++ Source : IPPR Think-Tank Got
"Massive" Donations from Northern Rock ++
Wonks for Sale : New Labour's favourite think-tank and source of policy ideas has confirmed it received funding from Northern Rock.IPPR has yet to get back to Guido, so am as yet unable to confirm that they received hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations from Northern Rock. Reminds Guido of how generous Enron was with political donations before the end...
UPDATE : Northern Rock promised £191,018 to IPPR in May 2006 alone. Still awaiting total amount to be confirmed.
UPDATE II : Another £180,000 spotted in the 2003 IPPR accounts. Source says it will total over half-a-million.
40 comments:
when will someone put a stop to this corruption in public life? when will a judge or senior policeman actually do their job and stop these corrupt nulabour scum government from stealing our money for their own ends?
enough is enough
This may well have come from their charitable foundation which is obviously not the same as if it came directly from the firm itself...
Northern Rock was a rancid puss-filled blister on the body of the UK economy. It burst, so Brown covered it with a sticking plaster and now says the patient is healed and it's business as usual.
Sadly for all of us, the patient (UK economy) is a corpse which only appears to be showing signs of life because it is full of maggots busily devouring the rotting body.
Batten down the hatches, there's considerably worse to come.
>This may well have come from their charitable foundation which is obviously not the same as if it came directly from the firm itself...<
My, that was a rapid rebuttal, would the DNS be that of the IPPR by any chance?
Northern Wreck are North Eastern, IPPR have their IPPR Notehr in Newcastle. NR give away 5% gross profits to 'good causes' and the NR trust they have in the NE funds a lot of projects round that neck of the woods. It is not beyond the realms that they have funded IPPR is it.
Oh and it also says it on the website: http://www.ippr.org/ipprnorth/funding/
Oh and here is the PR announcing the funding: http://www.nr-foundation.org.uk/news/news_May06a.html
"
ippr north: £191,018 over three years to support the work of the only English policy and research think tank outside London. "
It such a big secret Guido.
Are there any FOREX traders out there who can inform me as to whats happening to sterling? It's currently sliding against other currencies especially the euro.
Is this the start of a run on the pound?
BTW whats happened to Mervyn King? Has he resigned or been sidelined?
just cos it was made public doesnt change the fact that 99.9% of the public will have no idea that yet another dubious financial donation to NuLiebour may have been behind a political decision to waste taxpayers cash
This might have been in the public domain, but few of us knew about it. Crash Gordon has bailed out a company that bankrolls NuLab policy dorks, using the promise of OUR money. This stinks, and it is hardly the first time Brown has been caught in questionable dealings.
Ladies and Gents it's alot ranker than that:
IPPR was created by Dr. PAUL CORRIGHAN chief SpAd to Ried and Milburn at health and, surprise surprise, married to none other than HILARY ARMSTRONG former chief whip, member for Durham North West, and an arch NuLab convert (her father Erny must be truning in his grave).
If Guido ever finishes with more pressing sleaze, it would be worth looking at how much consulting work Dr. Paul has had from his wife at Local Government and Haze of Dope Milburn her constituency nabour and himself no slouch at getting his snout in the trough - MR scanners for hire anyone?
Are Cameron and Osborne going to start behaving like an effective opposition and make an issue of this?
Pre-97 Campbell and Mandelson would have slaughtered the Govt over this, aswell as all the nasties now being gradually revealed by this credit crunch/banking crisis.
If Cameron cannot exploit this latest revelation then I suggest that he steps down in favour of someone who can.
A further £180K in the 2003 accountants. Also to the anons, when you mention 'waste taxpayers cash' - how much cash has been wasted? And do you feel the same way about barclays?
What on earth do you think lender of last resort stands for?
And belore you say it, the guarantee was more about calming the public than bailing out the company. The company was still solvent and indeed given its busines structure would probably be even if it had virtually no depositors (£24bn versus £113bn assets and loans).
"The Foundation is now one of the largest charitable trusts in the UK, and the biggest with a specific regional focus. It was established in 1997, when the Northern Rock Building Society changed from being a mutual organisation to a plc. It receives 5% of Northern Rock plc’s annual pre-tax profits, but is an entirely independent charity with its own board of trustees. Since its launch, the Foundation has invested a total of £127 million in tackling disadvantage and improving quality of life in its area."
Large chartiable foundation makes donation to think tank shock!
The trustees are listed here -
http://www.nr-foundation.org.uk/about_trustees.html
I'm with frustrated Tory on this -
When are we going to see some direct opposition to this corruption ?
Any momentum strategy works in volatile times like these.You could still short the dax futures today for a better than 50point move.
Such a shame that Tory think-tanks are funded in the same way, other wise they could really make hay with allegations like this...
Sniff, sniff..
