Liam Fox – caught in a web of lies
In a previous post I presented details of the 2011 self induced ritual political suicide of ultra right wing Liam Fox, triggered by an inappropriate friendship with Adam Werrity which compromised the MoD at the time Fox was Secretary of State for Defence.
Link here:
The purpose of this follow-up post is to chart the rise of Fox, on the backs of powerful friends in high places, exposing the well practiced jiggery-pokery of the top echlons of the Tory Party and the indecently rich people who supply huge amounts of finance in support of the Tory ideal. “I’m only in it for the money”
Thatcher’s inner circle also known as the “Scottish Rat Pack”
The under noted individuals were part of the driving force behind many of the brutal policies imposed on Scotland in the 11 years Thatcher was Prime minister.
Dr Liam Fox: Maggie’s blue-eyed boy. Tipped to take over the crown on her departure but got sidelined when the party lurched to the left and elected John Major.
Martin Rifkind: Softened his image after the demise of Thatcher. Rewarded by John Major who promoted him to high office
Michael Gove: Dittered around the edges of power without setting the world on fire. Given a number of fringe roles in the Major’s government.
Andrew Dunlop: Reputed to be the architect of the “poll tax”. Departed politics after Thatcher and founded a “political agency”. David Cameron’s right hand man, (the brains) at the time of the 2014 Scottish referendum. Rewarded with a peerage by Cameron and appointed Minister of State at the Scottish Office adding political backbone for Mundell.
Michael Forsyth: In his time possibly the most hated politician in Scotland. When Scottish Secretary was personally responsible for forcing through many unpopular policies, converting Scotland from an “industrial” to a “service” economy, driving heavy industry out of Scotland to England. sentencing many hundreds of thousands of Scottish workers onto the dole. In many cases those over the age of 30 would never work again. Departed front line politics after Thatcher. Elevated to the House of Lords by Thatcher where he continues his attacks on Scots.
David Cameron: Sort of, claims his Scottishness through Blairmore House, the family’s ancestral home near Huntly, Aberdeenshire. He was also a member of the circle and good friend of Andrew Dunlop.
The Atlantic Bridge Research and Education scheme (Thatcher’s private bank)
The falsely named scheme claimed to be an educational charity, founded in 1997 with Thatcher as its President promoting “Atlanticism”, a philosophy of cooperation between the United Kingdom and the United States promoting political, economic, and defence issues.
Its work was aimed at uniting British and American Conservatives and foreign policy hawks.
Patrons included major Tory Party donors, Michael Hintze and Michael Lewis of the British Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) and healthcare conglomerate, Pfizer.
The scheme was a partnership programme with the right wing “American Legislative Exchange Council” (ALEC), a free-market organization with extensive links to American State Legislators and corporate and industrial groups.
The “charity” also co-hosted events with the “Centre for Security Policy”, “the Heritage Foundation” and “Lehman Brothers.”
In 2003, then Shadow Secretary for Health, Fox chaired a conference on “Scientific Research and Medical Provision”.
Speakers included Grace-Marie Turner of the Galen Institute, Timothy Morris of Glaxo-Smith-Kline and Peter Farrow of Pfizer.
Early moves to dismantle the NHS??? (the Guardian)
The Scheme is exposed as a fraud
US and UK charity rules explicitly forbid charities from participating in politics, stating:
“Charitable organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.”
In September 2009, the UK Charity Commission was forced to conduct a regulatory compliance investigation into the affairs of “Atlantic Bridge” after receiving complaints about political partisanship.
Namely:
Amanda Bowman, Chief Executive Officer, Atlantic Bridge had said:
“Americans should look forward to 6 May 2010, after which David Cameron and his government will likely assume power. He will be good for America and better for the Special Relationship.”
Congressman, John Campbell, who sat on the Atlantic Bridge advisory board, wrote:
“Britain’s socialized medicine system is enormously inefficient, wasteful, and costly. This is part of the reason why Britons have seen higher costs and the rationing of care.”
And it was alleged that Tory Party, shadow cabinet ministers, had been incorrectly appointed to serve on the management team of the charity and in that capacity they had rubbished the UK, NHS in healthcare debates with US officers.
Poju Zabludowicz & Wife Anita
A critical report by the Charity Commission ruled that:
“it is not evident that the scheme has advanced education and this might lead members of the public to call into question its independence from party politics.
The scheme is to review its policies bringing them into line with its charitable objectives. The “Atlantic Bridge” was dissolved soon after.
