Transparency International, the anti-corruption watchdog, defines it as:
“a situation where powerful individuals, institutions, companies or groups within or outside a country use corruption to shape a nation’s policies, legal environment and economy to benefit their own private interests”.
An online search of ex-New Labour ministers career choices after moving on from government reveals a disturbing pattern. Many have taken up positions with major weaponry manufacturers.
Former Foreign Secretary, the late Robin Cook said of his time in office that he:
“came to learn that the chairman of BAE appeared to have the key to the garden door to number 10. Certainly I never knew No 10 to come up with any decision which would be incommoding to BAE.”
As well as employing in-house lobbyists, BAE Systems also employs a lobbying agency called Portland PR.
Many of Portland PR’s staff have worked at the upper echelons of both Labour and Conservative governments.
Portland Communications Ltd is a political consultancy and public relations agency set up in 2001 by Tim Allan, a former adviser to Tony Blair and Director of Communications at BSkyB. Portland provides communications and public affairs advice to brands and high-profile individuals. Portland’s website states:
“Our team is recruited from the highest levels of the media, politics and government.”
In 2016, political blog The Canary alleged that Portland staff were behind the orchestration of a “coup” against, Jeremy Corbyn, after a wave of mass resignations from his front bench. Len McCluskey of British and Irish trade union Unite told Andrew Marr on his Sunday morning programme:
“I’m amazed that some of the MPs have fallen into a trap.”
Referring to Portland Communications as:
“a sinister force”
McCluskey said:
“This is a PR company with strong links to Tony Blair and right-wing Labour MPs who’ve been involved in this orchestrated coup, and the coup has failed”.
Gordon Brown and new Labour Embraced the Practice
During his 10 years as Chancellor of the Exchequer and then as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, Gordon Brown cultivated a carefully crafted reputation as a prudent politician and trustworthy custodian of the public purse. Indeed, such was his penchant for using the word ‘prudence’ that political journalists took to playing a fun game of counting the number of times it was mentioned in his budget speeches, and then comparing it with appearances in previous deliveries at the despatch box – to gauge his commitment to balancing the books. Some even jokingly suggested that Prudence was the name of his girlfriend, who had been kept out of the public eye. Either way, managing the nation’s finances is no joke and Brown’s record in office, as a fiscally prudent politician, does not tally with the evidence. In his autobiography My Life, Our Times, Brown discusses among other things the financial crises, his economic record and that fateful promise made by Tony Blair. Not surprisingly, there is no mention of one of most disgraceful actions of his government. It concerns state-sponsored protectionism, blatant favouritism and failure to install genuinely independent regulators. This shameful episode, which marred Brown’s time in office, relates to the procurement of military equipment.
New Labour Government Procurement Policy in Practice
What has been clear for many years is that, public subsidies handed out to defence equipment manufacturers over several decades, is the reason why they have failed so miserably, to deliver equipment to the Armed Forces which is fit for purpose, adequately sustained in-service and constitutes value for money through-life. In the UK, as in many western countries, the means of defence production, distribution and exchange is exclusively in the hands of private interests, that is to say, the State is entirely dependent on for-profit organisations for the design, development, manufacture and delivery of new military equipment to the Armed Forces. Consequently, the government has no choice but to rely on the Private Sector for all its military equipment needs, including its subsequent upkeep when in-service with the user. The harsh reality is that, no department of state in Whitehall is as dependent on the Private Sector, as is the Ministry of Defence – putting it at serious risk of capture by private interests (if it hasn’t already been) which allows them to bend policy to their will, as it relates to the expenditure of public funds. Equally, these private interests are entirely dependent upon a steady flow of taxpayer funds for their very survival – no least, because they have not bothered to diversify at all. It may be that senior executives seconded from the defence industry and embedded within the Ministry of Defence, who remain in the pay of their employers, may have something to do with this skewing of spending decisions, to favour their narrow commercial interests – at the expense of taxpayers and the national interest.
Secret Deals
Consider the case of the Terms of Business Agreement on naval shipbuilding, signed by the Brown government with BAE Systems during the dying days of the 2005-10 Parliament, which left the incoming administration no room for manoeuvre at all, as it set about undertaking a comprehensive Strategic Defence & Security Review – for the first time in 12 years. In fact, this agreement was signed in secret, in 2009, precisely because it locked the government into an appallingly poor 15-year contract laced with a punitive get-out clause which, if made public at the time, would have attracted criticism and negative publicity in the press and media during the run-up to the 2010 general election, potentially swinging the result in favour of the other party. The existence of the TOBA was only revealed to Parliament in 2011 by the Cameron-led coalition government, when it was confronted with the undeniable truth that MoD finances were in pretty bad shape and needed to be declared publicly, to garner public support for deep cuts in the defence budget that ensued.
Lack of Fiscal Prudence
It is an open secret that the even the most fiscally prudent people in government are prone to softening their hard-line stance just before a general election, when they are up for re-election, which makes them more likely to open-up the public purse. Equally, defence contractors are aware of this weakness in top politicians and will take full advantage, by surreptitiously intensifying their lobbying efforts in cahoots with labour trade unions, to apply political pressure spliced with threats of massive lay-offs, timed to coincide with the electoral cycle, to relieve politicians of taxpayers’ money and maximise their take – which is exactly what happened with this TOBA. So, instead of exposing defence equipment manufacturers to the full rigours of the free market, that is, not shielding them from “feeling the heat” of competitive market forces, the Brown government chose to engage in protectionism and favouritism by handing out uncontested, long-term shipbuilding contracts worth billions of pounds – with virtually no checks and controls, or even guarantees.
Summary and the Way Ahead
People at the Ministry of Defence are, without exception, favourably disposed towards the defence industry because they are completely dependent upon it for their subsequent career choices (via the revolving door), when their time in public service comes to an end, or their employment contract is terminated abruptly by political edict. Indeed, it is very hard to find anyone at MoD who will aggressively defend taxpayers’ interests once they have enjoyed a cosy relationship with contractors. It is fair to say that they certainly know which side their ‘bread is buttered’! It is precisely to overcome this disastrous state of affairs that the government should set the objective of pulling back from the defence equipment market and allow the Private Sector to take-over, so that it can make the necessary capital allocation decisions for itself, as it relates to the development of its own products – instead of continually looking to intervene in the market with public funds which, as history has shown, will always be squandered. An innovative proposal on how to go about eliciting Private Sector investment capital in defence procurement programmes was set out in a written submission to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, which reported on its inquiry into Industrial Strategy in the last Parliament. It introduces a modern Defence Industrial Strategy that puts financial security and the national interest first, not military equipment manufacturers’ commercial interests.
And the Arms dealers have wormed their way into UK Schools and Colleges
In allowing the arms trade into schools and colleges we are teaching children that innovation for the sake of destruction is acceptable. Private arms companies and government-owned military organisations have wormed their way into the British education system. Global arms companies have links with many UK Universities; investing in research programmes, poaching recent graduates and funding new buildings.
But these links stretch further than this into our education system, as weapons manufacturers also invest their time and money into schools across the country. Raytheon, an American weapons and cyber security company with multiple UK sites, holds an annual “Quadcopter Challenge” in which children are encouraged to design the best drone they can. Billed as a means for the company to ‘invest in its future workforce’ by promoting STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects, this programme reached over 1,000 teenagers nationwide in 2018 with the full backing of the Westminster government. Pushing STEM subjects is most common amongst private arms manufacturers and government-funded military organisations; QinetiQ and BAE Systems each boast various outreach programmes. In 2017, BAE partnered up with the Royal Navy and the RAF to visit 420 schools with a workshop designed to encourage the uptake of science and maths amongst 10-13 year olds. That year, BAE Systems also joined forces with the Royal Navy, QinetiQ and the University of Portsmouth to open a college. Portsmouth’s University Technical College (UTC) allows students to complete GCSEs and further educational qualifications in STEM subjects, whilst giving them ‘regular engagement’ with ‘employers and partners’. These partners include the likes of Airbus, who build the fighter jets used by Saudi Arabia in the war on Yemen; and BAE Systems, who produced the missiles used by the UK in its bombing of Syria. In addition to encouraging young children and teenagers to take up sciences, dozens of universities from Southampton to Sheffield are making millions of pounds from arms industry investment. The University of Cambridge, for example, received £13.7m from private arms companies between 2008 and 2011. The University of Sheffield was also funded £13.7m during this period, along with Imperial College London, which was granted over £16m between 2008 and 2017. BAE Systems in particular has a vested interest in British higher education. Southampton, Strathclyde, Manchester, Cranfield and Birmingham are five “strategic partner universities”, which have all signed long-term partnership deals with BAE to be ‘mutually productive’. Recently, the company handed out awards to PhD students from each of these institutions for various research projects. The overall winner was a project from the University of Strathclyde that developed new technology for detecting far away targets. The company responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent Yemenis through the selling of arms to the Saudi-led Coalition, is being facilitated by universities and students across the country. BAE took on 700 apprentices in 2019 and boasts that it is ‘one of the biggest UK supporters of education’ that has links to ‘approximately 100 universities’ worldwide. It remains unclear if this commitment to education extends to the two million Yemeni children who can’t go to school because of the war BAE Systems is helping wage. These companies gloat that by promoting STEM subjects they are pioneering a better, safer future. The arms industry puts on a front of humanity and tells us that the good work it does in this country outweighs the destruction it unleashes overseas. This is simply not the case. By allowing the arms trade into schools, colleges and universities, we are teaching children that innovation for the sake of destruction is acceptable and desirable. There is only a small leap between teaching schoolchildren to make toy drones and getting graduates to build real ones. (Stop the War coalition)
The “Institute for Statecraft and Governance” (IfS)
In 2006, NATO Special Advisor Chris Donnelly and Daniel Lafayeedney co-founded a charity, the “Institute for Statecraft and Governance” (IfS).
