Biotech chief arrested in Blair honours probe (23/9/2006)

1.Biotech chief held in honours probe - GM Watch
2.Fresh arrests in the cash-for-honours inquiry pile further pressure on Blair - The Guardian
3.Labour peers' cash for pro GMO influence in government - Scottish National Party
4.Blair appoints biotech lobbyist to government - GM Watch
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1.Biotech chief held in honours probe

The arrest this week of Sir Christopher Evans, a leading figure in the biotechnology industry, as part of the police inquiry into cash for honours, is piling further pressure onto Britain's beleagured Prime Minister.

(Biotech chief held in honours probe)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-6095324,00.html

As The Guardian piece below notes:
"The majority [of informed opinion] is beginning to think there is something rotten about a political system where people who give or lend large sums to a political party somehow get honours or peerages.

And the latest developments make this even clearer. Everybody knows that Lord Levy, Tony Blair's chief fundraiser, taps the rich and powerful to give money to Labour. And it cannot have gone unnoticed among those donors that, somehow, a lot end up in the House of Lords. [80% of the money donated to Labour by individuals comes from people who've been honoured!]

The fact that Lord Levy has now been twice interviewed by the police and that the police have taken away his computer and files shows how seriously the police are taking this. It is clear, following the arrest of Des Smith, a former government adviser to a Blair's pet project, city academies, and now Sir Christopher Evans, the head of one of the country's biggest biotech companies - another Blair passion - that detectives are leaving no avenue unexplored." (item 2)

Among the avenues detectives certainly should be exploring is not just the question of whether donations can purchase honours but whether they can also purchase influence on government policy. After all, someone given a peerage is then in a position to be given a place at the heart of government.

It is, after all, a singularly remarkable fact that 2 of Labour's top 3 individual financial donors are not only, like Sir Christopher, biotech entrepreneurs, but their donations also seem to coordinate closely with their first being granted peerages by Blair and then being welcomed as ministers into his government. Also meriting police attention is how extraordinarily well their own biotech companies or favoured biotech institutes happen to have done out of the Blair government.
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2.On borrowed time?
Fresh arrests in the cash-for-honours inquiry pile further pressure on Blair
David Hencke, the Guardian's Westminster correspondent
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/david_hencke/2006/09/c4p.html

Journalists attending Labour's annual conference in Manchester have a great fantasy tale. They imagine Tony Blair finishing his conference speech and about to leave the podium. Enter stage left Deputy Commissioner John Yates of Scotland Yard with a team of uniformed officers. " Would you like to come this way, sir?" they ask the astonished prime minister. And the PM is led offstage in front of the entire Labour conference for questioning over the greatest political scandal since Lloyd George bought 1,000 peerages.

Obviously this is going to stay in the realm of fantasy but it is a real fact, that sooner or later, Blair is going to be questioned by police about the "cash for honours" scandal. More likely it will be in the decent privacy of Chequers or Downing Street, rather than under the glare of publicity, but it will happen.

Since complaints were sent to the Metropolitan Police by two nationalist MPs, Angus MacNeil, and Elfyn Llwyd, a worrying picture of the state of politics in the UK has unravelled. When the two MPs originally complained, informed opinion in the Westminster bubble treated their complaints as a political stunt. They could not believe that Scotland Yard was taking it seriously. When the Yard did start to investigate it was seen as just going through the motions, a quick look at the complaints, and the inquiry would be over.

Now, after 48 people have been interviewed, 13 under caution and three arrested, opinion is divided. There are still those who believe Scotland Yard has to be seen to conduct a proper inquiry (just as it has over the Diana's death to see off conspiracy theorists), but not a thing will come of it. They are increasingly in the minority, however. The majority is beginning to think there is something rotten about a political system where people who give or lend large sums to a political party somehow get honours or peerages.

What will be the effect if they do recommend the unthinkable, and Lord Levy faces prosecution? Effectively it will be curtains for Blair. No PM could stay in office if his chief fundraiser is tainted by accusations of corruption. And that is how high the stakes are now.

John Yates is known throughout the Met as an incorruptible copper who does not shy away from difficult decisions, as the case against Prince Charles's butler testifies. So it will [do] no good the PM offering him a peerage to put him off the scent.
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3..Labour peers' cash for pro GMO influence in government - SNP
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6400

Cash for GM? is the question that is being posed by Highlands and Islands SNP MSP [Member of the Scottish Parliament] Rob Gibson after the publication of the Labour Party loans shows that some of the most prominent backers of the party are also some of the biggest proponents of GM technologies.

While the main focus of Labour loans and donations has been on the peerages, Mr Gibson is becoming increasingly worried that science and agriculture polices are being decided by a few high profile, rich and unelected peers.

Lord Sainsbury is one of the Labour Party's biggest donors. He has been a peer since 1997 and as Government Science Minister, he is also a major investor in Biotech technologies.

Lord Drayson, it was revealed, gave GBP1.1 million to the party and was granted a peerage from Tony Blair in 2004.

Lord Drayson is tipped to become Lord Sainsbury's successor as science Minister. When he still headed his company ([he was also head of the] Bioindustry Association), Lord Drayson financially supported the pro-GM Science Media Centre as well as participating in the Pro-GM lobby group Sense About Science.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4824

The other GM link is Sir Christopher Evans of Merlin Biosciences - a venture capitalist, he is well known to have had close connections to large numbers of Biotech companies, so much so that he is known in some quarters as "Biotech King".
http://www.red-star-research.org.uk/subframe1.html

Mr Gibson said, "Just these three people show that the Labour Party are deeply indebted to these people and therefore are allowing Biotech and GM entrepreneurs shape the lives of millions of people throughout the UK."

