Unionist Party scandal  revealed – Tax Haven firms cashing in on East Dunbartonshire PFI contract

The charge to Scottish taxpayers for PFI projects driven by  Labour and Lib Dem Party administrations in Westminster and Holyrood will add up to £30billion over the coming decades.

The East Dunbartonshire Schools PFI project is currently owned 50% by Innisfree Nominees Ltd, which is owned by Innisfree Group Ltd.

The main shareholders in this firm are Coutts and Co Trustees (Jersey) Ltd, based in the Jersey tax haven and part of the taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland group Coutts.

Coutts, whose chairman is Tory peer Lord Waldegrave, was named recently in the leaked Panama papers for asking offshore law firm Mosack Fonseca to set up almost 500 offshore companies for its clients.

Semperian PPP Holdings, which has a parent company also registered in Jersey, holds the other 50% stake in this project, which built six new schools in East Dunbartonshire including Bearsden Academy, Douglas Academy, and Bishopbriggs Academy.

Vast profits are being made by selling on stakes in PFI projects in Scotland. It is reported that one project alone made the seller several million pounds. All tax-free.

51 companies were recorded as being involved in 33 Scottish PFI projects in 2012 – including eight based in the Channel Islands.

The financial return to investors ranges from 10%-95%. All of it tax-free courtesy of the Scottish taxpayer.

Jo Swinson’s Lib Dem Party formed part of the government that implemented the disgraceful sell-off of Scotlands heritage.

Yet the electorate insists on returning a Lib Dem to Westminster. But there could be an explanation. Some may be happy campers enjoying the fruits of their investment.  Remember this:

“East Dunbartonshire has been awarded the accolade of one of the top twenty places in a UK “quality of life” survey.  The owner-occupancy rate is well above average and constituents enjoy good health and high educational results.”

The survey tracks where living standards are highest in Great Britain by ranking local performance across key indicators of the labour market, the housing market, the environment, education, and health.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dangle 21: John Lamont – Tory MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk

Lamont has ambitions to lead the United Kingdom government in Edinburgh should the next general election bring about the demise of the Tory party in Scotland, (except for himself) but return yet another right-wing Tory party in England.

He is the last man standing from the select cabal that removed Annabel Goldie from office and replaced her with Ruth Davidson and David Mundell.

Maybe, just maybe he will get his comeuppance and be consigned to the political wilderness by canny Scots in his constituency, fed up with being lied to and abused by the people they placed their trust in.

A brief examination of the short political career of Lamont. Recently appointed to membership of the Tory 1922 committee. He is in the ascendency in the Tory party.

 

 

 

 

Political shenanigans within the Tory Party in Scotland

Ruth Davidson’s relationship with Mundell pre-dates even her election as an MSP.

In 2010, when she was on a hiding to nothing as the Tory candidate in Glasgow North East, ex-BBC journalist Davidson volunteered to help Mundell with TV debate prep as well as some general bag carrying.

This was not glamorous stuff: at one point, she found herself in the car park of a 24-hour Asda in Dumbarton, sewing kit in hand, after the shadow Scottish Secretary ripped his trousers en route to a campaign event.

It was here — the campaign trail, not the car park — where Davidson came to value Mundell’s skill as a strategist and an organiser.

When Davidson became leader she installed Mundell as interim chairman of the party in Scotland.

This was a front for Mundell to head up a small group of trusted allies tasked with steamrollering through a modernisation agenda.

Mundell and Davidson hired a hotel suite outside Edinburgh and gathered party director Lord McInnes, future Berwickshire MP John Lamont and long-time activist Kevin Ancell.

Over the next 48 hours, the quintet planned the resurrection of the Scottish Tory Party, which they assumed would take ten years rather than the five Davidson actually needed.

Mundell led the quintet behind the scenes for the next two years, on top of his duties as a Scotland Office minister.

A close ally of Davidson, says many of the ideas for which she has been given credit were actually the brainchild of the man she likes to call her ‘work husband’.

It was Mundell who thought up Conservative Friends of the Union, a group that allowed the party to reach 80,000 non-members, recruit Labour supporters and raise hard cash.

Davidson refers to him privately as a ‘co-architect’ of her rejuvenation of the Scottish Tories.

Their relationship is so close that a source tells me Davidson asked and Mundell agreed to officiate a civil wedding between her and partner Jen if the Church of Scotland was not conducting same-sex ceremonies when the time came.

An insider added:

‘Ruth and David are properly close… Ruth’s core team is actually a pretty small group of trusted individuals.

David has always been part of it. He was the one that persuaded Ruth to stand for the leadership when she thought she was too new and too green and he’s been part of the core team ever since.

You talk about people “in the room” when decisions get made, David has been in the room with Ruth for every important decision, every campaign plan, every polling report and every major change as she overhauled a creaking and failing party and turned it into one that could win seats and advance across Scotland.

They are very different people and often come at things from different angles but they never brief against each other, never allow any disagreement to go public and genuinely have each other’s backs both within the party and against the world.’

Given all this, it’s not surprising to learn that Davidson spoke directly to Boris after his victory and lobbied him to keep Mundell in place until any replacement could gain ministerial experience.

What is harder to reconcile is that a new Tory leader, who polls in Scotland somewhere south of Freddy Krueger, who has basically no working relationship with the Scottish Tory leader, would snub her first request to him as Prime Minister.

In sacking Mundell in the brutal way he did,  rather than the staged transition she is understood to have recommended, Boris has sent two troubling signals to Scottish Tories, including those who support him: He doesn’t understand how Scottish politics works, and he doesn’t care. (Stephen Daisley)

 

 

 

 

 

July 2009: Fresh expenses row as Lamont bills Holyrood £11,500 for single mailshot

The former lawyer also billed taxpayers £19,410 in office supplies in one year, including around £11,500 for sending a questionnaire and prepaid reply envelopes to his constituents.

The outrageous claim for a single mailshot prompted the Scottish parliament’s Corporate Body (SPCB) to limit spending to £5500 per MSP in the current financial year.

The full scale of Lamont’s spending was revealed following a freedom of information request.

In the first 10 months of 2007-08, he claimed an average £30.71 a month on headed stationery, £18.13 on white windowed envelopes, and £36 on prepaid envelopes.

But in March 2008, when he was finalising his questionnaire, costs soared to £738.50 on letterheads, £3267 on white windowed envelopes and £7200 on prepaid envelopes. From a monthly average of £84.84 on the three items, his bill in March climbed to £11,481.

The mailshot asked constituents their views on the new Borders Railway after the SNP government confirmed it would open in 2013 at a cost of up to £295 million. Such questionnaires and surveys also raise an MSP’s profile.

The cost of Lamont’s questionnaire was approved by the parliament’s allowances office, but it is understood the SPCB became concerned that the system could be used by some MSPs as a backdoor “communications allowance” of the kind available at Westminster.

This allows MPs to claim £10,000 a year “to communicate proactively” with constituents about their parliamentary duties – but also offers opportunities for self-promotion.

Last year it was revealed that Lamont was charging taxpayers to stay in hotels while in the capital, despite owning a flat less than two miles from Holyrood and renting it out for up to £10,000 a year.

An SNP spokesman said:

“I don’t know if Lamont was delivering his leaflets by taxi, but to spend this amount of public money on a single survey is mind-boggling. People in Roxburgh and Berwickshire will be staggered at Lamont’s spending spree.”

Lamont said:

“When you represent a rural constituency, by definition your postage is going to be higher than what it is when you represent an urban constituency. Yes, I did do a survey about the Borders Railway and that is a pressing concern. So it was legitimate for me to ask the views of my constituents.”

A parliament spokesman said:

“The SPCB introduced an annual limit on stationery to make it equitable to all members and to put in place further accountability arrangements for the use of public money. (The Herald)

 

 

 

 

 

Jul 2009: Lib Dem Michael Moore’s Tory opponent unexpectedly quits the contest

In a shock move, Tory candidate, hotelier, Chris Walker quit the battle to take the Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk Westminster seat from the Liberal Democrats.

The constituency, held for the Lib Dems by Michael Moore with a majority of 5,901 over the Tories, was targeted by the Scottish Conservative Leader Annabel Goldie as winnable.

Favourite to succeed Walker is current Tory MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire John Lamont, who contested and lost against Moore in 2005 then had to settle for a seat at Holyrood in 2007 in the Roxburgh and Berwickshire seat.

He made it clear he would, if elected, sit in both the Holyrood and Westminster parliaments. Yet, this is in direct contrast to the Tories’ attacks on SNP leader Alex Salmond for doing just that.

Lamont, an MSP also said that he thought (assuming he won) a by-election for his MSP seat would be “an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer” however, his boss in Holyrood, Annabel Goldie thinks the exact opposite of Alex Salmond in Banff & Buchan.

The only other Tory MP in the Borders is Mundell, who in February this year said, “Salmond has two jobs when many people in Scotland don’t have a single job at all. That is quite wrong.