The pseudo “charity”, was registered and headquartered, without his knowledge, in a derelict mill in the Fife constituency of SNP MP Stephen Gethins and adjacent to the constituency of Jenny Gilruth, partner of Kezia Dugdale, then leader of the Labour party in Scotland. The “Charity”!! produced and published copious articles on threats to NATO’s existence and expansion, from Putin’s Russia.
In 2015, the IfS established the “Integrity Initiative”, an organization in receipt of significant financial support from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the British government who had to publicly confirm its existence and purpose to be a counter-Russia-disinformation campaigning unit, which, in typically Orwellian language, meant U.S.-British disinformation campaigning.
This is what the Scottish Charity Regulator thought of the organisation:
Suspecting abuse of the charitable status the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator opened an inquiry into the Institute for Statecraft in December 2018 and after 10 months of torturous investigation identified that “one of its most significant activities, the project known as the Integrity Initiative did not provide public benefit in furtherance of the charity’s declared purposes”. It also found that trustees had “breached their trustee duties to act with care and diligence in the interest of the charity, some of them to a serious extent”.
The same two people set up a number of dubious SLPs in their time – rendered all the more suspect by Lafayeedney’s business dealings being investigated by the Inland Revenue in 2004, and landing him in the High Court in 2006. In the latter case’s ruling, the judge savagely indicted his “lack of credibility”, and stated “there were certain specific matters…where I am bound to conclude Mr. Lafayeedney was not telling me the truth”.
Parliamentary contributions by other SNP frontbenchers seem even more suspect. For example, on 3rd AprilStephen Gethins, MP for North East Fife, submitted a loaded written question to then-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Alan Duncan asking “what steps he is taking with his overseas counterparts to tackle the distribution of disinformation in Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic States?”.
In response, Duncan listed a number of programmes his department was funding, including the “new Open Information Partnership” (OIP). a report on the OIP, exposed that far from fighting disinformation, the endeavour was in fact an avowed pan-European “disinformation factory” intimately connected to Integrity Initiative – furthermore, it was noted that Duncan’s low-key response was the only official announcement of OIP’s existence, and Whitehall was bizarrely keen to sweep the new venture under the rug.
This wall of silence is rendered all the more suspicious in light of Gethins’ Commons career – for in the four years since being elected MP he’s displayed little to no interest in any of the countries mentioned, or indeed the concept of ‘disinformation the query bore clear hallmarks of a planted question, seemingly serving no purpose other than specifically providing Duncan an opportunity to quietly but formally herald the Partnership’s inauguration.
Even more peculiarly, the only other occasion Gethins mentioned ‘disinformation’ in parliament was during an emergency debate on Integrity Initiative 12th December 2018, demanded by Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry after it was publicly revealed the organisation’s Twitter account had published a number of posts hostile to Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party, potentially breaching rules relating to state funding and charity activity in the process.
It wasn’t the first time Gethins had hailed the work of FCO-funded individuals in this manner – on 21st December 2017, during a debate on ‘Russian Interference in UK Politics’, Gethins singled out Craig Oliphant – former head of the FCO’s Eastern Research Group, and a member of the Initiative’s UK cluster – as an “extraordinary person” doing “extraordinary work”.
23 Aug, 2019: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky bestowed a State honour on SNP MP Stewart McDonald
McDonald has established himself as Scotland’s most voluble and zealous advocate for the Kiev regime, by some margin and has cemented himself as prominent and pugnacious critic of the Putin’s Russia through his daily. Russophobic conspiracy theorising on social media being an almost daily staple.
The catalyst for McDonald’s damascene conversion appears to be a trip he and fellow SNP MPs Douglas Chapman and Chris Law undertook to Ukraine in May 2018, which included a visit to Avdiivka, one of the “hotspots” in the ongoing war in Donbass.
The expedition evidently stirred something in him, for prior to the visit he’d mentioned Russia in parliament four times over the course of his Commons career, and Ukraine not once – in the year since returning, he’s mentioned Russia on 13 occasions (even inexplicably crowbarring a reference to the Kremlin into a Commons debate on the murder by the Saudi regime of Jamal Khashoggi)
Puzzlingly, while widely publicised at the time, the pilgrimage doesn’t appear in any of the MPs’ registers of members’ interests. The trio could’ve bankrolled the voyage themselves of course, but Scottish media reports suggest the trip was a “parliamentary fact-finding mission” undertaken at the invitation of Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UK, lending it an official character – the Commons also wasn’t in recess at the time, suggesting it wasn’t a mere vacation either.
Requests for clarity on who or what funded the visit submitted to McDonald, Chapman and Law have been ignored – SNP frontbench adviser Neal Stewart, who accompanied the lawmakers, likewise declined to provide information and also refused to explain the nature of his relationship with Integrity Initiative, the secret UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office military intelligence operation.
OK his name name appears in just one of the organisation’s internal documents, the content suggests it could be intimate. The file in question is a report documenting the activities of organisation staffer – and potential MI5 operative – Euan Grant, 9th – 15th July 2018. Who, at some point that in the week wrote that he “attended the Neal Stewart event” at Two Temple Place, the secret London offices of the Institute for Statecraft, the Initiative’s shadowy parent organisation.
It is clear from Neal Stewart’s agitation there is still a widespread lack of interest in Russian influence among significant political groups in Scotland, with considerable sympathy for Russia. Questions about Neal Stewart to the SNP, including whether party chiefs were even aware of the event remain unanswered.
It is weirdly unsettling, when set against the Integrity Initiative’s hostility to Scottish Independence that the SNP hierarchy condone anti-Russia campaigning activities by their parliamentary representatives who purport to support the party ideal of independence.
An example of the Initiative’s scorn for Scottish independence is the March 2018 attack by the organisation who solicited an extensive briefing from David Leask, chief reporter at The Herald on the SNP’s internal dynamics and key figures and groups within the wider independence movement. A document which dubs independence movements as “separatist loons”.
The 77th Brigade and Scotland’s Independence
Black Watch soldier, Brigadier Alastair Aitken, formed the 77th (CYOPS Brigade, referred to in the media as ‘Twitter troops‘ or ‘Facebook warriors‘, which he described as the largest integrated government communications organisation [in] Europe.
In a 2018 article published in the “National” George Kerevan wrote:
“In any future Scottish independence referendum will the 77th Brigade be neutral or see the “Yes” campaign as a threat to national security and conduct a campaign to protect the constitutional status quo? SNP MSP’s and MP’s at Westminster should ask these questions now before it’s too late.” The questions have never been raised at Holyrood or Westminster
Mind blowing sources of information revealing the wide ranging scope of British intelligence activism within Scotland and worldwide.
Kate Watson pulled off a remarkable feat in being selected as the Labour candidate for Glasgow East. For the best part of the last eight years she had worked full-time for Labour MP Douglas Alexander in the House of Commons. When Watson finished working for Alexander in Westminster is not stated but presumably, it would have been in 2015, when Alexander lost his seat in that year’s general election. Omitted from her sales pitch was that during that period she had discharged the role of Director of Operations for ‘Better Together’ in 2014. Also missing was her transfer to a post supporting Douglas Alexander as Chief of Staff of his “‘Consequitur” consultancy. which developed close working relationships with similar minded political organisations in the USA. But her absence from Glasgow and Scotland for an extended period did not prevent the Scottish Labour party leadership from extending to her the nomination as candidate for Glasgow East for the 2017 election. More than a few labour hopefuls and activists were scunnered.
Given the levels of social deprivation in parts of Glasgow East, a Masters in, say, Social Work or Community work would have been useful. But the Masters which Watson obtained from St. Andrews University in 2013 was in Terrorism Studies. Hardly a pressing problem in the East End of Glasgow. But a Masters in Terrorism Studies fitted well with Watson’s role as a Specialist Reserve Officer in the army’s 77th Brigade. The absence of any employment information in her biography history was matched by an evasiveness about her political record. Asked to explain her links to the military propaganda unit” 77th Brigade she refused to comment.
CIA and British secret services agent Lord George Fowlkes
The “piss-artist” act is a well rehearsed tactic used by George to divert attention away from his work for Unionist causes and foreign affairs over 40 years in politics. It was George who tied the SNP government in knots for nearly 4 years when he was an MSP before moving south re-joining his labour colleagues at Westminster. But he left his protégé Dugdale behind.
