Pollster's Answers Lead to More Questions
Opinion Leader Research have got back to Guido and they say nobody paid for that research. They just asked questions slanted to favour Gordon for no particular reason. They also say they won their lucrative HM Treasury contract and the Bank of England contract in a competitive tendering process.They won't say why the Treasury needs pollsters, what they poll about, or how much they have been paid.
Guido could understand if the Treasury needed statisticians, but pollsters? Perhaps the Bank of England would be interested in measuring, say for example, people's inflation expectations, but their opinions? If public money has been spent by the Treasury on pollsters who have asked questions that assist Gordon in his personal political ambitions, that would be a massive breach of the Ministerial Code bordering on corruption. If it were to be proved that the payments to do something innocuous were effectively a hidden subsidy covering the costs of doing polling on issues of interest to Gordon Brown for no particular reason it would be scandalous.
Since Gordon's personal pollsters won't give Guido answers, maybe Gordon will answer Stewart Jackson's parliamentary questions?
Guido could understand if the Treasury needed statisticians, but pollsters? Perhaps the Bank of England would be interested in measuring, say for example, people's inflation expectations, but their opinions? If public money has been spent by the Treasury on pollsters who have asked questions that assist Gordon in his personal political ambitions, that would be a massive breach of the Ministerial Code bordering on corruption. If it were to be proved that the payments to do something innocuous were effectively a hidden subsidy covering the costs of doing polling on issues of interest to Gordon Brown for no particular reason it would be scandalous.
Since Gordon's personal pollsters won't give Guido answers, maybe Gordon will answer Stewart Jackson's parliamentary questions?
- To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the decision to engage Opinion Leader Research to undertake polling for HM Treasury was subject to a competitive tendering process and will he make a statement.
- To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has been spent in each year since 2001 by HM Treasury on polling services provided by Opinion Leader Research and will he make a statement.
A co-conspirator points out that they also had no identifiable paying client for their "What it means to be British" research in 2005. Shortly afterwards Gordon began loudly banging his Britishness drum. Opinion Leader Research has helped Gordon on "Britishness" issues before, their research was used extensively in “New Britain” a 1999 publication produced by the Smith Institute. The pamphlet was itself singled out and explicitly criticised by the Charity Commission as being party political in the first 2001 investigation into the Sith.Guido sees a pattern here; the Treasury hosts over a hundred of the Smith Institute's seminars - rent-free, simultaneously the Treasury pays the Smith Institute to hold seminars. The Treasury pays Deborah Mattinson's Opinion Leader Research generously, Deborah Mattinson sits on the Smith Institute's board and does "polling" that is helpful to Gordon - for free. She also writes hagiographical press articles about Gordon, based on her own polling research, whenever negative independent poll findings come out.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the taxpayer has been paying, via the Treasury, for Gordon's polling and spin, all tightly coordinated via the Smith Institute to promote the Brownite political agenda. This is abuse of office.
39 comments:
Guido, I hope you doors and windows are secured against the darkside tonight. "They don't like it up em" (attrib Lance Corporal Jack Jones 1940)
I believe that laser torpedoes have just entered Gordon's Death Star's exhaust port...
Just so we dont go round the "well the other lot used to do it as well" POLL again.
Is this sort of thing normal in governing parties?
Do some reserch on that, or all this sort of nit picking stuff just looks like sour grapes.
I dont think the Tories got up to much of these type of things. However we hardly had an internet in those days, and no freedom of information act.
It would at least be reasuring if you could get some Tory MPs to make a fuss instead of just yourself. Because at least there maybe then a chance that Camerons lot will not start doing exactly the same after the next election.
Tories have been asking questions.
Guido , you are my hero and a Star
You have my vote for GOD
Brown is history, and if only the useless Tories can get off their arses, and get stuck in,
we could see some Brown stuff hitting the fan
This Stinks and I say that as someone with a bloody cold!!!!
