I’m not against metric, I’m against the hostility. “Millions of pounds” is hardly cold science. A pound and a kilo are separated by a factor of about 2. “Millions of pounds” is very probably the same sort of statement here as “millions of kilos”. And even if it weren’t, it’s perfectly valid for someone to use a unit of measurement that they’re familiar with when writing. He probably didn’t even think about it.

The original comment is the equivalent of an American going to a foreign country and demanding people speak English.