Kezia Dugdale recruited to the Scottish Labour Party by George Fowlkes
Born in Aberdeen in 1981 Dugdalestudied Law at the University of Aberdeen for a time but gave up and completed a Masters in Policy Studies at the University of Edinburgh. She then worked for Edinburgh University Students’ Association and the National Union of Students Scotland. Before entering the Scottish Parliament as a list MSP she was employed as a SPAD working for Lord George Foulkes as his office manager and political adviser. Her political acumen was zilch but Foulkes used his influence within the Party to fast track her to the leadership of the Scottish Labour Party. And there was reason in his apparent madness.
In Jun 2016 Dugdale abandoned her post as Labour Party Scotland Leader and went off to the USA on a US State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Programme
It is the U.S. Department of State’s premier professional exchange program. Through short-term visits to the United States, current and emerging foreign leaders in a variety of fields experience this country first-hand and cultivate lasting relationships with their American counterparts. Professional meetings reflect the participants’ political interests and support the foreign policy goals of the United States mirroring the journey taken by Blair, Brown and others in New Labour before they took up the reins of government with New Labour. Blair, etc. left the UK unilateral anti-nuclear and returned pro-nuclear. Howzat!!
On return to Scotland Dugdale advised the press that her new partner was, Jenny Gilruth, SNP, MSP for Mid Fife and Glenrothes who was elected to Holyrood in May 2016, and is a parliamentary liaison officer for John Swinney. Also on the US fully funded trip were: Jenny Gilruth, Liz Lloyd and David Clegg. Patrick Grady (SNP Westminster chief whip) and Angela Crawley (SNP member of the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee) were also in the US at that time. Adds a whole new meaning to the WOKE attack on Alex Salmond under a year later.
Gordon Beattie left the Evening Times at the age of 26 to set up a news agency and made it Scotland’s largest public relations company. In its early days the stories the young Lanarkshire news agency would flog to news desks were ‘crap’, according to one tabloid editor of the Eighties. Injuries in traffic accidents jostled alongside weak business stories, but editors admired the sheer work rate of the guy.
Beattie Media moved into PR and news editors became aware that the local stories were promoting the same Lanarkshire businesses who just happened to be Beattie Media’s PR clients. The clients were paying Gordon Beattie who also charged the newspapers who ran the stories. Editors stopped running the copy.
It was a neat trick revealing Beattie’s ability to see a novel business opportunity. “He’s a very dynamic guy, into all that American business philosophy,” said one former employee. “PR is all about learning things about people they’d prefer you didn’t know and Gordon is a great exponent of trading stories,” said one of the many ex-journalists who have passed through Beattie Media’s doors
Beatie Media’s greatest fillip was to popularise the Tory policy of forcing public agencies to outsource services. Indeed all of the local enterprise companies within the Scottish Enterprise network, negotiated lucrative PFI contracts with private concerns.
Beattie Media was the first winner of a contract with the Lanarkshire Development Agency and speedily expanded its base adding the Glasgow Development Agency, Lothian and Edinburgh Enterprise Limited, and Ayrshire Enterprise. It also did the bulk of the PR work for Scottish Enterprise, including, Scotland the Brand and the Skills portfolio.
This domination of the enterprise sector led to concerns within the wider media that Beattie Media were monopolising the field and focused questions on just how a small and previously insignificant Lanarkshire based company had been so successful in winning big ticket contracts.
Losing PR companies were quick to suggest that Beattie Media owed its success to its benefactors, the aptly named and powerful Labour Party in Scotland “Monklands Mafia”
Scottish Water: Beattie Media inserted a PR team into West of Scotland Water before the contract had been advertised for tender. Losing rivals said Beattie Media had been in place for more than three months, the maximum limit for a public body to retain paid advisers without a competitive tendering process. A whistle blower source within West of Scotland Water said that Beattie Media was originally in the running against Shandwick PR, but “it didn’t matter what Shandwick did, Beattie were going to get it”. The revelations caused anger among employee’s that Gordon Beattie had been provided with privileged access to senior members of the board offering the services of Beattie Media when the in-house team was still in place.
An insider said: “Scotland is a small place, and who you know counts for a lot and the employment of Andrew Livingstone, (son of the chief executive of Lanarkshire Development Agency, Ian Livingstone) and Debbie Allison, the daughter of Beattie Media client, Clydeport’s chief executive, Tom Allison) greatly assisted the awarding of the contract to Beattie Media”
March 1996: Lanarkshire Development Agency – to put its PR out to tender
The Lanarkshire Development Agency reviewed its annual £100K PR account with Beattie Media which had been with the company since 1991. Managing Director, Gordon Beattie said: “The decision will be taken on the basis of cost and quality. As far as we’re concerned, if we retain the account it will be down to the quality of the proposal and the team we put in.’ Shandwick Scotland was one of the other companies chosen to pitch for the contract. Beattie media retained the account.
Jan 1997: Quango Blows £100K to engage a Media Company
A quango was accused of squandering almost £100K of public money by hiring Beattie Media for the run-up to the General Election. Scottish Enterprise, set up to attract inward investment, already had a 12-strong press and publicity office but it was desperate to reclaim power lost to a network of smaller Local Enterprise Companies (LECs) and it engaged the PR firm at £10K monthly in a bid to win Labour Party backing. The move ensured another lucrative contract for Lanarkshire-based Beattie Media which had already won deals worth more than £150K from LECs in Lanarkshire and Lothian.
Apr 1998: Public Affairs Europe – Beattie Media and the the Jack McConnell affair
Gordon Beattie launched Public Affairs Europe, a joint venture with commercial lawyers Maclay, Murray and Spens. Jack McConnell (later the Scottish Executive First Minister) and former general secretary of the Scottish Labour Party, was recruited and employed as a director (for around 9 months) in which time he won no clients and brought in no fees. McConnell’s links with Beattie Media later became central to the Scottish Parliament Standards Committee’s investigation of the infamous Lobbygate affair which was told that McConnell had been recruited by Beattie Media because of his political connections and prospects:
Beattie said “We appointed Jack McConnell to head up our public affairs consultancy, in the certain knowledge that Jack would get a safe seat from the Labour Party, and in the hope and expectation that he would also get a cabinet position within the new administration. So we always knew that Jack was going to leave us. Our concern centred on the probity of such an overtly political appointment given the recent history of sleaze at Westminster which had brought down the Tory government.”
Damian Killeen, Director of the Poverty Alliance in Glasgow, wrote to The Herald expressing his fears:
“The growth in the number of lobbying companies in Scotland, in advance of the election of a new Scottish Parliament, is happening with relatively little critical comment. Some of these companies are staffed by people who recently or currently have occupied prominent political positions. There is little doubt that their access to senior politicians is an important part of these companies’ sales pitch. Government in Scotland has, so far, done little to disassociate itself from these developments. What signals does this send out to those who are looking to the new Parliament to provide a level of accessibility and inclusiveness?
Apr 1998: McConnell quit Scottish Labour Party for an agency post with Beattie Media
Jack McConnell, general secretary of the Labour Party in Scotland for five years, resigned from his post to head up a new Edinburgh-based government relations consultancy to be known as Public Affairs Europe. It was a joint-venture between leading Scottish PR agency Beattie Media and commercial lawyers firm Maclay Murray and Spens.
Public Affairs Europe’s aimed to provide legal and constitutional advice alongside traditional government relations counsel, in the run-up to the establishment of the new Scottish Parliament. McConnell said: ’I look forward to helping the public and private sectors have greater involvement in the democratic process in Edinburgh, Westminster and Brussels. My company will be at the cutting edge of the quality, innovation, ethical standards and success which must be central to the new Scotland’.
Chief Executive McConnell, headed a six-strong team including George McKechnie, (head of public affairs at Beattie Media) who took up the duty of chairman of the new agency. Other board memebrs included, Gordon Beattie, managing director of Beattie Media and Magnus Swanson, Bruce Patrick and Alec Barr, all partners at Maclay Murray Spens.
Oct 1999: Scottish Parliament hit by lobbying scandal
Scottish politics was convulsed by a row over a lobbying company’s access to ministers in the newly devolved parliament. The Observer newspaper, whose investigation exposed the scandal, likened it to the row that blew up around Labour Party aide Derek Draper some months before and redolent of the “sleaze” allegations that dogged the previous Tory administration, which contributed to their 1997 electoral collapse.
Scotland’s “lobbygate” undermined the democratic illusions built up around the new parliament and exposed the sordid reality of the Blair Labour government’s Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme.
On August 31, in the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, Ben Laurence from the Observer newspaper posed as a representative of principally American investors during discussions with Kevin Reid and Alex Barr of the public relations firm Beattie Media. Reid is the 24-year-old son of John Reid, Scotland’s Secretary of State.
The Observer’s investigation followed rumours that lobbying companies were increasingly targeting the Scottish executive, touting for business.
Laurence told the pair that his clients were interested in “PFI stuff over here.” PFI is a means through which private capital is invested in services, such as education and healthcare. Begun by the Tory Party in England it was dramatically expanded by Blair’s “New Labour” government, PFI was extensively promoted by Labour as the saviour of public services when in reality it was privatisation via the back door.
Under the initiative, improvements, refurbishment, or the new construction of hospitals, roads, prisons, schools, sewage and water treatment plants was only permitted if they promised a long-term profit to venture capitalists. Those unable to do so were ditched.
The bogus businessmen were looking to Scotland because it had been established under the “New Labour” executive as a major area source of PFI contracting and “calculations suggested the level of financial return on PFI projects in Scotland provided financial rewards for foreign investors well above that in England.”
