- Court in the act - 18th September 2024
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- Presenting sentence… - 16th September 2024
During 23 years with the BBC, and 41 years in journalism (when he was trained to use simple language, avoiding jargon), our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry, has often been forced to interview lobbyists or Public Relations (PR) specialists representing an organisation, so looks with concern at new evidence that the UK Government has allowed them increasing influence.
Sometimes there is simply no choice.
A government or company you are targeting will put up someone to represent them who you know has other roles.
These people lobby on behalf of the organisation, do Public Relations (PR) work, be a big cheese in the marketing department, or undertake Press Office (PO) duties.
But if that is the person they are putting up for me to give a hard time to on television, radio, or now on The Eye (sometimes NOBODY!), then that is the person…
All of this has been put centre stage for me by more details emerging about the free ‘advice’ given to Sir Keir Starmer (and his shadow cabinet, many of whom are now ministers) when he was in opposition by Sir Tony Blair’s lobbying firm, as well as by the influence these lobbyists seem to have today.
We appear to be going back in time, to a period when lobbyists held terrific sway at senior levels in the Labour Party and the UK Government under Sir Tony.
The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) provided free advice to Sir Keir and the shadow cabinet before Labour swept to power, and more details are now coming to light.
TBI is huge, with over 750 staff around the world.
Its most recent accounts (2022) show a turnover of more than £120 million.
Much of its funding comes from the tech tycoon Larry Ellison (who supports Donald Trump), who has donated £300 million.
Sir Tony has also given information to the Kazakh dictator Nursultan Nazabayev in the 2010s at a cost of £20 million.
Mr Nazabayev served as the first President of Kazakhstan, from the country’s independence in 1991 until his ‘resignation’ in 2019.
He ruled an authoritarian regime, where a pervasive cult of personality surrounded him, human rights abuses were severe, dissent was suppressed, and elections were not free and fair.
For example, in the country’s first direct presidential ‘election’, he appeared alone on the ballot with no opposing candidates and of course secured an overwhelming 98 per cent of the vote.
But Labour’s links with controversial lobbying firms go far beyond Sir Tony.
His ally Jim Murphy was formerly leader of the Scottish Labour Party but after leaving parliament created Arden Strategies (AS), which donates money to the party and sponsors constituency dinners.
AS boasts two former staffers among the intake of Labour MPs, and clients include the arms manufacturer NorthropGrumman.
Furthermore, last September Labour turned to another ‘strategic advisory’ company to facilitate meetings with business leaders.
That firm (Hakluyt) started life in the world of private spying, and was founded in 1995 by a group of ex-MI6 agents, but has now distanced itself from its problematic past where activists from the environmental group Greenpeace were spied on for oil companies.
These sort of connections may create difficulties for Labour in future.
More, in fact, than for me when I have to interview these people…
Details including important stories like this by Phil, as he was gripped by the rare neurological condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order it now!
Regrettably publication of another book, however, was refused, because it was to have included names.
Tomorrow – disturbing front page news that the BBC investigation into past stars of one of their high-profile shows, highlights again the future of the top dog at the corporation who has presided over a series of extraordinary scandals, some with Wales at their heart.
