Steve Baker has warned a local climate campaign group monitoring his activities against “breaking data laws”.

The Conservative MP for Wycombe and Northern Ireland Minister sent a three-page document to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) in which he criticised ‘Steve Baker Watch’ over an alleged data breach by its members.

Steve Baker Watch was launched in February 2022 to scrutinise the MP’s climate stance and his support for groups such as the Global Warming Policy Foundation, which has been accused of denying climate change science.

Earlier this year, a member of Steve Baker Watch was privately accused of signing up as a local Conservative Party member to gain access to the email addresses of the MP’s team and members, and then leaking the information.

In a written statement, Baker said: “If ‘Steve Baker Watch’ has not broken any kind of data laws, could they please confirm how they accessed the names of members of the Wycombe Conservative Association, when they wrote unsolicited letters to them last year.

“Everyone in Wycombe needs to be assured that ‘Steve Baker Watch’ is not breaking the law.”

The MP said he hoped the group “meant well” but feared its members had “gotten in over their heads” with electoral and data laws and regulations.

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He added: “No doubt they would not like to find themselves in the position of having inadvertently committed offences, which the public would rightly want to see redressed.”

Steve Baker Watch describes itself as a “loose non-partisan” collection of around 20 members of the public supported by a wider group of over 100 “sympathisers” from across the political spectrum who communicate via WhatsApp.

Gemma Rogers, an occupational therapist, Damon Guy, a semi-retired supply teacher/freelance photographer and Mike Duckett, a semi-retired psychologist are three of Steve Baker Watch’s four core members.

The trio, who are all from Wycombe, denied the allegations about a data breach during an interview with the LDRS.

Ms Rogers said that Conservative Party members “concerned about climate change” were among Steve Baker Watch’s wider group.

The campaigner said the group receive emails from and “chat to lots of different people” including Tories “horrified” at Steve Baker’s climate stance.

She added: “I don’t see why that chat is a data breach. We are not hacking into them.”

Mr Duckett said: “We don’t know anybody in the organisation who has interrogated, breached or discovered email addresses.”

Steve Baker Watch admitted that it had sent postcards to people “high up” in the Wycombe Conservative Association through its main office.

Steve Baker also criticised the campaign group due to the anonymous donors which fund its activities via a Crowdfunding page set up last year that raised £15,800.

The MP highlighted anonymous donations of £200 and £500 made to Steve Baker Watch, saying that it the group is considered a ‘third party campaigner’ and therefore a ‘political organisation’ according to the Electoral Commission’s criteria.

He claimed the group was not able to ascertain whether its anonymous donors were “permissible” donors and that its donations should therefore be refused and returned.

Mr Guy said Steve Baker Watch “doesn’t need to declare its funds” because it is “not a political organisation”, and added that the group “does not have a big supporter”.