It looks as if fracking may be imported to the UK from the US, and Vivienne Westwood is having none of it. Days after the state of New York banned the practice of extracting oil and gas from rock, Westwood, her son and Agent Provocateur founder Joseph Corré, and a gas-masked Santa attempted to hand-deliver a Christmas present to prime minister David Cameron, a package of what resembled asbestos

Westwood and Corré, whose father Malcolm McLaren died of cancer believed to be caused by asbestos, said fracking could become “the next asbestos or thalidomide” — as in a big mistake. “Will David Cameron listen to us?” Westwood asked rhetorically. “He lost a child, he must have some sympathy, and he’s not connecting the dots.”

They got as far as the black front door of 10 Downing Street, where, instead of the box of asbestos, Westwood and her son delivered independent medical reports on the health risks related to fracking. “They link very clearly the chemicals used in fracking industry to some really horrible, serious illnesses,” said Corré. “Birth defects in children, horrible cancers, skin diseases, rashes, nosebleeds, stunted growth, all kinds of things. We are lucky to have this information in advance from the terrible situation that his happening right now in the United States.”