Lamont failed to take the seat in 2010 and again in 2015 but finally won it in the snap 2017 General Election.

 

 

 

 

 

July 2010: David Mundell, Scotland’s only Conservative MP, stands accused of orchestrating a muck-raking campaign against his Liberal Democrat boss.

The former Tory Party Westminster candidate, well respected, hotelier Chris Walker alleged that Mundell gave him a copy of Moore’s expense claims and told him to “dig up as much dirt” as he could from the parliamentary expenses claimed by Scottish Secretary, Lib Dem Michael Moore.

At interview Walker said:

“It sickened me to the pit of my stomach, I thought, this isn’t what politics is about.” (He later withdrew from the fight for the Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency) and left the Tory Party.

Mundell dismissed Walker’s claim as “spurious” and denied any wrong-doing. However, it did lead to friction at the Scotland Office, where Mundell was Moore’s deputy.(highbeam) The real reason behind the demise of Walker and the rise of Lamont. The wee clique stick together.

 

 

 

 

2016 Scottish General Election

John Lamont Re-Elected to Holyrood– How in the hell did he manage it?

Given Lamont was the highest expense claimant in Holyrood by a significant margin I was surprised that he managed to get himself re-elected as a Tory Party MSP.

He cares nothing for the Tory Party in Scotland is simply using it as a vehicle to hitch a ride on until something more substantial (a seat at Westminster) comes along.

In his campaign literature, he took great care to ensure he would not be associated with the Tory Party by omitting any mention of it.

He actively promoted himself as being the only person capable of preventing the SNP from winning.

Garnering, Lib/Dem and labour supporters to his cause and emphasised his commitment to his constituents regardless of Tory Party policy.

Paul Wheelhouse, Lamont’s SNP opponent at the May elections was a list member for the South of Scotland last time round.

Like his Tory adversary, he has an office in Hawick.

The figures show Wheelhouse submitted 107 claims totalling £8,674 between April and December 2015. Office costs came to £3,878 and travel swallowed up just £210, a fraction of Lamont’s hefty £5,900. Yet the two men live a few miles apart in Coldstream (Lamont) and Ayton (Wheelhouse).

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Midlothian South, Tweeddale & Lauderdale SNP MSP Christine Grahame, who is seeking re-election, submitted 122 itemised claims worth £12,196. Her office costs were £8,112 with travel claims amounting to £1,386.

The conclusion is that having Lamont as an MSP has cost more in expenses than Grahame and Wheelhouse combined.

 

 

 

 

2016: European Referendum

The Scottish Borders voted 58/42% remain in the Union.

Lamont, in his electioneering campaigns stressed:

“I will always put the Borders ahead of party politics. I’m not bound by any internal rules banning me for criticising my party. My number one priority is standing up for the interests of local communities in the Scottish Borders.”

A constituent commented:

“But the Conservative split over Europe is unedifying. The Conservatives are deeply divided into Euro unionists and Euro separatists. More party discipline is required, how could anyone vote Conservative when the party position on Europe is so unclear.”

 

 

 

Lamont’s Westminster voting record – Key votes about UK membership of the EU:

On 29 Mar 2019: Lamont voted to leave the EU with a [withdrawal] agreement as soon as possible and to approve the negotiated withdrawal agreement and associated documents.

On 27 Mar 2019: Lamont was absent for a vote on EU Withdrawal and Future Relationship Votes — Leave Without a Deal on 12 April 2019

On 17 Jan 2018: Lamont voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.

On 17 Jan 2018: Lamont voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.

On 11 Sep 2017: Lamont voted to end the supremacy of EU law in UK law; to convert EU law into domestic law on the UK’s exit from the European Union and to give ministers the power to correct deficiencies in retained EU law.

So much for his assertion that he would stand up for his constituents. They voted to remain in the EU by a substantial majority. He studiously follows the Tory party line and ignores their wishes.

 

 

 

Other reading

https://caltonjock.com/2016/04/25/the-most-expensive-msp-in-holyrood-john-lamont-re-elected-in-ettrick-roxburgh-berwickshire-how-the-hell-did-he-do-it/

https://caltonjock.com/2017/05/27/john-lamont-kirstene-hair-privileged-offspring-of-uber-rich-scottish-landowning-families-champions-of-the-tory-supporting-national-farmers-union-elected-to-westminster-in-error-surely/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luke Graham appointed Hammer of the Scots by Boris Johnson

Luke Graham, of the Conservatives, had only been MP for Ochil and South Perthshire since 2017 and faced a return to accountancy and business in Swindon or to somehow keep going with politics in the hope of an eventual return of fortune with the electorate.

He said: “I am still an accountant, I can still go back to that world but I don’t feel I’m finished with politics yet. I hope to be re-elected to be an MP. I haven’t lost my passion for politics and I think I have still got something to give. It is a setback and a gutting experience but it is what you decide to do with that next that’s important.”

That decision was not long in manifesting. Boris Johnson has employed him as a “Special Advisor” working out of the Policy Unit in 10 Downing Street.

His remit is the “Union” which vests him with a powerful yet unelected influence over Scottish affairs.

A hardline Unionist he will rapidly remove many powers from the Holyrood parliament making life very uncomfortable for Scots over the next few years.

Scots wishing to break free from the political stranglehold of Westminster will need to abandon any hope of another referendum and devise a new strategy framed around the constitutional right of Scots to decide their own government.

 

 

 

 

His Political dogma  regarding Scotland – in his own words

On 18 September 2014, the people of Scotland voted to reject independence from the United Kingdom. More than 2 million people voted to remain part of the UK, which is more than the number of people who voted to remain in the EU and more even than those who voted for the SNP in 2015 or, indeed, in any election since.

It is therefore clear that remaining part of the UK is the principal constitutional choice of people in Scotland. To be clear, Scotland is not just part of the UK—it is the UK. It was a Scottish king who united the crowns, who made the lion and the unicorn stand together and who commissioned the union flag. He recognised the value and opportunity of Britain, and so do the majority of our constituents.

The fact that a petition opposing a second referendum was signed by nearly 200,000, more people than signed the petition supporting a second referendum makes clear the true voice of people in Scotland.

Indeed, the petition in support did not even reach the 100,000 signatures that it needed to be considered for debate and had to piggyback the 220,000 signatures opposing a second referendum.

All polls indicate that a second referendum is not welcome. A recent (2017) poll showed that only 39% of Scots support another referendum, compared with 52% who now oppose one—not just now, but next year or even in five years. That is two of Nicola Sturgeon’s generations.

Supporters of Scottish independence may ask why that is.

First, there was the breaking of the promise that the referendum would be a once in a generation, once in a lifetime event.

Secondly, there is the benefit of the Union to Scotland. The most recent Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland figures—the SNP Administration’s own figures, I might add—revealed a Union dividend worth £1,750 per head in extra spending for Scotland. Meanwhile, as we know, Scotland exports four times as much to the UK as to the EU, making the UK single market the most valuable barrier-free single market to Scotland.

Thirdly, the threat of a second referendum is creating damaging uncertainty for the economy, and most people in Scotland do not want our country plunged into another divisive campaign. That is borne out in the statistics. Business investment is down 7.6% on the last year, and growth in quarter two of 2017 was just 0.1%, versus 0.3% for the UK as a whole.

I am an optimist, but unfortunately, I do not expect the SNP to give up its quest to separate Scotland and end the UK. However, the SNP can surely see that the uncertainty and division is not helping our constituents while the key devolved areas of education and healthcare need serious attention to return Scotland to No. 1 in the UK for education and to reverse the fact that Scotland has the lowest life expectancy of all the nations of the United Kingdom.

To put it simply, people want us to move on. They want politicians to offer positive solutions to the problems we face in education, transport, agriculture and international trade, and to move our country forward, not continually question its very existence.

The constitution stirs passions, but this divides our community and does not move forward our conversations.

We have heard talk of how fantastic the 2014 referendum was, and many of us were engaged in that campaign, but it was not entirely positive.

I know of one story from a now Conservative party member in my constituency, who is now a councillor but who at the time of the referendum was not. He went down to the polling station with his wife, actually undecided; he did not know whether he would vote yes or no. He was asked in the polling station, “Which way will you vote, sir?” He said, “I haven’t decided yet; I intend to keep this private.” His wife was asked the same question, and she repeated his answer—she was not sure. But when she said that with her English accent, the campaigner at the door of the polling station said, “When we win, we will take you back to the border and kick you back to England.” That was a real comment—it comes directly from one of my constituents who is now a Conservative councillor in Clackmannanshire. He had to endure that.

Although I am sure that SNP Members always encourage a positive tone of debate, they have to recognise that the referendum and the constant constitutional wrangling is divisive for our constituents and does not help unite us as a people.

We already have a major constitutional change on the horizon, and at this moment we need to focus on getting the best possible deal for us all across the United Kingdom.

In 2014, the Scottish people decided on a legal, fair and decisive referendum to remain a strong part of the UK.

