David James TAYLOR (Director)
GRAYLING CAPITAL LLP (OC418709)
MOBLAKE ASSOCIATES LTD (11627079)
MOBLAKE LIMITED (11627158)
MOBLAKE ENERGY TRADING LTD (11627038)
MOBLAKE ASSOCIATES LIMITED (11630687)
EARTHCOTT LTD (13598010)
The expansion of Wind Farms in Wales
Concerns have been raised that Bute Energy “courted” Welsh politicians with gifts and donations to gain favour and influence for future wind farm projects.
Run by Oliver James Millican, Bute is an offshoot of the property and investment company Parabola, run by his father, Scotsman Peter John Millican.
Several Labour Senedd members and a Labour MP received tickets to sporting events and cash from Scottish company Bute Energy over the last three years.
Bute is developing a portfolio of onshore wind and solar power energy parks across rural parts of Wales.
It’s been involved in several controversial planning applications for turbines and steel pylons in picturesque areas of the country.
Some Labour politicians have hosted prestigious events on behalf of Bute Energy after receiving gifts from the company.
John Uden, husband of Labour MS Jenny Rathbone accepted a position on Bute Energy’s advisory board in March 2021.
The board was set up to provide advice and guidance to Bute’s executive team and to help to promote onshore wind and solar energy projects in Wales.
Bute Energy is currently planning to build an onshore windfarm made up of 26 turbines 220 metres high near the Glaslyn nature reserve in Powys.
The proposals have sparked fierce backlash from locals and wildlife campaigners.
A statutory consultation with local communities and organisations is expected at the end of this year.
On June 12 this year, Jenny Rathbone, John Griffiths, Jack Sargeant and Ken Skates all followed the Labour whip and and voted against a Plaid Cymru motion for new power lines to be placed underground.
A campaigner against Bute’s plans who didn’t wish to be named said: “Although this information is available in the public domain, these members of the Senedd are unable or unwilling to see conflicts of interest that are so obvious to the public.
“This seems to run counter to Sir Keir Starmer’s recent comments about the importance of probity and public service in government.”
“Jacothenorth”, picks up the story
I first became aware of Bute’s links to Labour when I was told that someone was visiting people close to a planned wind farm. This was (the now abandoned) Moelfre site inland of Colwyn Bay, a real outlier from Bute’s other projects.
This Bute representative was David James Taylor, Labour insider who’d been Spad to a number of high-profile figures; UK government minister Peter Hain and Wales first ministers Rhodri Morgan and Carwyn Jones.
In 2016 Taylor stood to become the North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner. After losing maybe he considered his career options. Or perhaps he was approached, for Labour was already helping wind farm developers.
We saw this when Anna McMorrin lobbied Powys councillors on behalf of Hendy wind farm in April 2017, just a month before she was elected Labour MP for Cardiff North.
Taylor formed three companies in October 2018: Moblake Wind Ventures Ltd (which became Moblake Ltd 11.11.2020); Moblake Energy Trading Ltd (folded 2020); and Moblake Associates Ltd (now being struck-off).
The timing is intriguing, because Taylor’s companies were formed a week before his friend and colleague, Lesley Griffiths, set the precedent of over-ruling a planning inspector to give Hendy windfarm planning consent. She did so using the relatively new Developments of National Significance (DNS) legislation.
DNS made it clear that Wales was free range for wind turbines; free of interference from locals, their council representatives, or even planning inspectors.
Taylor was rewarded by Bute with shares in Windward Enterprises Ltd (now Windward Energy Ltd), both in his own name and that of Moblake Associates Ltd. He was also a (non-designated) member of Grayling Capital LLP.
Money magically appeared in Moblake Ltd, which Taylor then paid to himself in ‘loans’ totalling over £600,000 that did not need to be repaid.
There was an attempt to liquidate this company a couple of years ago, but the liquidator was removed last August. Since when there’s been no further news.
Taylor was useful to Bute because of his closeness to Lesley Griffiths, and his insider knowledge of the Labour party machine.
Which is why it’s suggested that Taylor’s personal payment came in shares and other ways; and that most if not all of the £600,000+ was really a donation from Bute to the Labour party.
Bute Energy
Soon after setting up in Wales, perhaps in an attempt to establish Welsh credentials, Bute set up a Welsh Advisory Board. comprising:
Derek Vaughan, redundant MEP;
Dr Debra Williams, businesswoman and academic;
John ‘Cwmbetws’ Davies, man of many hats and big shot in the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society;
John Uden, partner of Jenny Rathbone MS.?
THE Neath- Port Talbot-Brussels-Copenhagen Connection
Derek Vaughan was leader of Neath Port Talbot (NPT) council and would certainly know Stephen Kinnock, the Labour MP for Aberavon, the Port Talbot seat.
Vaughan was an MEP from 2009 to 2019, preceded by the late Glenys Kinnock. The wife of former Labour leader, Neil Kinnock, and mother to Stephen.
Stephen Kinnock MP is married to Helle Thorning-Schmidt, former Danish PM. She serves as a director of Danish wind turbine producer, Vestas, reputed to be the biggest in the world.
In 2020 Vestas took a 25% stake in Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. (CIP) which is the conduit for funding Bute projects.
Derek Vaughan’s political background and contacts explain him being chosen as the chairman of Bute’s Welsh Advisory Board. He was a ‘good fit’.
Bute assiduously courted the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society (RWAS). Which makes sense, for the RWAS gives access to many of the landowners on whose property Bute would like to erect turbines and pylons.
This explains Bute’s recruitment of John Davies, who from 2012 was RWAS chairman.
The fourth member of the quartet is John Uden, whose only qualification is being the partner of Senedd Member, Jenny Rathbone, who sits on the Senedd’s Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee.
And so to understand why Bute recruited Uden we need to focus on Rathbone.
Rathbone was born in Liverpool and is a member of the Rathbone dynasty, once very influential in that city. The influence continues through Rathbones Wealth & Investment Management.
Jenny Rathbone and other family members are looked after from the investments made. This presumably accounts for the shares in her Register of interests.
A fascinating connection revealed recently lists Copenhagen Offshore Partners A/S in an office office at 10 George Street, Edinburgh. The same building as Rathbone Investment Management (£60bn assets).
The foregoing serves as an example of how Wales is ripped off by the Labour Party pushers and pimps of the ‘renewable energy’ industry.
caltonjock 