Former head of Greenpeace UK and Labour peer revered as fearless campaigner

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Peter Melchett, the environmental campaigner and Labour peer, has died aged 70.

Lord Melchett, who lived in Norfolk, became the executive director of Greenpeace UK in 1989 and was most recently policy director of the Soil Association.

He was revered as a fearless pioneer on environmental issues, and led a colourful life and career. In 1999, Melchett faced criminal damage charges alongside 27 fellow activists after ripping up genetically modified crops.

He and his colleagues were acquitted when the jury accepted their defence that they believed the crop would have polluted the environment.

Speaking to the BBC’s Desert Island Discs in 2000, Melchett said: “You can only do it if people support you, and they won’t if what you’re doing isn’t right or if what you’re predicting doesn’t turn out to be true.”

In 1985, he tried to cut through the perimeter wire of a US airbase at Sculthorpe in East Anglia as part of an anti-nuclear protest.

He told of how he could hear the voice of Olga Maitland crying “Peter, Peter, don’t do it. It’ll ruin your career!” as he cut the fencing.

Greenpeace UK’s executive director, John Sauven, said: “Peter will be sorely missed by everyone who loved wildlife and wanted to protect the global environment.”

“In Peter’s 12 years campaigning at Greenpeace, he was both fearless in taking on big corporations like BP and Monsanto, but also pioneering in supporting solutions like Greenfreeze refrigeration to save the ozone layer.

“We all live a little bit more peacefully with the earth and its animals as a result of his efforts. A true radical and campaigner to the end.”

Jonathon Porritt (@jonathonporritt) Heard earlier today of the death of Peter Melchett - feeling so sad. Peter was a consummate campaigner (at Greenpeace and Soil Association), a wise and compassionate advocate for everything that really matters,and a true friend.

Melchett went from Eton to Cambridge University, where he studied law. He later took an MA in criminology at Keele University, followed by 18 months at the London School of Economics.

He was a Labour party whip and a junior environment minister in 1974 under Harold Wilson, then Northern Ireland minister under Jim Callaghan.

Molly Scott Cato, the Green party MEP for South West England and a member of the European parliament’s agriculture committee, said Melchett’s campaigning on environmental issues would “stand the test of time”.

“I am so saddened to hear of the death of Peter Melchett, a tireless campaigner for a form of farming that worked with nature rather than against her,” she said.

“His work with the Soil Association helped establish its international reputation as the leading body on organic farming principles.

“By pushing for the highest possible standards of animal welfare and environmental and wildlife protection, his life’s work will stand the test of time.”

• This article was amended on 3 September 2018 to correct Lord Melchett’s age. He died aged 70 not 71.