The Edinburgh agreement in 2012 committed both the UK and Scottish Governments to respecting the outcome of the Scottish referendum, which is why people are clear that now is not the time for a second referendum.

If SNP Members stuck to their words, they would agree that it should not be the time any time soon, either—perhaps not even for a real generation.

 

 

 

 

My abiding memory of Luke Graham

Graham was branded a “cheapskate” after he charged £36.63 to his House of Commons expenses account to pay for him and two staff to attend a charity fundraising village fete in his constituency.

Commentators deplored his conduct saying his penny-pinching was “not the done thing” for a senior backbencher earning £79,000 a year. One said, “Shame on him. He has deep enough pockets on an MP’s wage to chuck a few quid towards a fundraiser for a local charity. Apparently, he is only serious about supporting good causes if the taxpayer is footing the bill. What a cheapskate.”

 

 

 

 

Luke Graham – Special Agent

He is a political carpetbagger who conned the constituents of Ochil and South Perthshire using them as a stepping stone to glory within the Tory party at Westminster. 

This guddle of a constituency, grouping traditional Labour voters in the old mining communities, farmers in Crieff and the rich people of Auchterarder often throws up weird election results from time to time. and the success of Graham surprised political pundits who considered the SNP candidate to be a shoo-in.

Graham, whose home was and still is in Swindon, had contested the seat at the 2015 General Election and although he had been swept aside together with the Labour and Lib/Dem candidates in the SNP tsunami (Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh won the seat taking around 19% votes from Labour and the Lib/Dems).   But the warning was there. He retained almost the same voting base as he had gained in the 2010 election. The Tory vote in the northern part of the constituency was solid but in the south, voting was volatile with three parties in the mix.

 

 

 

 

 

The EU Referendum – Britain Stronger In Europe Campaign

Graham, an avid supporter of Britain’s membership of the EU took on the duties of finance director of, “Britain Stronger In Europe”, dubbed “Project Fear” by sections of the media.

The group, launched in London on 12 October 2015 unsuccessfully campaigned in favour of the United Kingdom continuing membership of the European Union in the 2016 British referendum.

Ochil & South Perthshire voted to remain in the EU recording a strong 60% in favour.

 

 

 

 

03 May 2017: The 2017 General Election

Selected as the Tory candidate, he notified the Electoral Commission his place of residence was Stables Cottage, near Crieff. But his permanent home was in still in Swindon.

His candidacy was sponsored by Alistair Mair the multi-millionaire Tory whose son Hamish was the Chairman of the Tory party in Scotland.

Stables Cottage is owned by Mair who rents it to Tory MSP Elizabeth Smith, MSP, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education. Graham was a lodger.

The Tory Party was on a high after a good showing in the Scottish local elections earlier that year and the fight for the hearts and minds of voters in South Perthshire was between the SNP and the Tory’s, the other parties were reduced to fringe voting status.

Tactical voting aided by a relentless and ultimately successful dirty tricks campaign was perpetrated against Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh by the Unionist supporting media and Graham soon after electioneering began and it worked. He gathered swithering Labour and Lib/Dem voters in the south of the constituency to the Tories.

 

 

 

 

His appalling record as an MP

Graham’s performance as an MP was vintage, unionist. His campaigning commitments to the voters was abandoned. His support of the Tory government in Westminster was absolute.

Together with the other Scottish unionist MP’s he voted:

Against an energy price cap.
Against a properly resourced industrial strategy.
Against maintaining the benefits of the European Single Market and Customs Union.
Against maintaining the existing rights of EU nationals living in the UK and EU nationals living in the EU.
Against increased funding of public services.
Against scrapping university tuition fees.
Against restoring Education Maintenance Allowance, maintenance grants and nurses’ bursaries.
Against ending the public sector pay cap.
Against increasing the minimum wage.

Brutal measures from a government determined to continue with the imposition of harsh austerity measures, rewarding the rich minority of society whilst destroying the will to live amongst the many.

 

 

 

 

Graham the turncoat europhile voted to remove all aspects of EU Integration from Statute

A formerly self-declared, “die-hard” europhile and ex-Finance Director of  “Britain Stronger In Europe” he became a hardline Brexiteer against the express will of his constituents who voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU.

His voting record exposed him and his lying rhetoric. Talk about a somersault. Ochil and South Perthshire voters were conned by a political charlatan.

• On 11 Sep 2017: He voted to end the supremacy of EU law over UK law; to convert EU law into domestic law on the UK’s exit from the European Union and to give ministers the power to correct deficiencies in retained EU law.
• On 14 Nov 2017: He voted to end the supremacy of EU law in domestic law and to remove the mechanism enabling the flow of new EU laws into UK law.
• On 14 Nov 2017: He voted not to require courts or tribunals to have regard to anything done on or after exit day by the European Court, another EU entity or the EU.
• On 21 Nov 2017: He voted against requiring the UK Government to report on changes to EU legislation which form part of UK law, and against requiring the Government to consider adopting such changes to ensure that the rights of workers and employees in the UK are no less favourable than they would have been had the UK remained a member of the EU or EEA.
• On 21 Nov 2017: He voted against the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights remaining part of UK law on the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union.
• On 21 Nov 2017: Luke Graham voted against retaining general principles of EU law derived from EU treaties, direct EU legislation and EU directives, as part of UK law after the UK leaves the EU, and voted to only retain those general principles deriving from European Court [of justice] case law.
• On 12 Dec 2017: He voted to allow laws which were required by the UK’s membership of the European single market to be weakened, removed or replaced by Ministers after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. 
• On 13 Dec 2017: He voted to allow ministers to withdraw the UK from the European Economic Area, the European single market.
• On 20 Dec 2017: He voted against the UK retaining the EU’s common customs tariff and common commercial policy.
• On 13 Jun 2018: He voted against making the UK’s withdrawal from the EU conditional on seeking, as an objective for the UK’s negotiation of the withdrawal agreement, full access to the internal market of the EU rather than merely European Economic Area membership.
• On 13 Jun 2018: He voted against largely retaining the EU “Charter of Fundamental Rights” as part of UK law following the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union.
• On 13 Jun 2018: He voted against steps designed to ensure that the UK’s withdrawal from the EU does not result in the removal or diminution of any rights, powers, liabilities, obligations, restrictions, remedies and procedures that contribute to the protection and improvement of the environment.
• On 17 Jul 2018: He voted against making retaining membership of the European medicines regulatory network a government objective.

 

 

 

 

Promotion to the Tory Government Head Office in Downing Street 

Brown nosing has its rewards. His unqualified support of the Tory government at Westminster was recognized through his early promotion to the Cabinet Office as a parliamentary private secretary, (PPS).

His remit included responsibility for the constitution and civil service and he was also appointed leader of communications and relations between Westminster and Holyrood.

The latter role required him to focus on Brexit, concentrating on constitutional issues.

 

 

 

 

18 Mar 2018:  Graham to lead Young Conservatives Campaign to Win Over Millennial Voters

The campaign is yet another relaunch of the much-maligned Young Conservatives following nearly three years in mothballs after bullying, sex scandals, suicide and other scandalous behaviour.

It is being developed in conjunction with Tory activists of the recently formed and very well funded “rust-belt Tory” group operating in Scotland and the north of England and is aimed at appealing to a generation of young voters who the Tories claim are not as left-wing as portrayed.

Tory Party chairman Brandon Lewis said the youth arm of the party would seek to engage with “thousands of young people who keep being told they must be “Corbynistas” but aren’t.

His roles, leading the Young Conservatives while completing the heavy workload of a PPS in the Prime Minister’s cabinet office begged the question: “Where did he find the time for constituency matters?”

Clearly, the constituents of Ochil and South Perthshire were short-changed yet again by a carpetbagging special agent from England.

 

 

 

 

 

And in his own words – My home

Reflecting on his short time in Scotland he said:

  “I’m proud of Swindon. It is where I come from and I think people see that. I have always felt very strongly about being British and my parents still live in Swindon so when I go to see them, I feel like I’m going home.”

 

More here: “https://caltonjock.com/2017/12/15/luke-graham-mp-another-tory-carpetbagger-from-england-he-is-a-snake-in-the-grass-scots-need-to-waken-up-update-at-end-of-article”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So who was John Smith?

The public persona was that he was a genial, whisky-drinking Scots lawyer from the traditional Labour right. Not so.

John Smith and his close friend and political ally Denis Healey were senior figures, with others, of the influential right-wing, Bilderberg Group and were members of its Steering Committee.

It was Smith, the leader of the committee who arranged for his young protegee, Gordon Brown to be invited to the 1991 meeting of the group.

He also recruited Ed Balls, formerly a leader writer for the Financial Times as political advisor to his team. An ideologist for globalization, Balls had spent a year in America as a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard from where he adopted US economics ideology.

