Dark Force Recognised

The Mail this morning casts Gordon Brown as the Sith Emperor from Star Wars. The dark forces of the Smith Institute are still under investigation...

Civil Service Swerves Jacqui's 42 Days Speech Under Investigation Smith Institute Serves Speech

Guido drew attention yesterday to the Smith Institute giving a platform for Jacqui Smith to sell the 42 days policy. The Smith Institute is, as a tax-exempt charity, restricted from getting involved in politics or in matters not compatible with its charitable objectives. It is currently under investigation for a second time for breaches of the Charities Act.

So what was it doing last night? Any claim that the speech given by Jacqui Smith was non-political and made in her capacity as a government minister should be dismissed. Guido understands that senior civil servants ruled that it was a political speech - hence it was not reported or distributed via the official Government News Network or spun by civil service press officers. Quite correct and proper, she was after all making the case for a politically controversial policy.

So the speech was distributed only by the Labour Party's press office. Which raises the question - what was the legally non-partisan Smith Institute doing getting involved in this controversial area a few days ahead of a close run vote, which theoretically could turn into a confidence vote for Gordon Brown? Another example of blatantly partisan politicking from the Smith Institute.

Smith Institute Used to Sell 42 Days

Gordon Brown is in a lot of trouble over 42 days, his attachment to this Blairite legacy policy has become a trial of strength. Jacqui Smith is going round selling the policy to sceptical Labour backbenchers and implacable opposition.

Strange that tomorrow evening of all days, in the middle of this effort to sell this most politically controversial security policy, Jacqui Smith is giving a speech on the issue to a Smith Institute invited audience. Haven't we been here before?

The Smith Institute is supposed to be an independent charitable think tank, set up "to undertake research and education in issues that flow from the changing relationship between social values and economic imperatives". The Smith Institute during the first (2001) investigation by the Charity Commission undertook to stick to its charitable objectives - education in social and economic issues. The second investigation, now into year two, is yet to report.

How does the Home Secretary pushing government security policy in this controversial government policy area constitute "education"? Her speech is on "How can the state adapt its traditional security approach to manage a new and wider range of threats?" "Lock people up for 42 days without trial" will, Guido suspects, be the answer.

This is not even in the charity's remit and is completely incompatible with the Smith Institute's charitable status and stated aims. It is merely a politically convenient platform provided for Jacqui Smith when no respectable think-tank would touch the issue...

Why Do Brownies Like American Losers?

The rumour in PR Week that Stephen Carter wants Mark Penn to come over and advise Brown dumbfounds Guido. Penn, a pollster, was supposedly fired in disgrace from the Clinton campaign after he was found to be taking money to lobby against Hillary's own policies. (It is all a bit of a sham, she doesn't really believe in the policy, he isn't really fired). He hasn't exactly proved to be the wisest of counsels to Clinton has he? Clearly he will be perfect for Brown.

Gordon has fallen out with Bob Shrum, the unrivalled adviser to 8 losing Democratic Party presidential campaigns. Shrum was last seen at Heathrow, fleeing the country after a bollocking from an ungrateful Brown.

Still, the payments he picked up via the Smith Institute during his time as an adviser to Brown will cushion his hurt...

Smith Institute Cash for Policy

Guido has just noticed that Gordon's favourite think-tank, the Smith Institute, has a new publication out today. In it the director-general of the Association of British Insurers (ABI), Stephen Haddrill, calls for a way out for the insurance industry from the "vicious circle of unquantified longevity risks".

So an insurer does not like risk - is he in the right business? He suggests shifting the risk off insurers onto taxpayers. Of course he wants the industry to be able to offer attractive low premiums by having the insurance industry state subsidised.

Guido expects big business with naked self interest to beg favours from big government, protectionism is the easy way to profits. But shouldn't an "independent" think tank question the propriety of such an arrangement? Who benefits from this apart from shareholders in insurance companies?

