The climate hunger activist who was outside parliament for more than five weeks said he did not expect ministers to ignore his demands.
Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientist, was brought in by Greg Hands, the energy minister, to give politicians and the public a climate change briefing before the Cop26 climate summit.
After 37 days, as fears grew of long-term harm or even sudden death, and with no sign of a concession from ministers, he relented. Rose wanted Vallance to address a parliament committee instead of a televised cabinet meeting, but he was happy with the outcome.
He was having difficulty standing, but still protested outside parliament, even though he had lost 17 lbs. by the end of his strike.
Rose said that before he started the hunger strike, he thought his odds were zero.
Some health experts said that people who lose more than 16% of their body mass are at very high risk.
During his hunger strike, Hands met Rose. Rose told the Guardian that he had urged Hands to reconsider his protest after he insisted he couldn't meet his demand.
Government sources told the Guardian at the time that ministers were not willing to give in to Rose's demand since it would encourage others to do the same. Rose's supporters feared he could suffer sudden heart failure after starving himself for so long.
Rose asked, "Would they have?" I wondered if they would have left me there for another week to see what happened. I don't know.
Rose accepted the outcome of his strike was a compromise, but said it was a similar compromise to the one he had taken inspiration from.
All of the pressure was put on the environment minister. They didn't agree to the demand, and there was an alternate solution.
I wasn't going to back down until Greg agreed to the demand, even though I saw it up until it was secured.
I sat back and thought about the enormity of the situation ahead of me for less than an hour.
I tried to deal with it on a day-to-day basis, but over the last 10 days or so, I got quite a bit weaker, and it started impacting my thinking. I wasn't going to stop until my demand was met, I was just doing one day at a time.
I suppose it is a bit of a compromise. I couldn't say no to the briefings that have been secured.
The majority of the public that Rose met supported his aims, he said. He had a team of about 40 people supporting him, lobbying politicians, and orchestrating letters from scientists and medics in support of his demand.
Many people were encouraging him to back down. Rose said that she had a friend who was prepared to bring her from the hospital in a wheelchair back to parliament if she collapsed.
I really didn't expect that. I didn't expect that because it's so extreme. Who would have been prepared to do that?
Rose is part of a growing wave of hunger strikers. A group of youths staged a shorter hunger strike outside the White House in the US last year, while Emma Smart refused food when she was jailed for protesting with Insulate Britain.
Rose said the growing numbers of climate hunger strikers, and the self-immolation of Wynn Bruce in Washington last month, were part of a rising tide of increasingly desperate activism.
The government's actions and policies aren't consistent with maintaining a planet that is a good place to live. Don't think about one and a half. Forget about two. The current policies and actions will show us a world that is two and a half to three degrees warmer.
There are desperate actions, but they are consistent with the risks.
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