Chris Jobe is a board member of IPPR north and a trustee of the Northern Rock Foundation...no conflict of interest there
Anonymous @ 1.34pm. There is a subtle difference. Well its a fucking huge obvious difference to anyone with more than one brain cell to run together, but for the benefit of labour astroturfers or anyone thinking about believing the dark-side:
Labour are the government. The government is putting up our (taxpayers) money to back NR, which is an institution which effectively funds the Labour party (or some of their wonks at least). Can you explain to me how the Tory party spends our (taxpayers) money to fund 'their' think-tanks?
You fucking twat!
Zorro
--
"Are Cameron and Osborne going to start behaving like an effective opposition and make an issue of this?"
No. The Tories are being smart and staying out of it. You can see that any attempt by the Tories to try and land a few punches will be rebutted by the NuLab "Well 10 years ago the Tories did this" bullshit backed up by the BBC, as occurred recently with Alistair Darling. The Tories don't need to do the donkey work now. The Liberals and the newspapers will stick the knife in and the economic realities will soon hit home. In the meantime Cameron should spend his time working out his key speech to the nation where he avoids criticising the government and instead describes how the Tories will lead the nation out of this mess. When the shit really hits the fan people will want solutions, not mindless back-biting, so he needs to get that speech just right.
jim the wanker 12.42pm
Northern Rock: £113bn of assets, my arse. They tried cashing in some of those "assets" and couldn't find a buyer. Toxic sludge packaged as CDO's is worth fuck all these days except to Gordon Brown with his bottomless pit of taxpayers money that is.
Perhaps you will now go through the other 179 donors linked from here and explain how much money they have given to IPPR and what they are going to get out of it. According to you. And your ever so clever sources that spill the beans on public information that is dog bites man in its newsworthiness.
What are BP going to get? Are Nationwide next to tumble? Will the PCS get more than 2% for their members. Non story non story non story.
Are you lot (Guido's crew of anons) complete and utter fuckwits too? There is no scandal. 180 orgs and companies give IPPR cash or time or kind. None of our cash is being used for Northern Rock. NONE, NADA, RIEN, KEIN, ZILCH.
chris jobe is also Director North East of Northern Rock plc.
so he's a trustee / director / board member for northern rock foundation / northern rock / IPPR North.
er Chris Paul,
I don't see how highlighting the fact that there are 179 other organisations effectively buying influence through IPPR in any way alters the fundamentals of the case. It just underlines that corruption is rife in the squeaky clean post-sleaze era of New Labour.
Quod erat demonstrandum
"Are Cameron and Osborne going to start behaving like an effective opposition and make an issue of this?"
No. The Tories are being smart and staying out of it. You can see that any attempt by the Tories to try and land a few punches will be rebutted by the NuLab "Well 10 years ago the Tories did this" bullshit backed up by the BBC, as occurred recently with Alistair Darling. The Tories don't need to do the donkey work now. The Liberals and the newspapers will stick the knife in and the economic realities will soon hit home. In the meantime Cameron should spend his time working out his key speech to the nation where he avoids criticising the government and instead describes how the Tories will lead the nation out of this mess. When the shit really hits the fan people will want solutions, not mindless back-biting, so he needs to get that speech just right.
Exactly - shame some of the trolls and UKIPers over at ConservativeHome dont wake up and smell the coffee
chris paul you're squealing like a wounded pig.
I wonder why?
To those saying "oh it's an independant board of trustees", please read the personal summaries of the Trustees and you'll note very quickly that it reads like a who's who of the North East's quango-ists pretty much all of whom have their faces deeply in the tax and spend trough Gordon has so massively thrown OUR money at over the last ten years. They are hardly disinterested in the survival of Nu-Liebour and therefore there IS a suitable reason for feeling angry about the whole shambles of Broon/Darling promising OUR money to keep NR afloat given the links between NR, its charitable foundation and Liebour-related activities.
The Northern Rock seems to be a Labour Party slush fund. No wonder Gay Gordon decided to pledge our fucking money to keep it afloat.
The fact of the matter is that Gay Gordo would be happy to see Southern shareholders and mortgagees get shafted, but not in his bumfuck heartland. Perhaps he should pressure Witless Wanless to step down and appoint one of his very very close friends to oversee the taxpayers' gerrymandering on his behalf. The old saying "nowt so queer as folk" takes on a whole new meaning under this Government.
BTW, can someone explain the rocking horse business to me.
Ippr North have produced some fantastic reports on the state of the North East economy in the last few years. Many of which the government would do well to listen to.
It may be a Labour Leaning Think Tank but Labour does not always listen to it.
Northern Rock is one of the biggest employers on Tyneside with a strategic interest in seeing the North East's economy develop.
The Northern Rock Foundation does tremendous work across the region fro charitable bodies and other organisations.
I don't really understand what the problem is here. North East bank gives money to North East Think Tankl to try and develop policy on North East development.
Shock Horror.
If any of the Tories on here so hellbent on Borwn bashing looked at the facts of what the Northern Rock foundation has done up there then to continue to criticise would leave you pretty open to charges of dismissing the importance of the North East.
and whilst we are at it and I'm irate may I point out that the whole crisis stems from the elements of uncertainty within global markets and an ill insured strategy at the bank itself.