A trend embraced by other prominent Labour figures, such as, Yvette Cooper MP, (whom Balls later married). David Miliband, head of Blair’s policy unit and Gordon Brown, later to become the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Just about all of the “New Labour” people with influence had some connection to America and American money……Tony Blair took the US government’s free tour of the States and an extended stay in 1986 with Gordon Brown and assured his hosts that, while officially members of CND they and the Labour Party under their leadership supported the nuclear deterrent and retention of Trident by the UK. Blair, and his team in 1983, all joined the CIA front, Labour Friends of Israel.

https://caltonjock.com/2014/12/20/the-john-smith-centre-is-designed-to-undermine-the-integrity-and-authority-of-what-is-left-of-the-impartiality-of-the-uk-civil-service-through-the-expansion-and-influence-of-political-special-advisors/

 

 

 

The gathering of the Unionists under the guise of the John Smith Centre for Public Service

The Glasgow University supported John Smith Centre is an insidious development that will adversely impact upon Scottish politics.

This warning might possibly fall upon many deaf ears but it is my intention to post/repost articles that amplify and support of my concerns.

For information: amid many differences between “Old Labour” and “New Labour” is that “New Labour” is Fabian. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are Fabians.

The ultimate objective of the Fabians is to create a One World (‘Third Way’) government. This links to the “New World Order” project financed and controlled by the USA.

Fabian New Labour has developed and implemented the secretive “educational charity”, “Common Purpose”, which controls many aspects of local and mainstream politics and the media (BBC).

More on “Common Purpose” here: http://www.stopcp.com and here: http://www.cpexposed.com .

In Blair then Brown the NWO/Bilderberg movement enjoyed the guarantee that the UK government would manipulate the electorate and parliament to support their efforts without question. War and War and yet more War. All unjustified.

John Smith was a Bilderberger!!

It is feasible that this lot could be asked to form a government of National Unity should the SNP be proscribed following a unilateral declaration of independence by the SNP government should the Scottish public support it.

Indications are that the political scene is fast changing but something is in the air politically and it stinks.

 

 

 

 

Dangle 8: Kezia Dugdale:

In her first years with the Labour Party Dugdale was mentored by George Foulkes. Even in those early days of her venture into politics, she displayed a talent for intrigue which she finely honed over the years despite being thin-skinned and overly aggressive.

Her short time as Leader of the Scottish branch was an unmitigated disaster precipitated by her insistence on supporting “New Labour” philosophy much derided by many of her colleagues and regarded as a failed venture by the electorate.

Her transfer of employment to the recently formed “John Smith Centre for Public Service”, based at Glasgow University was not unexpected since the company she now enjoys is very much more politically acceptable to her.

 

 

 

 

Dangle 9: George Foulkes

Steven Dorril’s history of MI6 provides support to much-repeated allegations that Foulkes and a number of his Labour Party colleagues had been recruited to the Secret Services. He wrote:

“Politicians including Dewar, John Smith, Gordon Brown, George Robertson, and Robin Cook were precisely the types the intelligence services longed to see take control of the Labour party and he believed that contemporaries and acquaintances of these leading Scottish Labour figures took active roles in organisations sponsored and endorsed by MI6 and the CIA.

“Elizabeth Smith (John Smith’s widow) was approached. So was Margaret “Meta” Ramsay, president of the Scottish National Union of Students between 1959 and 1961, who worked at the Fund for International Student Cooperation (FISC) where the organiser was George Foulkes.”

“In 1969 the Radical Student Alliance published a pamphlet alleging that FISC was a CIA front,” says Dorril. “That was denied, but in 1969 Ramsay joined MI6. She was a specialist in the Scandinavian states.”

More on the foregoing here:

http://powerbase.info/index.php/Margaret_%27Meta%27_Ramsay

https://caltonjock.com/2015/12/05/george-zebedee-foulkes-to-serve-in-scotlands-upper-chamber-if-he-gets-his-amendment-through-persish-the-thought/

 

 

 

Dangle 10: George Robertson

Well known to all.

 

 

 

 

Dangle 11: Russell Gunson

Leader of  “Independent Public Policy Research” (IPPR) think tank which he formed and expanded over a number of years. Supposedly independent of any political influence which is a bit of a joke (in bad taste) on the public.

Read this, from 2007:

“Two parliamentary researchers, Kezia Dugdale, who works for the Labour MSP Lord Foulkes, and Russell Gunson, who works for fellow MSP Claire Baker, were seconded to Wendy Alexander’s office last night providing spin doctor cover until new staff would be appointed.”

Gunson clearly has a long association with the Labour Party, not mentioned on the IPPR site or anywhere else, and even spent some time in the jungle of Labour Party politics as stand-in spin doctor with Kezia. I smell a rat, like the ones we saw all over Kez’s face a year or two ago. Actually, it’s probably Lord Foulkes I smell.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/labour-rushes-to-plug-gap-left-by-sudden-exit-of-wendy-alexander-s-second-top-spin-doctor-1-700634

 

 

 

 

Dangle 12: Sarah Smith

BBc News presenter is included through association, her mother is was head honcho in the Secret Service and leads the new John Smith centre at Glasgow University.

https://caltonjock.com/2015/04/01/people-of-influence-sarah-smith-bbc-presenter-arrived-in-scotland-quietly-grew-fast-and-strong-then-crowded-everyone-else-out-of-the-nest-is-there-nothing-we-can-do/

 

 

 

 

 

Dangle 13: Jackie Bird

BBC Presenter was married to the now-defunct News of the World which attacked Tommy Sheridan and brought about his political demise.

https://caltonjock.com/2016/01/12/jackie-bird-does-she-justify-a-200k-salary-for-delivering-biased-political-rhetoric-favouring-the-unionist-parties/

 

 

 

 

 

Dangle 14: Ed Balls:

John Smith Centre board member. And the aims and ambitions of the Centre include championing excellence in politicians to act as role models for public service.

Ian Dale wrote this about balls:

“Balls used Damian McBride, the disgraced spin doctor, to smear ministerial rivals and advance his own ambitions.

A No 10 insider revealed that Balls was the mastermind behind a “dark arts” operation by McBride to undermine colleagues. He claims he is running a destabilising “shadow operation” inside Downing Street to clear his path for the party leadership if Labour loses the next election.

The insider said: “There is now an operation within an operation at No 10 and it answers to Ed Balls.”

Full story here:

https://iaindale.blogspot.com/2009/04/ed-balls-ran-labour-dirty-tricks-unit.html

 

 

An assessment of his time at the Treasury was compiled by financial commentator  Alex Brummer who said this about Balls:

“it was a bit disconcerting to hear the former MP and Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls pronouncing on steps to curb the Bank of England. Balls rightly can claim some ownership of Bank independence.

As an economic guide to Gordon Brown at the Treasury, he was the architect of giving the Bank ‘operational control’ of monetary policy and interest rates in 1997.

This despite reservations by Treasury traditionalists and the refusal of previous reforming Chancellors to take such a step.

We tend to forget that Balls gave with one hand and took away with another. It was Brown and Balls who removed policing of the banking system from Threadneedle Street and gifted it to the now-defunct Financial Services Authority.

The result was catastrophic when the credit crunch and financial crisis blew up in 2007-08. The Bank of England lacked the intelligence network to see it coming and the FSA was useless.

Balls’ new idea, contained in a Harvard academic paper, talks of setting up a new systemic risk body, headed by the Chancellor, to take the political heat off the Bank.

This essentially is a rerun of the past when Balls and Brown drove Eddie George to the brink of resignation after they moved banking supervision to the FSA.

The Bank already has a Financial Policy Committee with outside members to take hard decisions on risk. Major policy changes such as the Bank’s right to curb loan-to-value ratios for mortgages require Treasury concurrence.

Politicians find the independent Bank an easy target but governor Mark Carney at the Bank has demonstrated the strength of character to defend his institution robustly and go about the business of central banking.

There is a case for increasing the political accountability of the Bank. One way of doing that would be to give the Treasury Select Committee and House of Commons a binding vote on approval or rejection of nominees for the governor-level jobs at the Bank and all the members of the policy committees.

Handing back powers to the Chancellor – even if the idea is to somehow strengthen the Bank – is not the answer. Balls should spend more time perfecting his footwork.

 

 

 

 

Dangle  15: Dr Matt Carter

John Smith Centre board member.  New Labour, Worked at the most senior level in politics as General Secretary of the Labour Party, overseeing political campaigns and organisation in the period running up to and including the 2005 General Election, which saw Tony Blair win a successful third term in office.

Involved in the “cash for peerages” scandal that almost brought down Blair’s New Labour government. Statement:

“Labour general secretary and registered treasurer at last election. Now managing director of a Washington political consultancy. Wrote to party supporters who agreed to lend the £14 million in the run-up to the election. The letters have been studied by the police. One of the few officials who knew about the loans, he signed off the nomination forms to the House of Lords Appointments Commission which omitted to mention that four of the nominees for peerages had made secret loans.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1549251/Scandal-that-will-bring-down-the-curtain.html

 

 

 

Dangle 16: Ruth Davidson

Privy Councillor, Ruth Davidson MSP the ex-leader of the Tory party Branch Office in Scotland needs no introduction. Possible First Minister in the event of a Whitehall directed coup??