His clients were aware that the initiative was “politically sensitive” and required a consultancy firm that would help them navigate Scottish politics and facilitate discussions with those political leaders whose approval would be essential for any project.
Invited to present their “USP” (unique selling point) for the role, Barr noted Reid’s parentage and boasted of his company’s relationship with Jack McConnell, ex-general secretary of the Labour Party in Scotland and current Scottish government finance minister.
Although no longer officially on their payroll, McConnell was recently appointed Chief Executive of Beattie Media’s public affairs consultancy and his personal assistant , Christina Marshall was formerly employed by Beattie.
Reid was previously head of the Labour Party’s Scottish monitoring and research department and several other leading politicians and their offspring had close relations with Beattie Media.
Their corporate clients included West of Scotland Water, Scottish Enterprise and local investment agencies and referring to this the Beattie men explained that “we work for them all full-time, so we’ve got our finger on the pulse of what’s happening in business and in construction.
Major capital projects don’t tend to happen especially within these areas without us knowing about it.” They then made it clear that the entire Scottish government was accessible to any company with money to invest, stating: “First of all, it’s been set up so there shouldn’t be a problem with meeting ministers, executive members.”
Reid then boasted: “I worked for Jack McConnell and for Wendy Alexander, Minister for Communities and for Henry McLeish, Enterprise Minister and for the First Minister, Donald Dewar on a one-to-one basis. I also daily briefed press officers of the Labour Party media monitoring team”.
Reid then played his ace: “I know the Secretary of State very, very well, because he’s my father.” The father is John Reid, Secretary of State for Scotland, one of Prime Minister, Tony Blair’s closest allies and the man widely tipped to succeed George Robertson as Defence Secretary. The son is 24-year-old Kevin Reid, a former Labour Party helper who is now a key player in a “New Labour” lobbying firm peddling claims of influence and access to Ministers.
Whilst Reid said that he couldn’t promise access to people, he went on to explain how informal contacts could be arranged. He cited a meeting with Sports Minister Sam Galbraith in the Rangers football club directors’ box over a youth centre contract, and claimed to have helped win approval for a number of recent contracts involving freight transport from Prestwick and a £60 million tourist development around Loch Lomond.
Whilst media scandals are by no means new, this one drove the Labour Party in Scotland into crisis breaking as it did soon after the Party’s near defeat in the Hamilton bye-election.
John Reid and Donald Dewar reportedly came close to blows at the Labour Party conference over their differing responses to the scandal. Dewar called for a full enquiry, while Reid dismissed the revelations as a storm in a teacup. The press speculated that the spat involved broader rivalries between the two men. Blair was forced to dispatch a team north to investigate the whole sorry business and Beattie Media was instructed to close down its public affairs wing.
The Scottish Parliament’s Standards Committee announced an “in camera” investigation but after the intervention of the press it was forced by the law courts to conduct an inquiry in public. So much for the Labour Party manifesto promise of no more sleaze and cover-ups. The scandal also contradicted and consigned to the dustbin of history the political promotion of Scottish devolution as a “rebirth of democracy”.
Corporate control of politics in Scotland was transferred wholesale to private contractors by politicians whose undeclared intent was to asset strip the nation ensuring financial reward for themselves and their political organisations at the expense of those who elected them to office. New Labour’s programme of devolved government simply enabled a wide reaching exploitation of the electorate by transnational corporations and global money markets.
Leading Scottish National Party member George Kerevan commented, “The incestuous links between politicians, lobbyists—and journalists—means phone calls are returned. Cases are put to the right people. After all, in backward Scotland, trading influence is currency. Some day a politician might need a job or pertinent information or a message passed to the right ear.”
Sep 1999: more on Beattie Media and its role in the Lobbygate scandal
Beattie Media was allied with the second largest PR firm in the United States, APCO Worldwide. A global public affairs and strategic communications consultancy who put the Beattie Media public affairs wing in place in 1998 only months before the establishment at Holyrood of the New Labour executive. The company employed the offspring of no fewer than three MPs – two of them, including Reid, Cabinet Ministers. Malcolm Robertson, son of the outgoing Defence Secretary George Robertson, moved on to work as a lobbyist for the Scottish Airports Authority.
The third was Christina Marshall, daughter of David Marshall MP, chair of the Scottish affairs select committee at Westminster who transferred her employment taking up a new post as personal assistant to Jack McConnell, the Finance Minister in the Scottish executive and former general-secretary of the Scottish Labour Party and a central figure in Beattie Media’s lobbying sales pitch, having headed its public affairs wing before the 1998 elections to the new Scottish Parliament.
At the Balmoral meeting, Reid said that, in politics ‘relationships’ mattered. before he reeled off a list of the people he had got to know while working in the Labour Party and what positions they now held in the new administration in Edinburgh.
‘Anthony James’ said his ‘American clients’ wanted reassurance before they would invest and needed face-to-face meetings with Ministers. They also needed information about public projects using private finance before they were announced.
In response, Barr indicated that Beattie Media’s status as Scotland’s largest public relations business gave it an excellent information network. Not much happened in business north of the border without the firm knowing about it. He also said that McConnell’s appointment to head the public affairs wing had been made: “in the certain knowledge that Jack would get a safe seat from the Labour Party, and in the hope and expectation that he would also get a Cabinet position within the new administration”.
At the time McConnell was employed by Beattie Media the firm, acting for the Scottish Premier League in October 1998, invited Sports Minister Sam Galbraith to a Rangers European Champions League game so that he could meet league chief executive Roger Mitchell. The league wanted to establish youth soccer academies, but needed government financial help.
Weeks after the election the Labour executive pledged £10 million to develop the academies. Barr described the outcome as, “a tangible example of our work'”
At the time McConnell was selected to stand in Motherwell and Wishaw, he announced his retirement from lobbying saying: “I have always made it clear that I would put the constituency I hope to represent first, and I would never contemplate any potential conflict of interest”. But not long after Barr told the press that: “McConnell is still in close contact with the company”. A weird statement by Barr since McConnell, questioned only a day the day previously had stated: “I have only spoken to Beattie Media twice since I was selected by my constituents to serve as an MSP in the Scottish executive”.
Barr was right in his assertion but wrong headed to expose it. Measures had been put in place so that close contact by proxy could be maintained between Beattie Media and McConnell ( now a senior government minister). The measures!!!
Beattie Media permitted Christina Marshall, who worked at the firm at the same time as McConnell, to leave to work with him after the election ad it was through her that Beattie Media were enabled to to place appointments into McConnell’s diary.
In another example Barr said that Beattie Media handled PR for the Financial Director of the Year Award and he had rung Christina and said: “I’d love it if Jack could make the keynote speech. It would generate good coverage and provide opportunity for him meet movers and shakers. Christina ‘s response: “Consider it done”!!!!!
Questioned on Barr’s assertion Marshall responded: “McConnell had not yet decided whether he would speak at the presentation which she had only pencilled into his diary. But, in any event I still talk to my former colleagues at Beattie Media and conversations are not always on business issues”.
Barr didn’t give up instead insisting that he, Kevin Reid and company boss Gordon Beattie were each able to contact the Finance Minister in person, as they wished. They had his office, home and pager numbers and, as a Labour “gofer”, Kevin Reid routinely briefed future Scottish Ministers on a daily basis and he had also become close friends with a number of Labour officials who had gone on to to become SPADS to other Ministers in First Minister Donald Dewar’s Cabinet. Reid also implied that, through its connections, the company had influenced government policy on freight shipment rights at Prestwick Airport.
The US corporation Federal Express had threatened to pull out of Prestwick because under existing protocols it could not forward goods by air to Europe. Reid said: ‘I was quite pleased with the outcome of that bit of business” adding ” Our contact in London, Lord Gus Macdonald, UK transport Minister was very, very, useful indeed”. The decision by the Westminster government to give Fed-ex trans-shipment rights out of Prestwick was a bitter blow to other British shipment carriers since an opportunity to secure reciprocal rights at US airports had been ignored.
Barr also claimed that Beattie Media scooped an environmentally sensitive but financially lucrative contract’ for a client to build the “Lomond Shores Centre”, a £60m tourist development on the banks of Loch Lomond.
Reid went on to say that the company could not promise meetings adding that its ethos was to fix face-to-face meetings rather than lobbying directly.
The potential clients ventured: “Can you actually arrange a meeting with a member of the Scottish Cabinet then”?
“What time scale are we talking about”? asked Alex Barr.
“In the next month”? the clients responded.
“That should be achievable,” replied Barr.
“Whom would Beattie approach”? asked the clients.
Barr and Reid looked at each other. “Probably Jack” ? Reid asked his senior colleague. “I would say so,” confirmed Barr.
Sadly, less that 15 months into the New Labour government Party apparatchiks who had duped the electorate and helped the party to power were now filling their boots with finance looted as lobbyists providing their services securing access to Ministers in government in Downing Street and Holyrood.