Guido called the Smith Institute to find out how much they were paid by the ABI to produce the report. The public charity refused to answer the question. Guido contacted the ABI's Jonathan French to ask the same, he has as yet not responded. Guido understands that the Smith Institute got a five-figure sum from the ABI. Would that compromise their independence or integrity?

UPDATE 16:00 : The ABI's Jonathan French has got back to Guido with the promise of an answer and a request to spell his name correctly.

Tories Call for an Inquiry into Balls' Bung

The Tories are calling for a Civil Service inquiry into the circumstances surrounding a 2005 payment of nearly £100,000 to Ed Balls from the already under statutory investigation Smith Institute. The payment was allegedly for his work on two pamphlets published by the Institute. Ex-employees confirm that he was never seen at the Institute's offices during his 8 month tenure despite being paid an unheard of (for wonkland) monthly salary of over £10,000.

The Smith Institute was used as a slush fund for the Brownies. It functioned effectively as Gordon's policy and political secretariat in his long putsch for the premiership. Once Gordon Brown was installed in No. 10, Konrad Caulkett moved seamlessly from his executive position at the Smith Institute to become a Special Adviser in Downing Street. During Konrad's time at the supposedly non-political charity he assisted Ed Ball's 2005 election campaign in his Normanton constituency whilst still drawing a salary from the charity.

Who stumped up for Ed Balls' generous payments package? Could it have been wealthy property developer John Milligan? Pictured here with Brown, he is a trustee of Gordon's charity, the Smith Institute, has given tens of thousands to the Labour party and even made a personal donation of £25,000 to Gordon's leadership coffers.

For some strange reason Ed Balls failed to properly declare his income from the Smith Institute or get the necessary Treasury clearance required for a Special Adviser before taking the sinecure. The rules were designed to prevent conflicts of interest. It also turned out that the Treasury had made undeclared payments to the Smith Institute, by mistake of course, which were only discovered when Guido succeeded in pushing the Charity Commissioners to investigate. They were the result of a mix-up according to yet another Smith Institute trustee Paul Myners, one of Gordon's favourite businessman who only remembered (during the week the investigation was announced) that he was himself supposed to make good the payment, some two years later.

Of course the Smith Institute received free advice and polling data from another trustee, Deborah Mattinson, whose firm coincidentally won government contracts for which they charged the Treasury £3 million. Do you think there is a strong piscine smell here?

OLR Win 90% of Government Contracts

OLR has become the Halliburton of British politics. Whereas Dick Cheney's old firm was suspiciously successful in winning war profiteering contracts, Gordon's crony pollster Deborah Mattinson's OLR wins focus group and citizen's juries contracts. Guido explained how this works in September. In May Guido revealed the £153,484.38 focus group. Why does Gordon like OLR so much? Well could it be that they get (free of charge) research results that give Gordon 92% approval ratings? Teasy May has now written to Gus O'Donnell, the head of the civil service, demanding an inquiry. She says "Citizens' juries are increasingly looking like a sham... Not only are these glorified focus groups wasting millions of pounds of taxpayers' money but he has the nerve to award the contracts to his personal polling crony." It is corrupt, plain and simple.

Tories Slam Sith "Fair Tax" Plans

This morning's controversial Smith Institute summit on “fair taxation” was relocated from Downing Street after Guido drew attention to it. The event featured Gordon Brown’s former adviser and architect of Brown’s pensions grab, Chris Wales. As the principal architect of Gordon Brown’s pensions tax he is responsible for devastating pension funds. Today he gave the Sith a few new ideas for "fair taxes" on property to be levied through local councils.

Eric Pickles MP, Tory local government shadow didn't hold back, he laid into the Smith Institute today - "the public will be alarmed that Gordon Brown’s advisers and favoured think-tank are calling for a toxic cocktail of local income taxes and a new national property tax."

The Charity Commission is still investigating the Smith Institute for engaging in illegal political activity. Obviously these new policies are just a tad politically contentious...

