Bureau’s stories get wide pick-up

Stories by the Bureau have been picked up widely by the national and international press throughout October.

Conflicts of interest

Melanie Newman has been focusing on the links between lobbying and government.

Ann Treneman’s parliamentary sketch in the Times today notes an investigation carried out by the Bureau. The piece, first published in the Sunday Times revealed how Eric Pickles accepted a dinner with lobbying group Bell Pottinger, which was also attended by Brandon O’Reilly, chief executive of Farnborough airport, while the application for the airport’s expansion was under review. The dinner was not revealed in the register of member’s interest owing to a loophole that allowed the Communities’ Secretary to have attended the meeting in a ‘private capacity’.

The story was also picked up in Simon Hoggart’s sketch in the Guardian and the Daily Mirror.

Related article: Gaping hole in rules let’s Eric Pickles keep business dinner private. 

Following on from the revelations in the British Press about Liam Fox’s ‘special adviser’ Adam Werritty, Newman further challenged MP’s possible conflicts of interest.

In a story published in the Sunday Times the Bureau questioned Tim Yeo, Tory MP and chairman of the energy and climate change select committee. He has registered that he is director of three renewable energy companies for which he has declared payments of £67,000 in the past year. During this period his committee was making recommendations that could affect some of those businesses.

The article also highlighted how Robin Walker, the Conservative MP for Worcester, has urged the Chancellor to reduce duty on ‘ordinary pint’s’ while at the same time receiving monthly payments of £2,500 from PR and lobbying firm Finsbury who’s clients include Carlsberg and the restaurant and pub company Mitchells & Butler. Both Mr Yeo and Mr Walker have denied that their financial interests influenced their parliamentary work.

But as a result of the Bureau’s investigation, the campaign group Spinwatch has lodged a complaint with the Public Relations Consultants Association, the regulator for the PR industry, which has confirmed that it is looking into the matter.

The story was picked up by BBC Radio’s World at One.

Another lobbying piece, focusing on an all expenses-paid trip to Equatorial Guinea by a number of British MPs, showed how the delegation’s host had written a report endorsing the west African state’s government following the visit.

This story was picked up in the Telegraph.

These articles are part of a larger project on lobbying which can be found here.

Drones

The Bureau’s team continues to record every reported CIA drone strike in Pakistan. This month saw the 300th strike on the country, bringing the total death toll from the campaign at the end of October to between 2,345 – 2,956,  a number which includes the reported deaths of between 390 – 779 civilians.

This story was picked up by CNN International.
CNN’s report on the 300th US drone strike on Pakistan:

Surveillance

Prathap Chatterjee’s piece on the Syria government’s use of technology developed by an American company, was picked up by the Washington Post and later reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Anti-depressants

And finally, the Independent ran the Bureau’s investigation into the anti-depressant Cipralex on its front page.

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