 

 

 

 

 

Dangle 17: David Muir

Muir took on the role of Director of Political Strategy for Gordon Brown in 2008.  The former Glasgow University graduate cut his teeth in the USA political rat race and was instrumental in persuading Brown to adopt the failed tactic of attacking Tory manifesto policies in the 2010 General Election as opposed to defending New labour’s record in office.

 

 

 

Dangle 18: The Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill

John Smith’s widow awarded a peerage in 1995 in recognition of her long career with the British Secret Service.

As Elizabeth Margaret Bennett she attended Glasgow University with John Smith whom she later married.

A fluent Russian speaker she was recruited to the British Secret Services together with her friend Margaret Ramsey.

Her powerful role in the service was only revealed after the death of her husband when she was awarded the title of Baroness of Gilmorehill and elevated to the House of Lords.

She is a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee, which provides parliamentary oversight of the Secret Intelligence Services and is an advisory council member of the foreign-policy think-tank, the Foreign Policy Centre.

She is also the Lords Chair of The Labour Friends of Israel and leads the London based “intelligence” company, Hakluyt, allegedly started by MI6 officers to carry out “deniable” operations in support of government policies.

Her background and friends of the family does little to engender public confidence in her political impartiality

 

 

 

 

Dangle 19: Andrew Wilson

From 2003 He held a number of posts at the RBS Group from 2003 including Deputy Chief Economist and through the banking crisis as Head of Group Communications.  Founder of political media company, Charlotte Street Partners.

Ian Fraser, the political author wrote of him:

Classic over-reach as Goodwin boasted about RBS’s immensity

A FactSheet compiled by RBS’s senior communications executive and deputy chief economist Andrew Wilson in February 2007 pleased his master, the bank’s chief executive, Fred Goodwin, as it put RBS’s financial success in context. But it was also incredibly bombastic and dangerously hubristic

Royal Bank of Scotland issued an extraordinary flyer to journalists on the day it released its 2006 annual results – 1 March 2007.

Just 18 months before it collapsed and needed a £45.5 billion taxpayer-funded bailout, RBS proudly unveiled a 14 per cent rise in operating profits to £9.414 billion, on income that was up ten per cent, to £28 billion.

At the time – four months before the beginning of the subprime-related credit crisis that paralysed global financial markets and would ultimately torpedo RBS and many other banks worldwide – chief executive Fred Goodwin seemed to think he could walk on water.

Goodwin was already in covert talks for a €72 billion three-way, carve-up takeover of the near-worthless Amsterdam-based bank, ABN Amro.

Four years earlier Goodwin had hired Wilson, who had lost his Holyrood seat in the May 2003 Scottish parliamentary elections, as deputy chief economist and occasional spin-meister.

Goodwin, who had taken over as chief executive in March 2000, was unhappy with some of the negative headlines that had greeted the bank’s strong financial results in previous years.

He saw record profits as something to celebrate, but certain sections of the media and some politicians insisted on using them as a club to beat the bank, claiming they were evidence it was ripping off its customers.

So Fred was delighted when, a few days before the results were to be announced, Lanark-born Wilson came into Goodwin’s palatial office at RBS’s Gogarburn World Headquarters with what seemed like the perfect antidote.

Wilson, had written a four-page flyer that strongly conveyed RBS’s global reach and the good it was doing for society through a selection of carefully chosen nuggets on which it was hoped journalists would graze.

“It was one of the few times Fred ever congratulated anyone in media relations for anything,” said one ex-RBS insider. “He was delighted with that document. Andrew got a lot of kudos”.

The panegyric to RBS – discreetly titled “RBS Factsheet Scotland” underneath the banner “RBS Results 2006: Make it Happen” – was emailed to journalists by RBS press officer Nicola McGowan at 7:05am on results day, alongside the message: “Also to provide some context around RBS Group and these Results, I attach a factsheet for your information”.

With the benefit of hindsight, it is a most extraordinarily hubristic and bombastic document, that’s indicative of the proverb “pride before a fall”.

Among the more prominent boasts were that RBS was, by market capitalisation, “bigger than Sony and Apple combined; We make more profit from the US than McDonald’s do globally; our European profits are equivalent to the global profits of Volkswagen.”

The document bragged about the size and scale of RBS’s branch network:

“In the UK, we have more branches than there are Starbucks coffee shops – a larger branch network than any other UK bank.”

It stressed how much tax RBS was paying and how many people it employed: “We are the number 1 corporate taxpayer in the UK; We employ more people than the electricity, gas and water supply industries [more people than] Vodafone, Virgin and Rolls-Royce combined.”

In other words, the document stressed what an amazingly good corporate citizen RBS was.

There were also several bullet points about the numbers of people using RBS’s retail banking services in a single minute and how these were, ostensibly at least, free-of-charge:

• In one minute at RBS in 2006, 1,398 customers make a withdrawal from one of our ATMs…for FREE
• 2,073 cheques were processed….FREE for personal customers
• 136 customer telephone calls answered…for FREE
• 3,690 payments processed…FREE for personal customers
• 320 customers are served in one of our branches.

The document added that RBS was “one of only five FTSE 100 companies (and the only bank) to have grown profits in each of the last ten years’ and that it ‘serves 36 million personal customers worldwide”.

Complete article here:

(ianfraser.org/classic-over-reach-as-rbs-boasted-about-immense-scale)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The 2017 General Election and Whitehall Mandarins involvement in Scotland

The Unionist Party’s manifestos could have been written on a fag packet since they were almost entirely free of anything meaningful to the electorate in Scotland.

It comprised a single battle cry attacking the most progressive and universally admired politician in Scotland Nicola Sturgeon. Stating:

” Scots are fed up being persecuted by the SNP leader who is solely intent on getting independence at any cost. As a result, Scotland is suffering hugely. The majority of Scottish voters wish to remain in the British union, despite Nicola Sturgeon’s latest demands for a Scottish referendum.”

This was entered on the internet in the form of a petition requiring a simple yes/no answer.

The signed petition would be presented to the Westminster government, by the Scottish Home Secretary for debate in the House of Commons, dependent on the number of signatures gained.

The Unionists then embarked on a well planned and effectively coordinated campaign mutually supportive each of the other Unionist party’s including campaigning, canvassing and lowering of the profile of their candidate where an agreement was in place, effectively ganging up on the SNP.

It was a voting strategy, new to UK politics which, using predictive data models identified, engaged and persuaded voters to turnout.

This was achieved through the use of internet, phone and personal surveys combined with many other data sets, created by teams of contracted data scientists, psychologists and political consultants allowing the campaign to map the Scottish electorate based on ideology, demographics, religious beliefs, strongly held opinions on key issues e.g. independence, the Orange Lodge, Celtic, Rangers, the SNP and or political personalities.

The information gathered provided Whitehall and psy-ops” personnel with a predictive analysis based on thousands of data points on just about every voter in Scotland.

From that teams of Unionist political consultants and psychologists at Whitehall directed the campaign and candidates on what and how to say it to selected groups of voters.

Wider voter targeting, included use of Facebook adverts, one to one scripted phone calls and provision of the content of messages for door-to-door canvassers ensuring consistent communication with voters on any issue.

What won the day for the Unionists in 2017 was that they utilised “data mining” to gain a comprehensive understanding of the Scottish electorate and then used every communication aid available facilitating discussions with voters about matters important to them as individuals.

Throughout the campaign, the Unionist tactic was to constantly broadcast the “no new referendum” message stressing that this was an important major difference between the Unionists and any other candidates, firmly registering this in the minds of the electorate.

In contrast, the SNP campaign was old-style directed at the Scottish electorate as a group entity which failed to inspire voters in constuencies at risk. Information is power.

Their aim was achieved. The result of the election was a setback for the SNP and its ambitions for independence

The petition was subsequently revealed to be a “data mining ploy” prepared then entered up on the internet by military personnel of 77 Brigade recently formed “Psy ops” unit.

The tactic proved to be successful in raising the public profile of the possibility of another independence referendum, which (at the time) had not been given mention by anyone other than Unionist politicians.

Note: The term “psy-ops” new to the vast bulk of the Scottish electorate suggested an internet underworld of misinformation and mind-mapping.

In Nazi Party parlance, it is a reworking of the term “propaganda.” which is designed to condition the target audience to think and act in a way advantageous to the proponent.

 

 

Use of gathered data – analysis of the Petition outcome

Information was extracted providing total numbers by Scottish constituency. Electorate totals were included and a percentage signatory total was established for each constituency.

The mean figure of 3.75% was then used to forward project the outcome of another independence referendum, should one be held after Brexit.

The figures suggested that from an electorate of 4,021,203 the outcome of another referendum would result in a: 48.00% “Yes” vote in favour of independence with 52.00% preferring to remain with the Union.

