Who is this "key figure" that needs to be humbled?
Michael Mann or Christopher Jones would be my guess.
From the article:
“The source of the alleged smear campaign is Bob Ward, director of policy at the London School of Economics’s Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change.
Mr Ward, neither an economist nor a climate expert, claimed on the institute’s website that he was waging ‘an ongoing struggle’ to force Prof Tol to correct ‘errors’ in his work.
Mr Ward had earlier sent an email disparaging Prof Tol’s research to several leading IPCC scientists and officials.”
I don’t know if the U.K.’s libel laws apply to this situation. I know their press can more easily get sued for libel as opposed to in U.S..