To Peter Sutherland, Chairman of the London School of Economics and Political Science


Dear Mr Sutherland,

One of the employees of the London School of Economics, Mr Robert ET Ward BSc, has been waging a smear campaign against me. The campaign consists of a insinuations, half-truths and outright lies, and takes the form of tweets, blog posts, and letters to journal editors, civil servants, and elected politicians. This campaign has been going on since October 2013.

I have repeatedly asked Mr Ward to end his campaign and suggested that he instead focus on his job, which is to promote the research of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.

When that failed to produce the desired result, I contacted Professor Dr Nicholas Stern, Lord Brentford. Lord Stern denied any responsibility for Mr Ward's behaviour, even though the LSE website lists Lord Stern as the chair of the institute that employs Mr Ward.

I then contacted the Director of the LSE, Professor Dr Craig Calhoun. I never reached Professor Calhoun, but was stonewalled by his Chief of Staff, Mr Hugh Martin.

I last tried to contact Professor Calhoun on 2 May 2014.

Even though I failed to contact the LSE, Mr Ward fell silent so I assumed that I had reached one of my goals and I let the matter rest.

However, on 8 July 2014, Mr Ward resumed his campaign with a letter to the Rt Hon Lamar Smith, chair of the US House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

I therefore hereby request that you
1. inform Professor Calhoun that complaints about the behaviour of LSE staff do require his attention;
2. stop Mr Ward's campaign of smear and character assassination; and
3. publicly distance the London School of Economics from Mr Ward's campaign and apologize for the damage and distress caused.

Looking forward to your timely reply, I remain,

Yours sincerely



Richard Tol