The information was used to forward plan strategy.

Edinburgh, Aberdeen, East Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire recorded much higher than average figures favouring remaining with the Union.

Others appeared to be less fixed.

 

 

The “psy-ops” 2017 General Election Forecast

The 2017 General Election in Scotland would be a re-run of the 2015 election referendum but the freakish landslide victory achieved by the SNP would not be repeated.

The analysis suggested 25 seats could change hands in favour of the Unionists.

SNP activists would need to be actively deployed campaigning in the under-noted constituencies otherwise they could be lost.

This group of seats were Unionist target marginals – Risk decreasing as the % number drops:

71749: Edinburgh W, Michelle Thomson MP : 4388-6.12%  Lib gain

69982: East Renfrew, Kirsten Oswald MP: 4241-6.06%  Tory gain

66966: East Dunbarton, John Nicolson MP: 3977-5.94% Lib gain

65846: Edinburgh S, Ian Murray MP: 3579-5.44% Labour hold

73445: W Aberdeen, Stuart Donaldson MP: 3961-5.40%  Tory gain

80978: Edinburgh N, Deidre Brock MP: 4280-5.29%  SNP hold

66208: Paisley N, Gavin Newlands MP: 3158-4.77%  SNP hold

68875: Argyll & Bute, Brendan O’Hara MP: 3277-4.75%  SNP hold

62003: North East Fife, Stephen Gethins MP: 2937-4.74% SNP hold

67236: Stirling, Steven Paterson MP: 3175-4.72%  Tory gain

77379: Ochil & S. Perth, Tasmina Sheikh MP: 3645-4.71%  Tory gain

79393: Gordon, Rt Hon Alex Salmond MP: 3711-4.68%  Tory gain

68056: Aberdeen South, Callum McCaig MP: 3618-4.65%  Tory gain

79481: East Lothian, George Kerevan MP: 3676-4.63%  Labour gain

72178: Edinburgh S W, Joanna Cherry QC: 3283-4.55%  SNP hold 

72447: Perth & N Perth, Pete Wishart MP: 3033-4.19% SNP hold

71685: Moray, Rt Hon Angus Robertson MP: 2995-4.18%  Tory gain

78037: Lanark & Hamilton E, Angela Crawley MP: 3272-4.19% SNP hold

68483: Dumfries, Clydesdale, David Mundell MP: 2816-4.11% Tory hold

74179: Berwick, Selkirk: Calum Kerr MP: 3026-4.08%  Tory gain

86955: Linlithgow, E Falkirk, Martyn Day MP: 3570-4.11%  SNP hold

68609: Banff & Buchan, Dr e Whiteford MP: 2772-4.04%   Tory gain

60% of the target seats were taken by the Unionist parties.

 

 

 

 

Psy-ops

Formal identification of an agent of the Secret Service is only possible if they have been formally exposed as such and the incidence of revelations is rare.

So it is a guessing game at best and requires a deal of thought and investigation before levelling an allegation and I make no claim against anyone in this blog. I will have to be content to flag up persons of interest as “dangles”

 

 

Dangle 1: Kate Watson:

She graduated with a postgraduate qualification in terrorism studies in 2013, was the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum, Better Together, Director of Operations and the Scottish Labour candidate for Glasgow East is believed to be a member of the Berkshire-based 77th Brigade.

After the 2014 referendum, she got a job working for Consequitur, a consultancy owned by former Labour shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander. Read what her own party rag alleges:

(theclarionmag.org/2018/06/02/glasgow-east-selection-the-inside-story-2)

 

 

 

 

Dangle 2: Douglas Alexander:

Dangle 3: Alistair Cameron:

Cameron excelled in the military, finishing top of a “staff training course” attended by 120 officers.

Captains are required to attend and pass the “staff training course” within a set period. Failure prevents promotion beyond the rank of Major. Many leave the service at this time.

But Cameron finished “top” of the course he attended and would be fast-tracked promoted through the ranks to command his regiment and then on to the position of General.

Cameron leaving the army makes no sense except that another, more satisfying career beckoned. EG Secret services.

His appointment deciding and guiding the activities of “Union in Scotland” is puzzling but these articles provide an explanation:

(https://www.sis.gov.uk/news/alex-younger-st-andrews-speech.html).

https://caltonjock.com/2018/12/12/exposing-yet-another-westminster-conspiracy-scotland-in-union-part-two-of-two-alastair-james-cameron-just-who-the-hell-is-he/

https://caltonjock.com/2018/12/11/exposing-yet-another-westminster-conspiracy-scotland-in-union-part-one-of-two/

 

 

 

Pamela Nash: Dangle 4:

Nash was a parliamentary officer for the Young Fabians and a member of the Scottish Youth Parliament, where she served on the executive committee and was the convener of the External Affairs Committee.

She interned for John Reid MP, for one year as his constituency assistant and was subsequently employed as his SpAd for a period of three years.

Reid fixed it for her on his promotion to the House of Lords when the Monklands mafia ensured she would be elected as the Member of Parliament for Airdrie and Shotts in 2010.

Coatbridge; The labour legacy summarised:

“Coatbridge? Have you been there, I live there, after decades of the Labour Party doing no more than plan the after election celebrations Coatbridge is in what only can be described in the local Scottish saying, ” a midden”.

Coatbridge used to be a town, Labour put paid to that. They knocked all the shops down and spent a fortune planting trees, these were then knocked down by the local neds so we ended up in a town with spaces, then someone built Asda and Coatbridge became known as Asda town.

Then, with the help of Maggie Thatcher the last of Coatbridge’s industries were demolished a retail park was built and given the name the Faraday park but locally known as the FARAWAY park, since it is too far away from the Town Centre for those but the fittest or car owners to enjoy.

We’ve also got a pedestrian area where the only risk is getting knocked down by a car or small truck.

Coatbridge council who can’t believe that any party other than Labour have the right to join in the local elections is known as the Monklands Mafia mainly because most officials were related to local Councillors and many are still.

In the event of independence, the Monklands Mafia would set up a committee to consider a referendum on creating the Socialist State of Coatbridge, so as to protect the careers of Labour Party members.”

Nash lost her seat in Parliament in 2015 due to he abjectly poor performance but surfaced in 2016 as a leading figure in the newly formed “Scotland in Union”

More of Nash here:

https://caltonjock.com/2014/12/31/i-bet-you-had-forgotten-pamela-nash-labour-party-golden-child-useless-mp-now-leader-of-usury-financed-discredited-scotland-in-union-i-havent/

 

 

 

Dangle 5: John Reid:

 

While he was Secretary of State for Scotland, John Reid became the first senior cabinet member ever to be severely censured by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Elizabeth Filkin. Reid was accused of using parliamentary allowances, taxpayer’s money, to pay the salaries of his son and other staff working for Labour’s electoral campaign. In the course of the inquiry, it emerged that Reid had held, “discussions” with witnesses, “which in plain unparliamentary language sounded a lot like threats”.

In recent times he regularly Lobby’s fellow lords in the House of Lords and other movers and shakers in the corridors of power in Westminster seeking to use his influence, expanding counterintelligence and control over the UK citizenship mirroring the much detested, “Homeland Security” arrangements in place in the USA. He is committed to these, behind the scenes expensive measures through his employment with the Chertoff Group, (founding member of the company and Ex-Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2005 – 2009)

More on him here:

https://caltonjock.com/2014/09/15/john-wreck-it-and-run-reid-warts-plenty-of-them/

 

 

 

 

Andrew Skinner: Dangle 6:

Leading member of Scotland in Union he really is a nasty piece of work.

In the 2015 General Election, he and his supporters’ actively assisted Unionist strategy which included tactical voting in 30  constituencies aimed at defeating the SNP and stemming the nationalist tide.

A group of young Labour party activists, led by Skinner, spent a morning distributing Tory election campaign leaflets in the Labour stronghold of North Muirton, in Perth, trying to persuade people to vote Tory.

Victor Clements, Director of “Forward Together”, a local tactical voting campaign said, “they did really well and the Tory’s bought them lunch afterwards, it’s quite surreal when it comes down to it.”

Skinner said, “One of our main motto’s is country before party.” His group, “United Against Separation”, were also very busy in Gordon, delivering thousands of leaflets urging Labour and Tory voters to back the incumbent Liberal Democrat, Christine Jardine.

Skinner said, “We got Tory voters galore in Gordon. We hit the Tory areas pretty hard and we saw nothing of the SNP. They can try painting us as Tories or Lib Dems and we can show them the areas we’ve hit for Labour. We are at every party and no party.”

The blog on Skinner is well worth a read.

https://caltonjock.com/2018/12/19/all-you-need-to-know-about-unionist-rudeboy-andrew-skinner-the-guy-from-haghill-who-made-it-good-then-cocked-it-up-by-joining-scotland-in-union/

 

 

 

 

 

Jim Gallagher: Dangle 7:

Another Scotland in Union advisory-board member, Gallagher, a former Whitehall civil servant was Director Of Research for “Better Together” during the referendum, and appeared in numerous newspapers as author of a deranged fantasy piece about how wonderful life would be for Scotland inside a unicorns-and-kittens post-Brexit UK, with no mention made of his positions in either BT or SIU.