Final accounts showed that 58% of the income of the charity had come from one source: the Hintze Family Foundation.
The Atlantic Bridge Board Members
The Atlantic Bridge drew upon the experience and expertise of a board of directors, advisory council and an executive council.
Each entity included experienced individuals from political, business and academic backgrounds on both sides of the Atlantic.
Honorary Patron: The Rt Hon. The Baroness Thatcher
Advisory Council: UK (at some time)
UK Chairman: Dr Liam Fox. MP: Eleanor Laing. MP: John Whittingdale. MP: Michael Gove. MP: George Osborne. MP: William Hague. MP: Chris Grayling. MP:
Advisory Council: US (at some time)
US (hon) Chairman: Jon Kyl. Senator: Council members: Lindsey Graham. Senator: Joe Lieberman. Senator: Mel Martinez. Senator: John Campbell. Congressman: Adam Putnam. Congressman
Executive Council
Chairman: Scott Syfert: Frank Fahrenkopf, Jr.: Alan Guarino: Nicholas Howard: Clark S. Judge: Malcolm Scott: Michael Hintze:
A hedge fund, owned by Hintze, the world’s 880th richest person and one of the Tory Party’s biggest donors, donated substantial amounts of money to “The Atlantic Bridge” .
Michael Hintze
Board of Directors
Ross Bevevino: Amanda Bowman: Craig Earnshaw: John Falk: Professor Robert MacLaren:
Trustee’s
Professor Patrick Minford, Cardiff Business School: Lord Astor, MoD Junior Minister: Andrew Dunlop. (yup!!! he keeps on surfacing.
Staff
Catherine Bray – US Executive Director
Adam Werritty – UK Executive Director
Kara Watt – Operations Director
Gabby Bertin – Later David Cameron’s spokeswoman.
October 2011: Liam Fox: anointed by Thatcher, stymied by Whitehall
US benefactors and right-wing friends helped Fox to promote the Atlanticist agenda but he always stood out as the pre-eminent Atlanticist in the Tory cabinet, a man intent on carrying the flame of the Reagan-Thatcher years beyond the cold war and into modern global battles against Islamist terrorism.
In his speeches to the conservative US Heritage Foundation, Fox always hammered home the importance of the special relationship, the pre-eminence of NATO and the need for Britain to maintain a strong defence to maintain its global status.
Frequent speaking engagements to right-wing think-tanks in Washington gave him the chance to meet wealthy benefactors willing to finance his thinking. It was this belief in the pre-eminence of the Atlantic relationship that led him to form the “Atlantic Bridge”.
Some of his views set him apart from the rest of the cabinet and put him at odds with the defence establishment at the Ministry of Defence prompting a friend to say: “Some describe him as vain, but he has something to be vain about. He is a genuine intellect and thinks big picture”.
In speech after speech he warned the EU was intent on building a rival military command structure.
The presence of Lady Thatcher at his 50th birthday party in Admiralty House was an act of anointment as leader of the Conservative right.
In office he prided himself on developing what he described as his own defence diplomacy, trying to redress the damage he believed Labour had inflicted by neglecting key allies.
Confirming his global activism, he signed 27 defence agreements around the world while in office.
He formed the “Northern Group” with Nordic and Baltic countries and held the first bilateral visit by a UK minister to India in five years , to Turkey in seven years and signed the UK-France defence treaty. (Scoops)
15 October 2011: Tory Party links to US radical right exposed
David Cameron stands accused of allowing a secret right-wing agenda to flourish at the heart of the Conservative party, as fallout from the resignation of Fox exposed his close links with a US network of lobbyists, climate change deniers and defence hawks.
Fox falling on his sword will not mark the end of the furore engulfing the Tories, as opposition politicians stepped up demands for the prime minister to explain why several senior members of his cabinet were involved in an Anglo-American organization apparently at odds with his party’s environmental commitments and pledge to defend free healthcare.
At the heart of the complex web linking Fox to a raft of businessmen, lobbyists and US neocons is the now defunct charity, “Atlantic Bridge”, which was set up with the purported aim of “strengthening the special relationship” but became mired in controversy.
And there is the seedy partnership with an organization called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEX). A powerful US lobbying organization, which, in addition to receiving funding from pharmaceutical, weapons and oil interests, is heavily funded by the Koch Charitable Foundation whose founder, Charles G Koch, is one of the most generous donors to the Tea Party movement in the US and, via a series of foundations, Koch and his brother, David, have given millions of dollars to global warming skeptics, according to Greenpeace.
caltonjock 