Sith Cancel Scheduled Downing Street Meeting

The Telegraph's Chris Hope is reporting that the Smith Institute has cancelled the meeting it was having at No. 11 Downing Street and moved it to a different central London location - the British Academy.

He says the Smith Institute refused to say where it originally planned to have the meeting - despite it stating clearly in the original invitation that it was being held "with the kind permission of the Chancellor of the Exchequer".

Hope has picked up on the use of "Fair" by Gordon yesterday at his press conference in reference to tax, and the seminar's "Fair Tax" title. Could they somehow be related?

Anti-sleaze campaigner Chris Grayling MP agrees; "It looks like an amazing coincidence that the Smith Institute is riding once again to the rescue in areas where Gordon Brown is having political problems."

+++ EXCLUSIVE +++Tax Policy Emergency : "Call in the Smith Institute"

The non-political charity known as the Smith Institute, which is in no way a front for the Brownies, is having a Downing Street seminar on Wednesday next week.

The subject? "Fair Tax" - which is the political hot-issue of the moment for the Brownies. Is this what Gordon meant this morning when he said he wanted more time to "forensically" take apart Osborne's proposals?

Judging by the copy of the invitation Guido has obtained, it looks like the Smith Institute is being tasked with developing a political response strategy for dealing with the non-domicile and inheritance tax proposals - Osborne has pushed Brown into uncomfortably defending tax-free billionaires. Something the Brownies would not have been expecting...

No wonder Smith Institute director Wilf Stevenson is inviting people to 11 Downing Street "with the kind permission of the Chancellor of the Exchequer" - they need a new tax philosophy and fast.

UPDATE : The respected Institute for Fiscal Studies is distinctly unimpressed at the claim that the event is part of a jointly held seminar series. Bonnie Brimstone the events organiser at the IFS told Guido she had not heard anything about it, Robert Chote the Director of the IFS was more diplomatic, when Guido put it to him that Wilf's invite said it was a joint seminar he demurred "I wouldn't describe it that way".

The Fink Spots Shrum Hand

Tomorrow's Times will highlight the input of Bob Shrum into Gordon's conference speech. It turns out to have been a formulaic re-hash of old Shrum speeches. Danny Finkelstein spotted the similarity this afternoon and the paper has since confirmed it to be the case. Shrum is understood to have been given a desk in Downing Street.

Guido need hardly remind readers that Bob Shrum was paid by Gordon's think-tank, the Smith Institute, to advise him on political strategy. It was documentary evidence of that blatantly illegal activity (provided by Guido) which triggered the ongoing Charity Commission investigation. Ed Balls also berthed at the Smith Institute between leaving his job as a Treasury SpAd and becoming an MP - he was paid a little short of £100,000 for writing a couple of pamphlets.

With the transfer also of Konrad Caulkett from the Smith Institute to Downing Street as well, it is abundantly clear that the Smith Institute has served its purpose - preparing the ground for the Brown premiership. All unlawfully subsidised by the taxpayer...

Sith's Deborah Mattinson is Advisor to Northern rock

Gordon Brown's personal pollster, Deborah Mattinson, advises Northern Rock on corporate responsibility programmes. Presumably it was she who advised giving circa half-a-million quid to New Labour's IPPR think-tank. How many more of Gordon's circle have their hand in the Northern Rock till?

Charity Commission Will Publish Sith Investigation Findings

Guido contacted the investigators at the Charity Commission recently to inquire as to how the eight-month long investigation into the wrong doings of the Sith was progressing. They won't say as yet, but did promise they would publish their report online.

Gordon is pushing for a change in the laws the Smith Institute broke so that their actions are decriminalised. He told voluntary workers this week

"I do not personally believe that you can be an effective community and charity organisation... if you're somehow limited in advocacy and your ability to speak and campaign on things you think are wrong. It should not be wrong for you to say `we urge you to support this cause.' That's a controversial thing as well."

