Baroness Foster: Green energy claim removed from website after ridicule given former minister's RHI role

The Belfast Telegraph journalist Sam McBride posed as a corporate fixer wanting to book the former minister and established that she wanted up to £10,000 a day, but did not mention the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme or her role in it.

There is no suggestion that Arlene Foster has broken any parliamentary rules or codes of conduct, and she is entitled to offer her expertise as a former first minister to anyone who is willing to pay for her advice. There is no evidence that anyone ever did pay for her to speak about the topic.

However, many have remarked how extraordinary it is that the former DUP boss would advertise her credentials in this area, given that her handling of the RHI scheme precipitated a political crisis which resulted in the collapse of government in Northern Ireland in early 2017.

Martin McGuinness resigned – ending Mrs Foster’s stint as first minister – stating it was “the right time to call a halt to the DUP's arrogance” and saying people should be allowed “to make their own judgement on these issues democratically at the ballot box”.

The scheme had incentivised participants to waste green energy – as the more they burned in the woodchip boilers, the more they earned. Cost controls built into the scheme in Great Britain were not built in to the Northern Ireland scheme, which was set up on Mrs Foster’s watch as energy minister. It became known as ‘burn to earn’ or ‘cash for ash’.

At one stage it threatened to cost the taxpayer almost half a billion pounds – however costs were reduced after guarantees given to RHI participants were scrapped. A subsequent public inquiry cost almost £13m.

Among the areas of expertise promoted on one website promoting Baroness Foster were her ability to get to the right decision, managing change, leadership in challenging circumstances and advice on future energy policy in Britain and the world. It had claimed “As the ex-minister for energy for Northern Ireland, Arlene knows only to well the difference between what the world needs and the price we are prepared to pay”.