Yes, the regulator should have spotted the problem but the bank and the blessed credit markets are the true culprits here.
The brave IPPR staffer hiding behind anonymity at 4.50pm said that "to continue to criticise [Northern Rock's funding of IPPR North] would leave you pretty open to charges of dismissing the importance of the North East".
Can you tell us just why the North East is important other than as a source of under-educated, benefit-claiming NuLiebour voters?
I'm not an IPPR staffer. Just have a North East interest.
I doubt I really have to explain the importance of developing strong regions across the country.
"The importance of developing strong regions"? What on earth does that mean?
That's the aim of the EU, surely...to break the UK, England in particular, into regions of the EU Superstate.
Let's be blunt. According to IPPR North's own figures, the North East already obtains funding per head of £1,056 more than the average in England (http://www.ippr.org/ipprnorth/pressreleases/?id=2862) and now one of the major employers and social funders of the region is under threat, Gordon is using public funds (that's all our money taken as taxes remember) to try and bail them out or at least put off the final reckoning for a while longer (not to mention trying to hide the cracks in the UK economy as a whole).
I wonder, oh how I wonder, if it has anything to do with the huge self-interest NuLiebour has in the NorthEast. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:2005UKElectionMap.svg
You'll also notice on the IPPR North page that a Director of Northern Rock Foundation sits on the IPPR Commission on Public Service Reform in the North East. That's how closely linked the two organisations are. To those saying that there's no reason to at least cast an eye over the questionable links here and the mis-use of public funds, this is just one more example of the complete disregard for due process that NuLiebour has shown throughout its terms in office.
If Gordon really wanted to "develop strong regions", he COULD have managed the economy in a mature and economically sensible fashion, taking advantage of a ten-plus year global boom and his golden economic legacy from the Tories to attract business to the region and encourage the creation of real jobs. Instead, he's taxed and spent and taxed and spent and borrowed and borrowed and borrowed to make up for the fact that his spending has exceeding his tax-take (IN A BOOM!) and all he has to show is a massive client state of public sector employees and benefit claimants in the region paid for by the profits of oil companies and banks (which have grown despite his interference) and massive grabs on everyone else's money.
I think in times like these its advisable to try to be as positive as possible. Look hard for the cloud with the silver lining. Its an ill wind etc..... you know, that sort of thing.
The best I can come up with is ( although you may have to be almost 50 at least to understand the point ), it was every bit as bad in 76-79, if fact far worse.
But then I remembered that we have Team Cameron and not Team Thatcher now. So I just slipped back into utter depression and started to plan a long very expensive holiday as far away from here as I can find. The moon I understand is not available quite yet.
Gold has made me so much profit in the last few years, I have got to spend it somewhere. This amount of easy wealth is starting to get embarrassing. I have made over £50,000 clear since this time last week doing absolutely sweet bugger bloody all.
chris paul has put that BP are a beneficiary , hope its nothing to do with carbon capture?. looks like theres more than meets the eye to this fund theres so many connections.
does this fund make donations to nu lab directly??
i can here the shredders firing up
thanks
pig farmer
Chris Jobe is a decent and honourable guy who as NR director for the North East supports a lot of regional development and partnership activity - he has relatively little to do with the bank's commercial operations. NR is one of the biggest employers on Tyneside and has an exemplary record of supporting local projects and regional development; that they have supported IPPR North - the first North East and indeed the first regional thinktank - on projects supporting NE regional development is a Good Thing which supports the economic development of one of the UK's historically underdeveloped regions. There is no corruption here - just a misguided attack on a company which might have been reckless in commercial terms but which has been nothing but philanthropic in its dealings in the North East.
A non-Labour North Easterner,
sorry non labour north eastener
in case you havent realised, i support decent people working in useful jobs.
all those NR jobs are now in trouble , you might want to say media or political spin is undermining what you see as a good and benign.
but wanless signed off what NR have done , he is gordons buddy and overall gordons ecnomic policies have shafted the ecnomey , so all those pleasent feelings we had in our decimated heavy industrial areas , have now been shown to be a short term election poster event.
as for NR fund , you have given money to new labour activities either overtly or via the back door , you are therfore not indpendent. i am sure youve done some good stuff and i want NR staff to have there jobs, and for it to remain the 5th largest uk bank.
but everything is down to nu labour on this , they are doing somthing that is totally screwing up the future of this country and NR.
these fronts of nicey nicey philanthropic organisations are used by politicians , to add background to voters feelings. iam sure some decent folk are in it but what makes you think if they would stuff a large bank they wounldnt use a charitable organisation.
in case you had missed it somes posted on another thread that bank of england cover is only for new deposites made after midnight , and to put it bluntly you are going to have to get £10 billion worth of deposites to save NR from takeover.
all that good work at risk from dodgey goverment !!
i am no longer nu labour fan because i have found out what they have done ,my politics have changed to hoping they get voted as soon as possible.
thanks
pig farmer
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