Ed Miliband, the ultra-Brownite Cabinet Office minister and frequent attendee of Smith Institute events at 11 Downing Street in the past, also reckons "Charities should be free to participate in appropriate ways in political activities. There are clear benefits to society from allowing charities to do so." Clearly such a change would benefit the Smith Institute and that charity's sole beneficiary - G. Brown.

Nevertheless this will be a change in the law that will allow tax rebates for political campaigning. Surprisingly enough Guido favours the change. Guido has never yet met a tax deduction he hasn't liked...

Just so long as it is not retrospective and doesn't get the sleazy Sith off the hook. Which is why a timely conclusion to the Charity Commission's investigation is now overdue.

Coincidence or Corruption?

Gordon's pollster Deborah Mattinson sits on the board of Gordon's think-tank, the Smith Institute. Her relationship with Gordon has been very profitable for her firm, OLR. According to today's Sunday Telegraph, government contracts totalling some £3 milllion have come her way.

By coincidence OLR does a bit of polling for the Smith Institute for no charge. In February Guido queried who paid for their latest "92% favour Gordon" poll. OLR came back and said they had no paying client for the research. Nor did they have an 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 also 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.When the taxpayer is paying OLR £153,484.38 for one-day seminars it can't be hard for OLR to do a bit of off-the-books work for the Smith Institute. The taxpayer is subsidising Gordon's private polling, just as it subsidised the event hosting of Gordon's Smith Institute at Downing Street.

Chris Grayling has written to the Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell, asking him to investigate how OLR comes to win so many government contracts. Many market research industry competitors agree with Guido:- it is cronyism plain and simple.

Sith's Konrad Rewarded with Downing Street Job

Guido can reveal that Konrad Caulkett, the former Smith Institute "charity worker" who was responsible for organising the nearly two hundred events at 11 Downing Street which proved so controversial that the Charity Commissioners launched a statutory investigation into the affair, has become a Downing Street Special Adviser.

The Smith Institute, a charity widely seen as a front for Gordon Brown, who seemed to be the only beneficiary of the charity, acted as an integral part of his long campaign to become PM. By law it was supposedly a non-partisan, non-political organisation, yet it hosted a "how to beat Cameron" event to which the Conservatives formally objected.

Wilf Stevenson, the director of the institute claimed, somewhat implausibly, that there was no direct link to Gordon Brown. Guido revealed that Sarah Brown got Konrad Caulkett the job at the Smith Institute. Despite Konrad being at the centre of allegations that the Smith Institute broke the law, Sarah Brown has once again stepped in to help him get a job, this time as her SpAd. So despite him being suspected of various breaches of the Charity laws, despite denials of links to Gordon, he has been brought onto the No. 10 payroll. Downing Street sleaze clearly didn't end with Blair.

See also Sith attempt to cover-up use of No. 11, Mrs Brown recruits Konrad as the Sith apprentice, The back story to the Sith's Konrad, The public charity which refuses to talk to the public, Non-political charity does policy at No. 11, Sith's Konrad paid by charity to campaign for Balls' election, The Charity Commission announcement, The Sith and the Statesman.

Sith Break the Rules, Sith Change the Rules

The Charity Commission has been foot dragging on reporting any findings from their investigation into the Smith Institute's multiple breaches of the charity laws.

Ed Miliband, the Cabinet Office minister and frequent attendee of Smith Institute events at 11 Downing Street in the past, now reckons "Charities should be free to participate in appropriate ways in political activities. There are clear benefits to society from allowing charities to do so."

Guido is in favour of such a change in the law, but the Charity Commission's Smith Institute investigation should still reach a prompt conclusion. Gordon Brown was the sole beneficiary of a charity which broke the law continuously for five years and acted as a campaign slush fund for him. Nobody is above the law.

The Charity Commission needs to ascertain, in good time, whether or not taxpayers money was diverted to furthering Gordon Brown's private interests.