"I am deeply worried about these connections and the power that unelected but monied people can have to shape people's lives and the future of the environment. The miracle cures and crops that were promised by the biotech industries have not materialized. However Lord Sainsbury (presumably with the consent of Tony Blair) sees fit to close down three centres which are vitally important to long term research on climate change."

The signs for the future are not good, the Scottish Government will need to be strong in resisting any advance of GM farming technologies into Scotland.

However after parliamentary votes by Labour and LIB Dem MSP's to allow GM Maize to be grown and Ministerial consultations about separation distances between potential GM and non-GM crops , it is important that people mobilize against the kind of technologies that have left vast parts of South American farm land barren and useless."

Lord Sainsbury of Turville became a peer in 1997 and now frontbench spokesman in the Lords on trade and industry. Has given GBP6.5m to the party since 2001 - mainly in three big donations in 2002, 2003 and 2005.

Lord Drayson became a peer in 2004 . Now a junior defence minister, was chief executive of Powderject Pharmaceuticals, makers of vaccines. Has given GBP1.1m.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2asp?arcid=4824

Meanwhile back to the supermarkets. Isn't it interesting that Lord Sainsbury of Turville's personal and financial interests span biotechnology, food retailing, and driving UK government policy in relation to technology and trade?

He is simultaneously [6]:
*the multi-billionaire Science Minister in charge of promoting biotechnology at the UK's Department of Trade and Industry
*a member of the cabinet biotechnology committee (known as 'MISC 6') responsible for national policy on GM crops and foods
*a major personal investor in GM agricultural biotechnology
*a leading member of the UK supermarket giant 'Sainsbury' family (former chairman and major shareholder of J Sainsbury plc - personal and immediate family annual share dividend estimated at GBP36 million in 1998)
*a key advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair on GM technology
*a multi-million pound donor to the Labour Party (giving Labour its biggest single donation in September 1997 and more since) and made a life peer by Tony Blair 3 October 1997

As reported below Lord Sainsbury has just written a cheque to the Labour Party for GBP2.5 million to keep it afloat. He is the government's most prominent backer of GM technology in agriculture.

Lord Sainsbury's personal, political and financial interests span biotechnology, food retailing, and driving UK government policy in relation to technology and trade.
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/LordSainsbury.htm

Money may not buy you happiness but can it buy influence in New Labour to end choice for organic and conventional crop production?

Contact: Rob Gibson 07879 674335
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4.Blair appoints biotech lobbyist to government
GM Watch, 10 May 2005
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5220

If anyone's in doubt that the reins of government are firmly back in the hands of Tony Blair, then just check out the controvery over his recently announced ministerial reshuffle. (Blair defies critics in reshuffle: Promotions court controversy)
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,9061,1480353,00.html

Amongst other enormities, Blair has just placed in the Ministry of Defence the man who has been tipped to be Lord Sainsbury's successor - Lord Drayson, the former head of the BioIndustry Association.

Like the Sainsbury-Blair relationship, the Blair-Drayson relationship has been mired in allegations of corruption and cronyism that center in large part upon the Ministry of Defence.

Both have given huge sums of money to Labour funds. Sainsbury gave Labour its biggest ever single donation in September 1997. Within a month he was made a life peer by Blair and a year later he was made Minister for Science.

The former head of the Bioindustry Association, Paul Drayson, is also a donor and has also been given a peerage by Blair in highly controversial circumstances that led to accusations that Blair was "compromising the peerage system".

The controversy began when Drayson, previously an admirer of Mrs Thatcher, made a substantial donation to Labour while the Ministry of Defence was deciding who should be awarded a smallpox vaccine contract. Drayson gave a further donation of half a million pounds to Labour just six weeks after the PM made him Lord Drayson.

Controversially, the Blair government awarded Drayson's company, PowderJect, the smallpox vaccine contract without any competition. The contract was worth GBP32million and Drayson is thought to have made around GBP20m for PowderJect from this deal.

It later emerged that Drayson had been in a group of businessmen who had breakfasted with the Prime Minister in Downing Street at about the time Ministry of Defence (MoD) experts were meeting to decide what type of smallpox vaccine to buy. When the vaccine deal came to be finalised, officials discovered that Drayson had already made an exclusive deal with the manufacturer of the Lister smallpox vaccine, thus cornering the market in the vaccine the MoD had decided to buy.

It is also said that after meetings between Drayson's BioIndustry Association and a Treasury minister, Blair's Chancellor (Gordon Brown) uncharacteristically approved a tax reform which would save Drayson's company an immediate GBP2m on its tax bill.
http://www.tylerpaper.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12167438&BRD=1994&PAG=740&dept_id=226965&rfi=6

After selling his company for a very considerable profit, Lord Drayson described himself as "a very successful guy through my own hard work".

Drayson's company, while he still headed it, was a financial supporter of the pro-GM Science Media Centre - a pet project of Lord Sainsbury's. Powderject's support for the SMC dried up following Drayson's departure. Drayson has also served on a working party of the controversial pro-GM lobby-group Sense About Science.
http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/peerreview/

The biotech industry must be rubbing its hands in glee at Drayson going into government. While Drayson was the head of the BioIndustry Association, it proposed sweeping new restrictions on the right to protest which would make it difficult to legally conduct a boycott or even protest against a corporation. It also can do no harm to have the former head of a lobby group whose motto is 'Promoting UK Biotechnology', joining a ministry that will be dolling out bio-defence contracts. Drayson will also be ready to claim ministerial experience when Lord Sainsbury finally goes.

For more on Lord Sainsbury:
http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=116