Spotted this on Dizzy Thinks earlier,
http://dizzythinks.blogspot.com/2007/02/opinion-leader-research-receives-105.html
We have all been concentrating on "Cash for honours", and Brown despite being given a bank balance (a damn sight larger than the treasurer of the Labour party knew about) to spend on the election was completely unaware of the "loans".
I am not surprised by any of the stuff that Guido is digging up on Gordon and the Smith Institute, it fits with a man who has a power base, inner cabinet and personal SPADS to rival his neighbour next door. So a personal pollster would be an obvious addition to a power base within the government and the Labour party.
Don't even get me started on Ronnie Cohen and capital gains tax while the rest of us see our company shares classed as income.
it seems this country is wallowing in corruption and spin.
1:43 said
Brown is history, and if only the useless Tories can get off their arses, and get stuck in.
I think Camerons tactic is to wait and see. why get involved when NuLab is on a path of self destruction. They cannot blame anyone for interfering that way.
But think you right, there is going to be an SFI very soon. (sh*t fan interface).
Dizzy has got a post up noting that the same company received a huge Consultancy fee for some NHS work.
In my business if the people who decided who got the contract were given a Free gift it would be illegal . Another thing is the speed and prominence of the placement of the Sun`s bit on it . It was such a stupid a meaningless Survey that unsuprisingly it was ( as far as I know ) ignored.
You can pay for space in the Sun`s News Collumns and out marketing material there . It doesnt even cost that much and I have noticed friends of mine using this facility.( Marketing people working for them that is ).
I would think it was almost certain that the Sun was directly paid to put that Survey "News" in and it was pretty prominent so it will have been a fair old whack.
If she is claiming this research was done for free then thats even worse and i would love to know what other Consultancy work this company has got for the Governemnt . In the light of the NHS crisis it is somewhat impolitic if millions are going on "Consultants/W whose services are so inessentila they feel obliged to spend wads of theior own folding getting research they did for free into the Sun.
Stinks , you are onto a good one here Guidot, You only need another couple of solid stories thie week to stop people saying
" Oh it used to be good"
Who does she know ? Why her..there has to be story.
Dizzy says
According to the Health Minister, Andy Burnham, the NHS consultation "Your health, your care, your say" which closed in November 2005 had a total bill to the taxpayer of £1.39 million out of the department's running cost budget.
Of that money, 75%, or £1.05 million went to Opinion Leader Research. That is the same Opinion Leader Research headed by long standing Labour Party consultant, member of the Smith Institute, and friend to Gordon Brown, Deborah Mattinson.
Anyone know if Gordimmo has any offshore bank accounts in the Kingdom of Fife?
As that will be the only place offering him sanctuary come NuLabor's meltdown.
This S'ith affair looks like Gordimmo has been running his own money laundering service.
Perhaps he got the idea from his neighbour?
Gordo hasn't been doing any meet&greets at Buddhist temples recently, has he?
Guido,
Just do a search a Companies House, check the books. See who her clents are.
I'm afraid nothing will come of this. The party is only carying out state business. A British Socialist State cannot be built for nothing. These sums are only a small expense and would be wasted in the hands of Jo-public anyway.
There's a new Sheriff in town and he's cleaning it up.
Strange to see none of the villains' henchmen out astroturfing like crazy though. I wonder if they aren't too busy working their fingers to the bone at the shredding machine.
Should the Tories not rather hold back a little just to make sure that Gordon *does* become leader?
Why has Browno got such an ID crisis ? Doesn't he know that British is the term the English apply to their welfare programmes for those rendered impoverished by their own ineptitude ?
Good stuff Guido, why not encourage the outraged citizenry to try and ginger up their MP's to press the matter harder.
Gentlemen, this is all becoming too personal, we're men of business, let us not forget that.
The Don would like you all to attend a special party in his honour this evening at his home. Please tell me that you'll be there. The boys will pick you up.
He has some business to attend to this morning. So, please, no calls.
Hope you are aware that Opinion Leader Research is just another of Chime Communications which also just happens to be the holding company of that well-known politically impartial organisation ... Bell Pottinger.