Brown to Protect the Sith

In the small print of Brown's Commons Statement yesterday:

Right of charities to campaign
168. ...it is important to ensure that the regulatory framework for the third sector, together with the Government’s consultation mechanisms and investments in strengthening the organisational capacity of the sector, help it to foster and harness community voices on important issues of public policy. The Government will therefore work with the Charity Commission, Capacitybuilders and sector leaders to explore the options for enabling charities and other sector organisations to better campaign on issues that are likely to advance the cause of the purposes for which they have been established. As part of this process, the Government will consider the recommendations of the recent report of the independent Advisory Group on Campaigning and the Voluntary Sector, chaired by Baroness Helena Kennedy QC (23 May 2007).

The review was far from independent and was cobbled together by the Treasury last February to report in April - unusually timely and speedily. (Wonder why?) The great and the good on the committee chaired by Helena Kennedy recommended that "Charities should be able to engage in political campaigning in furtherance of their charitable purposes as long as they do not support political parties."

It might surprise you to learn that Guido supports this move, then again Guido has never seen a tax cut he hasn't liked. This move might save the Smith Institute's charitable status, but if campaigning becomes tax-deductible Brown is going to get an awful shock. Right-of-centre pressure groups and campaigns will raise and spend more money than his supporters ever will. It will give political organisations outside the party structures a huge warchest. A lot of people will be far more inclined to give to their causes if it comes off their tax bill...

Smith Institute Board's Financial Backing for Gordon

The Smith Institute's director, Wilf Stevenson claims that it is an independent, non-partisan charity and has no direct links to Gordon Brown.

So it is a bit of a coincidence that Lord Haskell, chairman of the Board of Trustees gave a five grand donation to Gordon's leadership campaign. Even more of a coincidence that another board member, Mr Paul Myners, gave twelve grand. Surely he can't remain mere "mister" Myners for much longer. It was Myners of course who provided the implausible story to cover-up the Treasury's direct payment to the Smith Institute.

You won't read about this in the Guardian, because although it likes to advertise that it has no press baron owner, Myners is chairman of the Guardian Media Group as well as being a Sith board member. Another fortunate coincidence...

The official position, as of this afternoon, is the "The Charity Commission's inquiry into the Smith Institute remains open and ongoing". How much longer can the investigation go on? It is a pretty open and shut case.

Harman Was Backed by the Sith

Guido has only just found out that Harman was advised by Deborah Mattinson, the high-priestess of the Sith, Gordon's personal pollster, Smith Institute board member and recipient of many juicy government contracts though her firm OLR.

It was her, Guido believes, that commissioned the YouGov poll showing that Harman had much needed appeal in the South East. That poll result featured heavily in Harman's propaganda...

Brown Dodges Answering for the Sithat Last Treasury Questions

Today was the last Treasury Questions ever for Gordon Brown, Stephen Timms, Treasury Chief Secretary, was also fielding questions. David Jones, the Shadow Welsh minister, took the opportunity to ask a question about the Smith Institute. He blogs that it is

"the registered charity that appears to have virtually set up headquarters in 11 Downing Street... Surprisingly – or not, whichever way you care to look at it - Gordon didn’t answer himself. He left it to his deputy, Stephen Timms, Financial Secretary to the Treasury. I suggested that it was odd that No. 11’s householder was apparently unwilling to answer to the House over his domestic arrangements. Timms is a nice, straightforward man and seemed uncomfortable to be asked the question, so he simply didn’t answer it. And so we say farewell to Chancellor Brown. Next time he is at the despatch box he will be Prime Minister. But I doubt that he has heard the last of the Smith affair."

You can bet on that...

Later Mark Hoban demanded to know about the Treasury paying £11,000 to the Smith Institute before - two years later - it was noticed and "rectified". "Will he confirm that all payments have been declared?" Timms evasively replied that "the Treasury paid for the Christmas tree at the children's party this year at the Treasury".

Classic stonewalling, but this is not going to go away just because the Sith refuse to answer questions. The Guido initiated Charity Commission investigation is a statutory process, subject to judicial review. It won't be easy to sweep things under the carpet.