Will hub expansion really be cleared for take-off?

The history of the plan for a third runway at Heathrow is the history of two divided parties.

- JOHN RENTOUL

It was first proposed by Geoff Hoon as transport secretary in Gordon Brown’s government in 2009. The divisions in the Labour cabinet had been overcome by attaching tough environmental conditions to the plan, but the wider Labour Party continued to be split.

With climate change an increasing concern in the party – and in the population as a whole – it seemed to many to be the wrong priority.

David Cameron as leader of the opposition capitalised on this unease by coming out against Heathrow expansion the year before. His concern for the environment was bolstered by the number of marginal seats in and around west London that would be affected – and by his attempt to present the Conservative Party as green, youthful and modern.

Wasn’t Ed Miliband in Gordon Brown’s government?

The younger Miliband was the first secretary of state for energy and climate change, but he was the architect of the cabinet compromise. Chris Mullin, a Labour backbencher and diarist, recalled a conversation with him in 2009.