her while trying to ensure other people paid the tax needed to keep the state solvent, or at her colleagues in the Cabinet who are arguing for the benefits of the EU without paying the price of membership of it, or those numerous MPs, particularly in her own party who want to be treated with respect by their constituents and protected from groups articulating deeply held views, whilst at the same time be given the freedom to hurl abuse at ‘honourable’ colleagues during Prime Minister Questions. Some of us outside Parliament do live in the real world Andrea. We know that subsidising wind and solar is better for our future and that of our children than subsidising nuclear power. Neither are perfect, but the long term impact of nuclear waste means that subsidies will never end. What is really needed is the sort of leadership that sticks with moral and responsible courses of action even if it is not as populist as one might wish.