 

 

 

There are many many more dangles to name but I will do so only if there is interest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The British Secret Service (SIS)

The security service is comprised of three branches each of which provides graduates, postgraduates, 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 identify’s then exploits favorable 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 cybersecurity, 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 are operating in England and Ireland but a cadre of around 250 are probably permanently deployed in Scotland.

Contrary to popular perception many agents fulfill 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 directly from University 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.

 

 

Andrew Fulton

 

 

 

Spies-R-Us – Attended by RD!!

A Glasgow University course covering Security, Intelligence & Strategic Studies – A two-year postgraduate 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 in 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 is still based at the drill hall in University Place.

 

Davidson holding centre stage

 

 

 

Professor Adam Tomkins appointed – Chair of Public Law (John Millar School of Law) 2003

Tomkins, with established links to family members who are also very senior officers in the Foreign Affairs branch of the US State Department, is an intellectual and political genius, (but 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? His behavior since confirms the latter assertion.

The timing of his transfer to Scotland taking up a position the requirements of which his previous employment gave no indication of knowledge suited to his new environment.

But his new employment was by design since it provided him with safe passage into the heart of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) where he was able to influence policy and report rumors, weaknesses and internal strife within the party.

 

 

 

 

2004: The Calton Hill Independence Rally

On the day her majesty, Queen Elizabeth officially opened the new £431 million Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood it was revealed that no one would face criminal charges over the fiasco of overcharging.

As expected the Crown Office and the Procurator Fiscal declared there were no grounds for complaint after a probe into the awarding of contracts for the Holyrood site.

The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) coordinated a rally for independence at Calton Hill in October 2004 at which the “Declaration of Calton Hill”, setting out a vision of an inclusive and outward-looking Scottish republic was presented.

The case was advanced for a Scottish socialist republic without a monarchy or nuclear weapons, with a currency independent of England, a much-reduced level of military spending and a relationship with the European Union safeguarding Scotland’s independence.

Addressing a cheering crowd, Law Professor, Adam Tompkins of Glasgow University, reminded them of the Queen’s previous reluctance to pay tax despite her massive income.

He said that the queen had special powers or `prerogatives`, which included being able to appoint anyone she liked as Prime Minister.

You cannot sue the monarchy. He said Tony Blair used these special powers to attack Iraq and there would have no Iraq war without the crown.

In a democracy, it is the people who are sovereign and not the crown! He urged the abolition of the monarchy preaching, “If you want democracy down with the crown!”

 

 

 

 

2003: The rise and fall of Tommy Sheridan and the Scottish Socialist Party

Tommy Sheridan, Colin Fox and other left-wing activists had started making significant in-roads into Scottish politics causing concern in London, triggering long-established controlling mechanisms implementation of which would be charged to the British Secret Services.

Tomkins established strong links with senior members of a rapidly expanding SSP through the common cause of republicanism.

In the 2003 Holyrood election, the SSP increased their MSP representation from one to six and a number of independent MSP’s also entered the new “rainbow parliament”.

In the first year of the new parliament, the SSP fought for policies such as free school meals and an end to prescription charges (both introduced in a later parliament by SNP) and campaigned against Home Office dawn raids to remove failed asylum seekers.

But the outward show of unity was deceiving, all was not well, information was released to the press that the party was heavily in debt and in November 2004, its leader, Tommy Sheridan announced his resignation.

A Sheridan supporter of long-standing, Colin Fox, who had been elected as a Socialist MSP in 2003, took over and in parliament under his leadership, the SSP continued to pursue its socialist policies, frequently disrupting parliamentary business by way of volatile protest.

At that time Rupert Murdoch’s, “News of the World” exposed and destroyed Sheridan’s political career alleging sexual misconduct in office, using information gathered through knowledgable contacts within the party, another intelligence gathering and, illegal phone tapping of Sheridan and his close friends and political and legal advisors.

The editor of the News of the World in Scotland was Bob Bird, the then-husband of the recently appointed BBC news-reader Jackie Bird who had returned to Scotland from London.

Sheridan won a £200,000 defamation action and costs, despite eleven party figures, including Fox, Kane, and Leckie, giving evidence against him.

Sheridan left the Party and went on to set up a new left-wing party, “Solidarity.”

The News of the World refused to give up its attacks on Sheridan and the case rumbled on between 2004 – 2016.

The Strathclyde Police triggered “Operation Rubicon” which was set up to run in parallel with a wider inquiry into alleged criminality at the News of the World in London.

The fall out included: A jail sentence for Sheridan. The closure of the News of the World in Scotland then later in England and many charges of illegal phone tapping and fraud being lodged by legal authorities against Sheridan, Bob Bird, and Andy Coulson.

A classic MI5 operation which resulted in the rejection by the electorate of the SSP and Solidarity Partys in the 2007 Scottish election. They have never recovered from the impact of the attacks on their political credibility.

There are a number of persons of interest who may have had a role to play in the operation (the public might never know for sure).

Adam Tomkins, Colin Fox, Jackie Bird, Bob Bird, Rupert Maxwell, Andrew Fulton, Andrew Dunlop, Andy Coulson, Carolyn Leckie, Rosemary Kane.

Further reading:

 

https://caltonjock.com/2018/08/03/plausible-paranoia-how-westminster-hoodwinked-the-scots-in-1707-and-2014-and-their-preparedness-to-do-so-again-part1-secret-intelligence-services/

https://caltonjock.com/2018/08/04/plausible-paranoia-how-westminster-hoodwinked-the-scots-in-1707-and-2014-and-their-preparedness-to-do-so-again-part2-defoe-strikes-again/

 

Andrew Dunlop

 

 

 

 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 defense, employment, tax reform, and Scotland.

Was a special adviser to former Defense Secretary George Younger.

Alleged to be one of the architects of the 1989 hated 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2008: Growing support for the SNP in Scotland triggered the activation of a secret MI5 anti-nationalist working group.

In 2008 the growth in nationalist support in Scotland alarmed the US and Westminster.

The Labour Party was in meltdown and it was entirely possible an SNP government would be in place at Holyrood in 2009.

This would bring with it calls for Scottish independence and a referendum.

There were also on-going problems within the Scottish Tory Party, which had suffered yet another bad election defeat.

Voices within the Party in Scotland had begun to raise the spectre of a split from Westminster control so that the Party in Scotland would revert to its former Unionist Party status forming its own distinctly Scottish policies whilst retaining a more hands-off relationship with the Conservative Party at Westminster.

The long-prepared (anti-nationalist strategy), designed to deal with these potential problems was put in place.

British (Scots) spymaster Fulton, (a close colleague of Rikind’s for many years) was identified as the most effective “agent for change” available and it was agreed he would apply himself and his extensive resources to the tasks of completing a root and branch reorganization of the party in Scotland, removing any person, (no matter how senior) who did not fully commit to Westminster Conservative Party ideals.

He would also design a long term strategy undermining the SNP government ensuring any referendum for independence would fail.

It was believed that the SNP would then fall apart in the aftermath of a failure to gain independence and Ruth Davidson would take on the role of First Minister of the Scottish government.

Comment:

Fulton is a major player in the military corporate nexus.

He has been placed in an overtly political position because the UK government is extremely worried about Scottish secession.

He is there to coordinate the destabilization of the SNP government.

Golf and cappuccinos are just distractions, he is a very dangerous individual.

His and the British Secret Service links with right-wing elements in control of Glasgow University was exposed in the under noted blog.

http://lockerbiecase.blogspot.co.uk/2008/03/andrew-fulton-is-he-professor.html

 

 

 

2014: The political meltdown of the unionist party’s in Scotland

The British secret services briefed the membership of Inner Privy Council that through their efforts and those of the entire Westminster political spectrum the end of the SNP would not be long delayed since Scots were disillusioned and ready to accept the retention of the Union.

But events in the 2015 General Election just about destroyed the morale of the Unionists after the Scottish electorate just about wiped out their branch office colleagues north of the border returning 56 MP’s from 58 vacancies.

The “Inner Privy Council” authorized the implementation of “plan-b” which included deployment of all available resources against the SNP government.

The leading role in implementing the strategy to destroy the SNP would be removed from politicians and transferred to the Secret Services.

 

 

 

 

Next post: The Secret services strategy revealed. But here is a wee taster.