Sep 1999: The Scottish parliamentary inquiry
Scotland’s First Minister Donald Dewar asked the parliament’s standards committee to investigate reports of links between Beattie Media and Ministers of the executive. The chair of which was the ineffectual Lib/Dem, Minister Mike Rumbles. Events:
30 Sep 1999: Donald Dewar an opening statement at Holyrood at the start of a debate on the matter
1 Oct 1999: It was reported that constituency case notes requested by the committee had not been provided because, McConnell claimed “they contained confidential information which if released to the public could place the lives of his constituents at risk”.
A notebook containing details of a private invitation to McConnell from Beattie Media to attend a financial awards dinner had been destroyed. and it was also alleged that a constituency diary entry containing details of a another Beattie Media event had been blotted out by tippex. A good start!!!
6 Oct 1999: Trish Marwick, SNP list member for Mid-Scotland and Fife, the real find of the Scottish Parliament got stuck into the stuttering Lib/Dem committee chairman Mike Rumbles and under her prompting the Standards Committee showed its teeth by holding a public morning matinee of the disgraceful Lobbygate video.
8 Oct 1999: Barr and Reid, the public relations executives embroiled in the Beattie Media Lobbygate row admitted they had “over-stated” their company as part of a sales pitch.
The Observer’s Scotland Editor, Dean Nelson, said the investigation began after the newspaper had been approached by concerned politicians. He went on to say that Beattie Media was targeted because it had employed Dr Reid’s son although he had no previous experience of lobbying. Nelson repeated allegations that Barr and Reid said they could influence McConnell’s diary and had close contacts with other ministers and advisors.
8 Oct 1999: Gordon Beattie, head of Beattie Media, told the Standards Committee that ‘people are employed by the company because of their abilities and skills, full stop.’ The growth of the company had ‘not happened because of political contacts,’ he said. But biographies of Beattie staff sent out to potential clients show that the political contacts of Kevin Reid, the son of Scottish Secretary John Reid, and Gordon Beattie were highlighted as key attributes when the firm was trying to win new business.
Beattie is described as ‘one of Europe’s leading communications professionals with contacts at the highest levels of political and business life’. Reid, who was recruited from his job monitoring the media for the Scottish Labour Party to head Beattie’s political lobbying operation, is described as having ‘extensive contacts in the Tony Blair Cabinet and throughout the Scottish political party network’.
Reid met senior Scottish political figures in his Labour Party job. Former colleagues say his only contacts with the UK Cabinet were with his father and any Ministers he might have met through his father. John Reid was a Transport Minister when Kevin Reid was interviewed for the job with Beattie and later became Scottish Secretary. Giving evidence under oath to the Standards Committee, Beattie said: “I will tell you why I recruited Kevin Reid. I was extremely impressed by Kevin when he came along for an interview. I gave him the hardest interview that I have ever given anyone, because I was not going to recruit him just because his father was the Minister for Transport.” He went on to say: “I do not ask people whom I recruit who their daddy is.” Aye right and pigs fly”
10 Oct 1999: McConnell, the Scottish Executive, Finance Minister was forced to face the public embarrassment that he had been a abject flop in his short-lived business career – a career in which the lobbying company he headed attracted no clients and had no revenue. Members of the Scottish executive’s standards committee were convinced by McConnell’s business failings that the Media’s claims about access to the minister were justified but the revelations allowed the prospect of other Ministers being called before the Committee to recede. So McDonnell under the cosh!!!!
15 Oct 1999: Gordon Beattie refused to let the ’lobbygate’ scandal which engulfed his agency, bring him down but it triggered media and political interest in Beattie’s stranglehold on public sector PR contracts for agencies which compete for public money and inward investment.
24 Oct 1999: The press kept applying the pressure alleging that Beattie Media boasted openly of close ties between Kevin Reid, head of its lobbying arm, and senior members of the UK Cabinet when it bid for new business. The revelation further undermined Gordon Beattie’s insistence that he hired employees for their abilities alone, rather than their contacts through friends and family with figures in the political hierarchy.
28 Oct 1999: Finance minister McConnell and his secretary Christina Marshall appeared before the Scottish Parliament’s standards committee and flatly contradicted claims made by Beattie Media executive Alex Barr about their conduct. Speaking under oath, McConnell said there was no truth to claims that Beattie Media, his previous employers could influence which events he attended as a minister. He told the Committee “I give a categorical assurance I have never at any stage breached the Ministerial Code. There is no evidence to suggest I have ever been, or would be, improperly influenced in conducting my ministerial duties.”
Marshall, previously questioned about Barr’s claim said she had not agreed to accept an invitation from Beattie Media for McConnell to speak at a dinner. Committee convener Mike Rumbles reminded her: “Alex Barr in his evidence on several occasions made it quite clear that he understood this would be confirmed.”
But Marshall, 22, daughter of Labour MP David Marshall, said: “I cannot comment on Mr Barr’s evidence. “My version is different from Mr Barr’s. I never gave any indication that Mr McConnell would attend.” She said the shorthand notebook she was using at the time of Barr’s phone call had been destroyed. She said her only other contact with Beattie Media, other than through personal contacts with junior members of staff with whom she had worked, was an invitation to McConnell to attend a Scottish Premier League match.
McConnell backed Marshall’s version of events and claimed he had told her not to follow the matter up unless there was a formal invitation. It was the type of event he might like to attend, but had already decided to keep his diary clear in January and February because he would be responsible for piloting the first budget Bill through the Parliament. He said that since he had become an MSP, his only contact with Beattie Media had been two phone calls from owner Gordon Beattie – one to congratulate him on his election and the other about a mutual acquaintance who had taken ill And he insisted that he had had no contact whatsoever with Kevin Reid or Alex Barr.
29 Oct 1999: The real star of the Holyrood horror show was Victoria Marshall who took centre stage and gave the performance of her life. As constituency secretary to McConnell, she became the focal point of the Lobbygate scandal. The final judgement of the Committee would come down to whether they believed her or Beattie Media. If the decision went against them McConnell and the Scottish Labour Party could be forced into another election and possible elimination from the Scottish political map. The Committee chose to ignore the wide discrepancies in Beattie Media and Marshall’s version of events. But one of the Party’s lied. !!!!
1 Nov 1999: The inquiry was forced to clear McConnell of any wrongdoing but highlighted differences in evidence between Barr and Marshall.
Committee member Tricia Marwick MSP said Marshall had called it “a difference of recollection”. She added: “In my view, there was a difference of fact but, “I don’t think it is the role of this committee to decide who, between Marshall and Barr, was not telling the truth.”
Labour member Adam Ingram said: “I think a message has to be sent out loud and clear from here that if individuals do not take the oath seriously, then there are implications that follow from that.” Yesterday committee convenor Mike Rumbles said: “There are major concerns by committee members that we have conflicting evidence given under oath. “It is obvious in the view of members that one of these two people was not telling the truth.” But the Committee’s remit only extended to MSPs and its investigation can go no further.
Dewar favoured the appointment of a commissioner saying: ” I think there is a very strong feeling across the parliament that the procedure was clumsy and if there had been someone to sift the evidence and gather the facts before the Standards Committee then we would not have seen so much damaging speculation and difficulty.”
19 Nov 1999: The son of Scottish Secretary John Reid resigned from his public relations job. A spokesman for Beattie Media stressed it was Reid’s own decision to leave.
But this was not the end of the matter???? there was a lengthy epilogue!!
29 Jun 2008: It was revealed Christina Marshall’s daddy was not an honourable member MP for Glasgow East. He was a crook who struggled with the truth. He resigned his seat at Westminster rather than face questioning by the Westminster ombudsman about illegal payments to his family members. In the 3 years leading up to his resignation he claimed nearly £220,000 to pay for staff, plus £7,000 for their travel expenses.
And what of Christina? Well she found herself having to answer questions from the fraud squad about £11,000 missing from the Red Rose Dinner Account, which managed cash raised at a Labour fundraiser attended by McConnell and the then Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid. McConnell also had to explain why one of three accounts under investigation had paid £168 for a five-star room for Christina Marshall’s father at Edinburgh’s Caledonian Hotel during a Scottish Labour conference in March 2000. Local Labour bosses called in the police after unearthing the shortfall and, as one of only three signatories to the fund, Christina was closely questioned. A charity she was working for at the time asked her to leave, telling her that it did not want its reputation to be tarnished by the affair.
Well – Well – Well that’s it then!! No just a little bit more- Jack McConnell survived to Lobbygate scandal for the single reason that his Personal Assistant supported him and denied there had been open access to his diary.. Had she confirmed the allegation made by Mr Barr her boss would have been forced to resign and the future of Scotland would have been so different. The inquiry gave credence to her evidence. After all she was the daughter of an Honourable member of the Westminster Parliament. But was the inquiry willingly conned by a young lady?? I believe so. But just to confirm my thoughts are based on fact and not supposition read on;
4 Dec 2011: A convicted car fraudster is back in business selling second-hand motors to unsuspecting customers. James Doyle, 47, is the man behind the Glasgow Motor Company, based in Paisley. The father-of-two runs his new showroom with his wife Christina, 34, who is the daughter of former Labour MP David Marshall. They sell second-hand and luxury motors, including Maserati’s, Rolls-Royce’s and Audi’s. But people who flock to his forecourt will be unaware that Doyle served time in prison for duping past customers.