To be fair the work carried out by OLR for both the Bank of England and HM Treasury is so low level as to be almost derisory, one survey on the BofE's insecurity in how it is publicly perceived and one small poll done for HMT on financial inclusion. Saying that, Brown's own peculiar insecurites and shortcomings, coupled with his track record to date, would make any closed tender for HMT/BofE contracts suspicious in my opinion.
I am sure Britain's renowned fearless press will expose the shameful wrongdoings of Sith.
Guido - what an excellent piece of work! Take a pay rise immediately.
Not a problem, they're on the payroll.
Guido, I thought at first this was a bit of a sideshow, but now I think you're on to something. What is needed now, and what you have in abundance, is tenacity.
They will try to brush this aside as a "political hoo-ha" but my guess is, behind the scenes, they are starting to sweat.
Anonymous said...
it seems this country is wallowing in corruption and spin.
Nothing new there then!
But the point is, thanks to GF and others we now have a much clearer idea of what it might be. It's just a pity our newspapers, in particular, seem to be more a part of the problem than anything to do with the solution. We need decent investigative journalism and papers prepared to invest some more effort in the subject.
Eventually it will all come out. Secrets don't tend to remain secrets when people find themselves up against it.
The great British public are being stiffed all right, probably straight out of News Corp GHG in NYC.
If the UK press don't wanna dig (a little scared perhaps!) then maybe some of our brothers in the Land of the Free may care to take up the baton.
Outstanding work, as always, Guido. One man can only do so much. Come on journalistos, make this one fly.
Extract from Chime Communications plc
2005 annual report re their Research division which in addition to Opinion Leader Research also includes Ledbury Research.
"New business wins in 2005 included London Stock Exchange, Bank of England, Cancer Research UK,
Home Office, KPMG, Age Concern, Scottish & Newcastle and BBC Governors."
Border Reiver said...
"But the point is, thanks to GF and others we now have a much clearer idea of what it might be. It's just a pity our newspapers, in particular, seem to be more a part of the problem than anything to do with the solution. We need decent investigative journalism and papers prepared to invest some more effort in the subject.
Eventually it will all come out. Secrets don't tend to remain secrets when people find themselves up against it."
I always thought the newspapers were in on it. Ms. Rebekah Wade and the Gordian, et al. always cosied up to this government. And the crazies of the Mail and Telegraph are too busy hating Cameroon.
This should be left until after the May elections.We don't want to SNiP any cross-border ties.
The cess pit just keeps on growing.
How about an FOI request under the Met's letter head, that should stir up the microbes.
Surely a few judiciously phrased FOI requests are urgently needed here...
enemy trenches deserted on all fronts .. no astroturf sturmtruppen seen .. it's over boys .. they're fleeing
difficult ground for Gordo this. Finding ways to pay allies and friends has always beena challenge, this smells of that rather strongly.
A very cogent description of events. that cannot be desacribed as "minor", this is very serious stuff. Surely they can't spin their way out of this one! Credit where credit's due, well done Guido.
Hmmm, strangely quiet on the Astro Turfing front - are they keeping their powder dry or firefighting elsewhere?
I'm corresponding with my MP with regard to the Brown/Mallinson/OLR/Sith relationship. The more of our politicians that know about these dodgy dealings the better. Who knows, a bit of stirring and eventually enough momentum will build up that someone might do something about these fiddling fuckers.
My local MP (Yvette Cooper) didn't want to know.
But I suppose she'd already been S'ith in a conjugally way.
Spending on OLR.
A nice tabulation of the stuff guido linked to.
It has already been mentioned that Deborah Mattinson,an evident supporter of Gordon Brown,has had an occasional spot on Newsnight questioning a commissioned focus group to extrapolate future voting intentions.Just how impartial can she be expected to be I ask,and how did she get the gig?I wonder how Gordaq shares are doing,I have not seen them recently.
Was ir OPL that Gordo felt it was necessary to pay over £15k to decide that holding the World Cup would be popular ?
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