 

 

https://caltonjock.com/2019/05/08/tried-and-tested-and-successful-secret-services-tactics-designed-to-damage-credibility-of-scottish-independence/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://caltonjock.com/2019/08/29/will-westminster-proscribe-the-snp-forcing-an-election-in-scotland-returning-the-unionists-to-power-part-2/

https://caltonjock.com/2019/08/30/will-westminster-proscribe-the-snp-forcing-an-election-in-scotland-returning-the-unionists-to-power-part-3-early-days-but-the-secret-service-is-flexing-its-muscles-in-scotland/

https://caltonjock.com/2019/08/31/will-westminster-proscribe-the-snp-forcing-an-election-in-scotland-returning-the-unionists-to-power-part-4-whitehall-and-its-spooks-are-fighting-back/

https://caltonjock.com/2019/09/01/will-westminster-proscribe-the-snp-forcing-an-election-in-scotland-returning-the-unionists-to-power-part-5-is-this-the-end-game/

 

 

 

 

 

https://caltonjock.com/2018/10/12/british-spymasters-revealed/

 

Special Branch “spies” are firmly embedded within the civil service and in the government in Scotland. Their mission being to leak intelligence to Whitehall.

There are also political “sleepers” tasked with disrupting the business of the Scottish government.

The US has plans in place to ensure its nuclear deterrent interests in Scotland are not threatened and the CIA are providing full support to the UK Special Branch.

Signal and human intelligence resources are in place on the internet.

 

 

 

 

 

https://caltonjock.com/2015/01/18/menzies-campbell-and-gordon-brown-planned-to-usurp-scots-by-any-means-preventing-the-snp-from-formng-a-government/

 

 

 

 

https://caltonjock.com/2015/03/04/civil-service-mandarins-plotted-against-scotland-scottish-labour-mp-sat-on-his-hands-welsh-mp-foughts-for-scots-remember-this-come-the-general-election/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

University College London’s Institute for Security & Resilience Studies (ISRS)

The ISRS was founded in 2008 by former “New Labour” Defence Secretary, John Reid.

Reid was a key Blair ally in the run-up to the Iraq war deployment of British forces to Afganistan and earned the reputation as Blair’s ‘enforcer’.

He was appointed Home Secretary following Robin Cook’s resignation to ensure few others would follow suit.

Reid was known in Whitehall as ‘Minister for Newsnight’ for his skill in pushing the Bush/Blair line in media appearances.

The invasion of Iraq may well be remembered as ‘Blair’s war’, and not without some justification.

But there are many people who bear a great deal of responsibility for that criminal act. John Reid is one of them.

 

 

 

 

Blair, arms dealers & Britain’s universities

In November 2012, Tony Blair was the headline speaker for the inaugural conference of the (ISRS)

This was a departure from Blair’s recent public engagements, which were focused more on the religious community.

It is, however, perhaps more in tune with his employment by the government of Kazakhstan, who currently pay him £8 million a year to whitewash their human rights record.

In its corporate brochure, the ISRS presents itself more as a consultancy for hire than a serious academic endeavour.

Full of corporate jargon it offers services in “event driven scenarios” (war games) and securing an “authoritative media presence” (spin).

The ISRS sits alongside several other academic institutes and university groups up and down the country that have close links with arms companies and the military.

It reflects a trend in higher education to be active participants in legitimating imperial state power, not to mention providing subsidised research and much needed credibility for the arms industry.

One well known example of such a school is the Department of War Studies at King’s College London.

Department members Michael Goodman and David Omand (1) in 2007 wrote an article for one of the CIA’s in-house journals.

In it, they noted that following the Iraq invasion the British government felt the need to promote “greater professionalism in analysis” and commissioned King’s to develop a course that would “help to generate this sense of profession, albeit a virtual one.”

Note 1: Omand, a civil servant who was security and intelligence co-ordinator from 2002 to 2005. He was key in pursuing the late David Kelly (the top weapons inspector who spoke out against Blair’s claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction)  for talking to the media.

Other staff in the War Studies department include former foreign policy adviser to Blair, Lawrence Freedman, recently spotted as contender for most obscene appointment to the Iraq Inquiry committee.

The Centre for Studies in Terrorism and political Violence at St Andrews holds similarly dubious connections.

The private military company Janusian Security Risk Management Ltd was one of the first outfits to provide mercenary services in Iraq following the invasion, and boasted of:

“a unique collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St Andrews, includ[ing] shared access to research, intelligence sources and databases, and the expertise of the Centre’s staff”

‘Academic expertise’ on questions of terror, war and ‘security and resilience’ is often far from an exercise in dispassionate inquiry.

As with government and the corporate world, there exists a revolving-door between the military, arms companies and certain parts of ‘respectable’ academia.

A look at the LinkedIn profiles of staff at the ISRS is revealing as to how it fits within this framework.

Before joining the ISRS as Research Manager, Mandeep Bhandal was at Lehman Brothers.

Chief Operating Officer Jas Mahrra previously co-founded consultancy Analytic Red LLP with propagandist Mils Hills.

Their clients included arms giant QinetiQ as well as various government defence agencies.

Director of Programmes Jamie MacIntosh was a research scientist for the MoD, before that serving in the Army with a final tour in Bosnia in 1993.

MacIntosh spoke representing the ISRS at the DSEi arms fair last year.

The problems are greater than a few individuals with interesting pasts.

Engineering departments around the country are quite nakedly in the business of doing basic research for weapons manufacturers.

Almost all the top UK universities take thousands of pounds from arms companies every year.

Between 2008 and 2011 of the 24 Russell Group universities just one, LSE, claimed not to receive military funding.

The rest between them received at least £83 million from arms companies and government military agencies.

Two “founding partners”helped launch the ISRS. They are Ultra Electronics and EADS. Both, as you might expect at this point, are in the defence industry.

Ultra Electronics is a big player in the drone business, specialising in the video-game like controllers that drone operators use to fly the machines.

Ultra are also working on a newer type of weapon called “loitering munitions”.

These hover above a target area for up to ten hours waiting for an enemy to wander underneath, before plummeting to the ground to incinerate whatever is below.

As with the other drone programs in Afghanistan and Pakistan, we are sure to be told that only “militants” are targeted or killed in these attacks.

So expect to see the definition of “terrorist activity” include ‘walking underneath loitering munitions’, should this technology see deployment.

Another of Ultra’s flagship products is the ‘HyperSpike’, and is a competitor to the better known ‘LRAD’.

In a promotional video it is marketed as a “mass notification device”.

Another use to the “everyday warfighter” is as a mass torture device.

The HyperSpike is a sonic weapon capable of blasting high-pitched noises over long distances, causing extreme pain and potentially lasting damage to those in its path.

Sonic weapons like this are increasingly deployed by US police forces to attack demonstrators. Ultra are also active in cyber warfare equipment and services.

EADS is the other founding partner. EADS is a partner in the Eurofighter programme, helped produce nuclear weapons for the French government, and through a partnership with BAE Systems and Finmeccanica, developed the ‘Storm Shadow’ cruise missiles used to bomb Iraq in 2003.

More recently, EADS (though subsidiary GPT) has been accused of paying bribes of £14.5 million to dignitaries in Saudi Arabia between 2007 and 2010, in order to secure lucrative arms deals there.

The payments were made to two companies registered in the Cayman Islands, Simec International and Duranton International.

According to Exaro News, the three executives at GPT who signed off on the bribes are Malcolm Peto, Jeff Cook and Laurence Bryant.

Cook previously worked for the Ministry of Defence. Along with Peto he authorised cheques to pay for luxury cars for two Saudi commanders, Mohammed bin Khalid al-Nahed — head of the signal corps of the Saudi national guard — and his deputy, Abdul Rahman bin Abdullah al-Ayaddi.  Two civilian advisers also received new cars.

In a development that will shock no one, officials at the MoD are said to have known about the offshore payments, but have done nothing.

Simec is named in a recently leaked MoD memo from 1976 discussing “agency fees” paid to secure Saudi deals.

It would thus appear that Saudi officials have been receiving payments through the same company — one based in British territory — for a staggering 36 straight years.

The other mysterious Cayman company, Duranton, was recently reported by the Telegraph as intending to sue GPT for breach of contract, after GPT terminated their agreement. Some world we live in if you can sue for failure to pay bribes.

The Serious Fraud Office is now supposedly investigating GPT over the payments.

The last time the SFO investigated an arms company over bribery in Saudi Arabia was when BAE Systems were accused (amongst other misdeeds) of paying Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan hundreds of millions of pounds in bribes.

The Right Honourable Tony Blair forced the SFO investigation to be dropped so as not to embarrass the House of Saud, or as he would put it ‘endanger Britain’s national security’. Small wonder then that he topped the bill for the symposium.

Those speaking alongside include Blair include John Browne (of tuition fee trebling fame), Michael Gove (“one of the Cabinet’s most original thinkers”) and, um, Ross Kemp.

It is a disgrace that Blair should show his face anywhere in public, least of all in a place of learning.

The damage this conference will do, indeed has already done, to the reputation of higher education only compounds that of the gross involvement of the arms industry. (Stop the War Coalition)

 

 

What is State Capture?

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.

Composed by Jag Patel

The pdf copy of the paper can be downloaded from here: http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/business-innovation-and-skills-committee/industrial-strategy/written/36606.pdf

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)