In February 2007 at Dumbarton Sheriff Court he admitted defrauding 57 people out of pounds £89k worth of deposits at his UK Vehicle Solutions Business in Clydebank and was jailed for eight months. The 57 victims had paid deposits in August 2005 for top-of-the-range luxury cars – but never received them. Trading standards investigators from West Dunbartonshire Council received 150 complaints about his firm the next month from furious customers. They passed the file to Strathclyde Police who launched a major fraud probe. But it took officers 18 months to bring Doyle to court because he disappeared after UK Vehicle Solutions shut down.
He was eventually traced and appeared in court on February 22, 2007, charged with 57 fraud offences equating to more than pounds £136k worth of stolen deposits. But the value of the fraud was reduced to pounds £90k after he agreed to plead guilty. It’s thought the total value of the cars ordered by customers was around £1m. But it is not known how many of the cars were Doyle’s to sell.
Company boss Stuart Green, from Birmingham, paid a £ 1176 as a deposit for a £40k Porsche Boxster in August 2005 to Doyle’s company. But when he phoned the next month to check on his delivery date, the lines to the firm’s offices were dead. He realised he had been duped and called the trading standards department, who told him of other victims. At the time Doyle was offering people the chance to acquire the luxury cars through a leaseback arrangement, paying so much a month for the first three years. After that they had the option of buying the car or trading it in.
Stuart, 39, said: “I felt very stupid being ripped off but Doyle and his firm seemed so genuine. “It is ridiculous that he can set up a car business after being sent to jail for defrauding previous customers. “There is surely a greater need for some sort of licensing or regulation. “I never saw a penny of my money but he doesn’t seem to be out of pocket.” A West Dunbartonshire Council spokeswoman said: “Officers are unaware if any consumers received a refund for deposits paid.”
1 Jul 2012: Luxury car fraudster James Doyle is at it again. He is being probed by police after his latest business went bust. Customers of the Glasgow Motor Company looking for their cars or payment last week found the doors locked and Doyle nowhere to be seen. A notice said the firm had ceased trading. Scores of luxury and second-hand cars, including Maserati’s and Rolls-Royce’s, had disappeared overnight.
Police have been inundated with complaints from angry customers. Many had been sold faulty cars and were waiting for them to be fixed. Some of the victims had given Doyle cars to sell but haven’t been paid. Others had paid for cars but couldn’t collect them. Strathclyde Police said: “We are investigating a number of complaints from the public about the Glasgow Motor Company. ” Detectives and plain clothes police searched the premises in Ralston, Paisley, on Tuesday.
Renfrewshire Council trading standards officers are also probing complaints from people whose cars were faulty. And it’s been revealed the council are owed £82k by Glasgow Motor Company for three years of business rates. A few staff had been left to handle customers. One said: “We’ve been told to refer calls to police.” Dad-of-two Doyle, 48, ran the showroom, which he took over in 2010, with wife Christina, 35, the daughter of former Labour MP David Marshall. Records at Companies House show Christina resigned as a director on June 15 – 10 days before the firm shut down.
31 March 2013: Car fraudster sets up new business just nine months after his last firm went bust
Luxury car fraudster James Doyle is back in business only nine months after his last firm went bust with debts of £19k. Doyle did a runner at his Glasgow Motor Company business in Paisley, leaving customers out of pocket and 13 staff out of work. He has now set up a business called the Maryhill Motor Company in the north west of Glasgow and advertises a range of cars, including an £18k Jaguar, a £19k BMW and a £60k Ferrari online through Auto-trader, using the name Jim Smith or Maryhill Motor Company.
A journalist posed as a customer to meet 48-year-old Doyle, who uses the name Mr Smith on his new lot in the city’s Maryhill Road, near Partick Thistle’s Firhill ground. The new premises have no signs marking out his new venture –keeping him disguised from former staff and creditors. When we confronted Doyle about his latest business, he refused to comment.
One victim of Glasgow Motor Company Andy Dunlop, the manager of Scots rock band Twin Atlantic, was stunned whenhe was told that Doyle was back in business. Andy, 31, bought a second-hand BMW from the Glasgow Motor Company in January 2012 for £2500 but the hand-brake, power steering and engine were faulty. He said: “I find it astonishing that this man is still able to sell second-hand cars.”
When Glasgow Motor Company went bust in June last year, scores of cars, including Maseratis and Rolls-Royces, disappeared from the forecourt overnight. Customers had been sold faulty cars and were waiting for them to be fixed. Some had given the firm cars to sell but haven’t been paid. Others had paid for cars but couldn’t collect them. One creditor gave a car to Glasgow Motor Company to sell, never got the money or the car back, and was then landed with the existing HP payments.
Renfrewshire Council trading standards officers also investigated complaints of faulty cars. The council were also owed £82k by Glasgow Motor Company for three years of business rates. Doyle ran the showroom, which he took over in 2010, with his wife Christina, 36.
Now do you believe Christina’s assertion that she told the truth to the Lobbygate inquiry??? The end
1997: William Cohen – Defender of the United States of America
The Cohen Group is the largest and most influential political group in the world. William Cohen and George Robertson are key movers and shakers in it and have worked hand-in-glove since 1997. https://www.cohengroup.net/
Clinton’s Secretary of Defence, Cohen was the man who built a new security order in Europe by creating a European defence structure independent of the US, through the expansion of NATO and the EU towards eastern Europe. His moves tied in with Clinton’s policy of removing American forces from foreign wars in preference for providing “proxy support”. There was tacit agreement within Europe for the “new” policy but with the proviso that American assets within NATO would be made available to be used in any conflict. The British government accepted the role of “European Pillar” within the alliance and agreed to lead any independent European peacekeeping and crisis-prevention missions. Cohen would be the final arbiter of any mission.
George Islay MacNeill Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, KT, GCMG, PC, FRSA, FRSE: Labour Party Minister of Defence and an Alma mater of the University of Dundee-A pen picture.
1997: George Robertson was appointed, Minister of Defence and immediately established a working relationship with the American Secretary of Defence, William Cohen. In that position, he committed the armed forces to a military role in the Kosovo conflict and participation in East Timor and in the 1998 air strikes in Iraq then Afghanistan.
He also initiated a Strategic Defence Review (completed in 1998) which he confidently stated would be “a force for good”. The review created a “Joint Rapid Reaction Force” equipped and capable of rapid deployment worldwide aimed at neutralising, putting down any threat to the interests of the UK or USA.
The review also reintroduced “gunboat diplomacy” which would be achieved through an ambitious project to build two new large “Queen Elizabeth” class aircraft carriers armed with 600 super duper new aircraft and accompanying armadas of cruisers, destroyers and a myriad of other support vessels to show the world that Great Britain under the Labour Party was committed to the defence of the nation.
But there was a major drawback which scuppered Robertson’s grandeoise plans. The Labour government had campaigned under the banner “things will only get better” but neglected to tell the public that the start of the “betterment” would be deferred for at least the first two years of the New Labour government. The defence budget was reduced by £2bn. Robertson and Labour had created an unaffordable dream and sold the nation a defective puppy.
But Blair/Brown and Robertson would not be thwarted in their intent to expand Britain’s influence in the world and soon found a way betray their manifesto promises.
They set about privatising the state owned defence industry raising finance necessary to fund the Labour Party plans for world domination with the USA, starting with the balkans. Their first venture was to set up a public/private partnership called QinetiQ which made 10 senior civil servants multi-millionaires overnight, as their total personal investment of £540,000 turned into £107 million. A National Audit Office (NAO) review concluded that the taxpayer had lost “tens of millions” on the sale.
Shifting the defence industry from being a “provider” to a “decider” resulted in the Ministry of Defence (MOD) losing the ability to act as an intelligent customer able to hold suppliers to account. Providers were made kings able to charge increasingly exorbitant fees for mediocre products.
In total “New Labour” sold state owned assets to a value of nearly £60bn. Much of the money raised was used to finance illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in which many young Scottish men and women were needlessly killed, wounded and maimed. The survivors have since been abandoned and sentenced to live the rest of their their lives in pain and poverty denied the assistance of the State that condemned them to the scrap heap of society. Read on: https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/13460/Qinetiq%3A+Gordon+Browns+privatised+defence+scandal
Robertson and his Wars
Bosnia was the first test of European resolve and Britain together with some other European countries responded deploying significant numbers of armed forces to police internal conflicts within the region that had been encouraged by many dozens of Daniel Defoe type agents acting under the guise of NATO “do gooders”. The countries of the Balkans and Serbia were bombed into submission during an air campaign in which more than 31,000 bombing raids were conducted by the US and Britain supported by British troops on the ground. Rebuilding the countries of the Balkans is still far from complete over twenty years later but NATO and the EU has been expanded.
In 1999, he was invited to serve as Secretary General of NATO and Chairman of the North Atlantic Council. In the four turbulent years that followed, he presided over the creeping enlargement of the Alliance to include member states in Central and Eastern Europe and was the first ever leader of NATO to invoke the Article V mutual defense provision, responding to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. He was instrumental in getting NATO involved in Afghanistan.
In November 2003, President George W. Bush presented him with the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honour and only rarely given to foreign nationals.
In the 2004 Queens New Year Honours he received one of Britain’s highest awards, the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George.
The following year he was made one of the Knights of the Thistle, chosen personally by Her Majesty The Queen, which is the highest honour in the UK, equal to the Order of the Garter.
