EMMA THOMPSON - THOMPSON TELLS HEATHROW MINISTER TO "GET A GRIP"

THOMPSON TELLS HEATHROW MINISTER TO "GET A GRIP"

Award-winning British actress Emma Thompson has hit back at a Cabinet minister who accused her of hypocrisy over her opposition to a new runway at Heathrow.

Thompson is among a group of celebrities outspokenly critical of the government's approval of a third runway at the airport.

In an interview with the Guardian on Saturday, transport secretary Geoff Hoon singled out the Sense and Sensibility star for opposing expansion but flying around the globe to promote her green cause.

Hitting back, however, the 49-year-old urged the minister to "get a grip".

"This is not a campaign against flying - we're trying to stop the expansion of Heathrow in the face of climate change," Thompson, who is among those to have bought a plot of land on the site of the proposed runway, said.

"It sounds like the transport secretary has completely missed the point; again."

In his interview the transport secretary said he admired Thompson for her work in Love Actually but was concerned by her environmental/aviation stance.

"I worry about people who I assume travel by air quite a lot and don't see the logic of their position, not least because the reason we have got this problem in relation to Heathrow is that more and more people want to travel more and more," he said.

"BAA do not wake up in the morning and think 'we need a bigger airport' and airlines do not say 'we need to put on more flights' unless there is a demand for it.

"So the point is about not just Emma Thompson, but lots of people. If someone living in LA says he did not think it was a good idea to expand Heathrow, well the last time I looked the only way to get from LA to Britain is Heathrow."