He has the highest national honours from Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Poland, the Netherlands and many other countries.
Since 1997, he has served as a member of Her Majesty’s Privy Council.
He was Joint President of Chatham House (the Royal Institute for International Affairs) for a decade and serves today on its Panel of Senior Advisors and its North American Committee.
He is an Elder Brother of Trinity House, on the Councils of the European Council on Foreign Affairs and the International Institute of Strategic Studies.
He is a Prime Ministerial appointee to the World War One Commemoration Advisory Board, a Trustee of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, and on the Board of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
Robertson – The ardent Unionist
April 2014: In a speech to the Brookings Institution, in the USA, Robertson likened the honourable efforts of Unionists to keep Scotland tied to the UK with those of Abraham Lincoln’s fight against slavery when he stated:
“they might look more relevantly at the Civil War where hundreds of thousands of Americans perished in a war to keep the new Union together. To Lincoln and his compatriots the Union was so precious, so important, and its integrity so valuable that rivers of blood would be spilt to keep it together.”
April 2004: Marriage unites the Robertson-Smith Labour Party Dynasties
Strengthening the Labour Party Dynasty in Scotland the daughter of the late Labour leader John Smith married the son of party colleague Lord Robertson on a picturesque Scottish island. Malcolm Robertson, 31, tied the knot with Jane Smith, 32, on Islay. Among those who attended were First Minister Jack McConnell, Liberal Democrat, deputy leader, Sir Menzies Campbell and former Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine. The bride arrived at the church in a blue Rolls-Royce wearing a cream dress with a full-length veil along with her sister, Sarah, the Channel 4 News presenter who was the maid of honour.
2021: Malcolm Robertson-Charlotte Street Partners-Corporate Loyalists
Vulture capitalists are here in Scotland and increasingly running public services. Charlotte Street Partners headed by ex-SNP MSP Andrew Wilson, alongside Malcolm Robertson and Kevin Pringle are in “the business of government”, “strategic communications” and “message development” which sounds very much like lobbying for Vulture Capitalists.Their modus operandi is not better government and public policy but serving the interests of their clients. Charlotte Street will not reveal who their clients are or who funds them – and have consistently refused all requests, which breaks best practice in public affairs.
The reach of Charlotte Street Partners extends over large parts of public life. Angus Grossart, banker, is chair; Chris Deerin worked at Charlotte Street, then left and came back as head of the centre-right think tank Reform Scotland which also is secretive about who and what funds it (and was set up by another banker Ben Thomson).
Their clients include News Scotland (who publish “The Times” and “Sunday Times”. Pringle writes a column in The Sunday Times; and Times and Spectator commentator Alex Massie is also on the Charlotte Street payroll regularly writing a ‘Beyond the Street’ column on Charlotte Street Partners’ website.
A recurring critisim of London think-tanks such as the TaxPayers’ Alliance, Institute for Economic Affairs, and Centre for Policy Studies is their secretive funding and funders and who drives their agenda; the same has to be true about Charlotte Street. This is not a healthy state of affairs in public life in Scotland and the UK.
A company or those working for it cannot get away with declaring ” we are not corporate lobbyist’s”, while plying that trade and the potential for public scandal is ever present. Indeed what was Nicola Sturgeon thinking when she appointed Wilson to “chair” the recent “SNP Growth Commission”. The findings of which she was forced to reject.!!!! (extracted and summarised content from from open democracy) This article is an excellent read:
1999: Scotland’s lobbygate-Observer reporters expose the links between Beattie Media and the Scottish executive
The lobbyist set out to impress the client. Grinning broadly he played his ace: “I know the Secretary of State very, very well, because he’s my daddy.”
“Daddy” was John Reid, Secretary of State for Scotland, Tony Blair’s closest ally and a man strongly tipped to succeed George Robertson as Defence Secretary.
The lobbyist was 24-year-old Kevin Reid, a former Labour Party helper and now key player in a “New Labour” lobbying firm peddling claims of influence and access to Ministers.
Reid and Beattie Media director, Alex Barr had met “Anthony James”, an Observer reporter posing as a businessman. “James” said he represented US investors who hoped to land lucrative Scottish government contracts to finance new schools and hospitals. The meeting, at Edinburgh’s Balmoral hotel, was secretly taped and filmed.
At the meeting the lobbyists boasted of their privileged access to a Ministerial diary and claimed they had assisted the process of winning approval for a £60 million tourist development and a decision on shipment rights at a British airport.
Beattie Media also employed the offspring of three MPs – two of which, John Reid and George Robertson are Cabinet Ministers.
Malcolm Robertson, son of Defence Secretary George Robertson, has since transferred his employment to is now working as a lobbyist for the Scottish Airports Authority.
The third is Christina Marshall, daughter of David Marshall MP, chair of the Scottish affairs select committee at Westminster. She is now personal assistant to Jack McConnell, Finance Minister in the Scottish executive and former general-secretary of the Scottish Labour Party. He is central to Beattie’s lobbying sales pitch, having headed its public affairs wing before this year’s elections to the new Scottish Parliament.
After NATO
Robertson received numerous honours (including a total of 12 Honorary doctorates from various universities).
Took up the post of Senior Counsellor at The Cohen Group, a consulting firm in Washington D.C. that provides advice and assistance in marketing and regulatory affairs.
His Career
1968–1978, Official of the GMB Union for the Scottish whisky industry. 1978–1999, Member of the British House of Commons, member for Hamilton or Hamilton South, elected six times. 1979, Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Social Services. 1979–??, Opposition Spokesman on Scottish Affairs. 19??–82, Opposition Spokesman on Defence. 1982–93, Opposition Spokesman on Foreign Affairs. 1983–93, Chief Opposition Spokesman on Europe. 1993–97, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland. May 1997, Appointed to the Privy Council May 1997 – October 1999, Defence Secretary of the United Kingdom October 1999–January 2004, Robertson who had never served in HM forces was appointed Secretary General of NATO after a number of more qualified politicians declined the position and former Royal Marine Paddy Ashdown was overlooked because he had been leader of a minor political party.
Other former or existing posts
Chairman of the Labour Party in Scotland Vice-chairman of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy Vice-Chairman of the British Council for nine years Vice-Chairman of the Britain-Russia Centre Member of the Council of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) seven years, now President Member of the Pilgrims Society Governor of the Ditchley Foundation Trustee of the 21st Century Trust Patron to the British-American Project Currently serves on the board of Cable & Wireless International Currently serves on the board of The Weir Group PLC Currently serves on the board of The TNK-BP Currently serves on the Global Panel Foundation|Global Panel America Advisory Board Currently a member of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation, established in October 2009. Hon president of the Clan Donnachaidh Society
Honours Awards and Orders
United Kingdom 2003 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) Scotland Knight of the Order of the Thistle (KT) Order of St. George (KT) Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau Presidential Medal of Freedom, USA Grand Order of King Petar Krešimir IV. Croatia Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana. Estonia
Organisations
Joint Parliamentarian of the Year for his role in the Maastricht Treaty ratification. European Union. Atlantic Solidarity Award bestowed by the Manfred Wörner Foundation. Bulgaria recipient of the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award. Czech Republic Elder Brother of Trinity House. UK
Appointments
life peer as Baron Robertson of Port Ellen 1999. UK Member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom (PC) Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University (DUniv) from the University of Paisley. Honorary Doctorate from the University of Dundee Honorary Doctorate from the University of Bradford Honorary Doctorate from Cranfield University (Royal Military College of Science) Honorary Doctorate from the Baku State University. Azerbaijan Honorary Regimental Colonel of the London Scottish (Volunteers)
The security services are comprised of three branches each of which provide graduates, post graduates, linguists, IT specialists and writers a wide range of career opportunities in intelligence work.
MI5: Staff 4000: It is responsible for protecting the UK against covertly organized threats to national security encompassing terrorism, espionage and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
MI6: Staff 3500: Operates in secret overseas, recruiting and developing foreign contacts and gathering intelligence. An opportunist organization it identifies then exploits favourable circumstances avoiding risks to national security, military capability and prosperity. Its remit also includes counter terrorism, resolving international conflict and prevention of the spread of nuclear and other non-conventional weapons.
GCHQ: Staff 6000: It is the UK government’s expert in cyber security, using technical expertise to provide intelligence, protect information and inform government policy.
Note: In the case of MI5 there are probably less than fifty agents fitting the James Bond profile. The bulk of the remaining group of specialist agents operate in England and Ireland with a cadre of around 250 likely to be permanently deployed in Scotland. Contrary to popular perception many agents fulfil mundane duties, such as research, office and other administration work. Once in there is no “out” although the pursuit of other careers is encouraged, if applicable.
There is another group recruited direct from Universities and deployed to intelligence gathering duties, media manipulation and deep penetration of subversive groups. Many of this last lot are “deep throat” agents located career term within the ranks of senior people in Universities, politicians, police, charities and other institutions of power.
About Secret Services operatives
Those who sign up to employment with the services swear allegiance for life to the “Crown” and the preservation of the “Union”. They owe fealty to no political party but, if deployed to that activity they are permitted to exercise a choice of the political dogma they wish to follow and if elected to office they will serve their constituents to the very best of their political ability but always mindful of the criteria that shapes their thinking.
Are secret services persons easy to identify?
Only if information is released into the public domain, which isn’t that often. Unverifiable identification is possible, usually through the “association, utterances or actions” routes and as such assertions need to be taken on trust. The articles that follow will do just that.
1703: Daniel Defoe – The first and very special British secret agent destroyed Scotland
A close study of the activities and subterfuge of the English government and Daniel Defoe in the period before and after the 1707 Act of Union reveals a similar pattern of events occurred before and after the 2014 Scottish Referendum.
In 1704, Defoe, in jail at the time, offered his services to William Paterson, the London Scot and founder of the Bank of England and part instigator of the Darien scheme.
Dependent on his release from prison and a large fee he would, through his writings and subterfuge encourage a swithering English populace to support a union of Scotland and England and then go to Scotland, where he had extensive contacts with many highly placed sources in government to finish the job.
Paterson, who had the confidence of Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, leading minister and spymaster in the English Government consulted with his confidant. Harley accepted Defoe’s services and arranged his release in 1703.
Defoe wrote and published “The Review”, which appeared weekly, then three times a week. It soon became the main mouthpiece of the Westminster Government promoting an Act of Union with Scotland.
In an early edition “The Review” claimed an “act of union” with Scotland would end the threat from the North, gaining for the Treasury an inexhaustible treasury of men for war’s in Europe and other places” and a valuable new worldwide market greatly increasing and expanding the power of England.
In September 1706, Harley ordered Defoe, (who was conscious of the risk to himself) to Edinburgh as a secret agent to do everything possible to help secure acquiescence in the Treaty of Union. His first reports to Harley were not encouraging since they contained vivid descriptions of violent demonstrations against any prospect of a Union with Westminster. “A Scots rabble is the worst of its kind”, he reported.
Years after, John Clerk, of Penicuik, a leading Unionist, wrote about Defoe in his memoirs:: “He was a spy among us, but not known as such, otherwise the Mob of Edinburgh would have pulled him to pieces.”
But Defoe, a Presbyterian who had suffered in England for his convictions, was readily accepted as an adviser to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and a number of the more influential committees of the Parliament of Scotland.
He told Harley that he was “privy to all their folly” but “perfectly unsuspected as with corresponding with anybody in England”. He was enabled to influence any proposals that were put to Parliament and reported;
“Having had the honour to be always sent for the committee to whom these amendments were referred, I have had the good fortune to break their measures in two particulars via the bounty on Corn and proportion of the Excise.”
In Scotland, he used different arguments, even the opposite of those which he used in England, usually ignoring the English doctrine of the Sovereignty of Parliament, for example, telling the Scots that they could have complete confidence in the guarantees in the Treaty.
Some of his pamphlets were purported to be written by Scots, misleading even reputable historians into quoting them as evidence of Scottish opinion of the time.
He disposed of the main Union opponent, Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun, by ignoring him.
Nor did he account for the deviousness of the Duke of Hamilton, the official leader of the various factions opposed to the Union, who seemingly betrayed his former colleagues when he switched to the Unionist/Government side in the decisive final stages of the debate.
Defoe made no attempt to explain why the same Parliament of Scotland which was so vehement for its independence from 1703–1705 became so supine in 1706.
He received very little reward from his paymasters and of course no recognition for his services by the government.
Glaschu, described by Defoe as a “Dear Green Place” became a hotbed of sustained unrest against the Union prompting clergymen to urge their congregations “to up and anent for the City of God”. Which Scots did in their thousands tearing up copies of the “Treaty of Union” at every “Mercat Cross in Scotland. The response from Westminster was a deployment of a heavily armed English army to put down the rioters.
Years later he reflected on his experience and betrayal of Scots to write his Tour thro’ the whole Island of Great Britain, published in 1726, in which he admitted that the increase of trade and population in Scotland which he had predicted as a consequence of the Union was “not the case, but rather the contrary”.
Apr 1998: Malcolm Rifkind – special agent never denied calls for political pact to block Scottish nationalists
Rikind: Tory and Foreign Secretary between 1995-2000 and in charge of Britain’s secret services accused Labour of fostering the mood of nationalism within Scotland by exploiting “nationalist language” during its spell in opposition saying; “The genie is out of the bottle and, like all genies, once they are out of the bottle they are difficult to put back in.” He then called for the formation of a cross-party movement to protect the Union and prevent the SNP taking power. He said: “I think there is a need for a non-party movement in Scotland to support the Union.” An agreed cross party action plan was put in place that same year and it has never been rescinded.
In 2009, Rifkind, became Chairman of the British Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), which oversees MI5, MI6 and GCHQ – (the most important position in the UK intelligence community) and took overall charge of the “Better Together” disinformation campaign.
Andrew Fulton
2000: Glasgow University – A hotbed of powerful Unionist activity at the heart of Scottish education
Andrew Fulton – Former MI6 Head of Station (Washington) uncovered as a spy working for the University. Former Glasgow University, Law student Fulton, described as “more George Smiley than James Bond” served in Saigon, East Berlin, Bosnia, New York and Washington. At the peak of his career he was the sixth-most powerful official in the British Secret Service. In 1992, Fulton as head of European operations, was one of the MI6 chiefs who handled the aborted plans to kill Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. He was also an adviser to the Armor Group, Chairman, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, a secretive organization that provided security services to national governments and large corporations.
He was forced to step down as a member of the Lockerbie Trial Briefing Unit (LTBU) which provided media briefings on the trial in Holland of the two Libyans accused of the Lockerbie bombing.
The revelation raised concerns that he may have been in a position to influence the way the Lockerbie trial was being reported to ensure the minimum of criticism of the British and American intelligence services.
The title, “Visiting Professor” was authorised by Glasgow University Principal Graeme Davis, also a member of the Scottish North American Business Council (SNABC).*
The unusual thing about the Fulton professorship was that he had never worked in the legal profession in any capacity, had never taught classes and did no research at Glasgow University. So how was it he was considered to be qualified to be a “Visiting Professor of Law?” The answer is that Graham Davis, Glasgow University Principal permitted MI6 to plant Fulton in the Media unit.
The American ambassador Philip Lader was also a member of the (SNABC) at the same time justifying claims that it was used as a front organization allowing Fulton and Lader to meet without drawing attention, to discuss Lockerbie the handling of the press corps steering them away from the Americans.
* The (SNABC) is the Scottish chapter of the secretive, well connected Atlanticist body aimed at fostering closer relations between the UK the US British-American Business Council and has interesting intelligence connections.
Its current Chairman is former MI6 Washington Station Chief Andrew Fulton. The Council retains Media House International for PR and its executive chairman Jack Irvine is also a former board member. (Powerbase)
Adam Tomkins
2. Professor Adam Tomkins appointed – Chair of Public Law (John Millar School of Law)
Tomkins, with established links to senior officers in the Foreign Affairs branch of the US State Department, is an intellectual and political genius, but perhaps only in his own mind and imagination and a leading constitutional scholar and hard line republican relocated to Scotland from England in 2003, taking up employment with Glasgow University as a lecturer in constitutional law.
His previous employment had been teaching English law in English educational establishments and his appointment to a prestigious post remitting him to inform students of Scottish law created disquiet in the minds of some and raised the question. Is this guy for real or is he a British Secret Service plant?
Adam Tomkins
Spies-R-Us
Is a recently created Glasgow University course covering Security, Intelligence & Strategic Studies – A two year post graduate course: Graduates from the programme are prepared to pursue careers in security-related posts in government offices and public administration, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, transnational business corporations and private security and risk analysis companies.
Andrew Dunlop
Graduated in economics from Glasgow University. Joined Thatcher’s inner circle as one of the seven members of her “policy unit”, specializing in defence, employment, tax reform and Scotland. Was a special adviser to former Defence Secretary George Younger. One of the architects, together with David Cameon of the hated 1989 Poll Tax. Left government, appointed managing director of top lobbying firm “Politics International.” David Cameron’s right hand man in the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum. Ennobled by Cameron in 2015 then installed as, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland working with Tomkins and Mundell maintaining the subjugation of the Scots.
Glasgow University Officers’ Training Corps
The University of Glasgow’s links with the British military can be traced back to the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745, when companies of Militia were raised to defend the unionist supporting University against the Jacobites. During the First World War, Glasgow , by the summer of 1916, around 2,800 officers had been trained by the University. In the Second World War the UOTC’s role was to train officers from University students conscripted into the Army and to provide basic training for those who remained behind as a Home Guard unit. Glasgow UOTC still exists and remains based at the drill hall in University Place.
Ruth Davidson emerges from the shadows of Glasgow University
Davidson, was employed by the BBC for around eight years until 2009. In that employment she was deployed to Bosnia as a correspondent, at the time Andrew Fulton was head of the Secret Service in Bosnia. She resigned her employment with the BBC in 2009 and signed up to a one year post-graduate course in international diplomacy at Glasgow University. In that same year she joined the Tory Party, later claiming “I liked David Cameron’s looks”. A few months later, she assumed, the role of Chair of Glasgow University Young Conservatives. Only a year later she was appointed to the leadership of the Tory Party in Scotland by Andrew Fulton. Does the link to Fulton permit Davidson to be exposed as a Secret Service agent? How does that smell to you?
caltonjock 
