Labels: politicos Derek Draper Derek Draper was a New Labour insider and lobbyist who was at the centre of a scandal about political lobbying known as "Lobbygate", the "Cash for Access" scandal, or "Drapergate." He first attended Southlands High School in Chorley, Lancashire, between September 1978 and June 1984, and later attended Runshaw College, Leyland and the University of Manchester, where he was first spotted by Peter Mandelson, and employed by the latter as his assistant for four years. He then worked as Political Editor of the Modern Review, the culture magazine set up by Toby Young and Julie Burchill, which showcased rising stars such as Will Self and Nick Hornby. Next he became a lobbyist and set up the New Labour organisation Progress. In 1998, he was working as a lobbyist for GPC Market Access, as Director of Progress, and as an Express journalist when he became embroiled in the first major scandal of Blair's government when he was caught on tape along with Jonathan Mendelsohn boasting to Greg Palast, an undercover reporter posing as a businessman, about how they could sell access to government ministers and create tax breaks for their clients[1] in a scandal that was dubbed "Lobbygate".[2] Draper denied the allegations.[3] Draper was much derided for his boast that "There are 17 people who count in this government. And to say I am intimate with every one of them is the understatement of the century." Palast has subsequently stated that the subsequent media coverage got his story wrong, and that it wasn't primarily about boastful lobbyists, "the real story was about Tony Blair and his inner circle." Draper, he said, was "nothing more than a messenger boy, a factotum, a purveyor, a self-loving, over-scented clerk." GPC was at the centre of the lobbygate 'cash for access' scandal. The journalist Greg Palast exposed the scandal of 'secretive business influence over policy-making', revealing how New Labour lobbyists were 'working to create a US-style interpenetration of corporations and government'. Behind the scandal are the powerful biotech interests led by Monsanto and followup to Palast's story were covered in depth by GM Watch[1]. Draper lost his various jobs and retrained as a psychotherapist. He now writes a column for the Mail on Sunday on psychotherapy issues. He is the author of a chapter in The Future of the NHS (2006) (ISBN 1-85811-369-5). Described on Newsnight, 12 September 2008, as "Labour Campaign Advisor". In July 2005, GMTV presenter Kate Garraway announced live on air that she was pregnant and engaged to Draper, whom she married later in the year, and covered in an OK! magazine exclusive. In certain circles, it was considered an unlikely match; Piers Morgan was quoted as saying, "...if I'd known that the bar was set that low, I'd have had a go myself." The couple celebrated the birth of their first child, a baby girl, Darcey, on 10 March 2006.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2008
A Convincing New Narrative
But there'll be no rescue flights for taxpayers
The top man blames their collapse on the surge in oil prices and the credit crunch."Money ran out as suppliers began to demand immediate cash payment for services. The banks refused to supply more credit."
So what to do?
Well... er... nothing.
They've collapsed you see. A busted airline just goes bust. The top man, the Board, the employees... everyone loses their jobs. The assets are flogged off to people who can make better use of them. The world says goodbye to XL Airways, and the banks kiss goodbye to another shedload of cash. That's how the real world works.
Ah, but government, that's different.
Yes, they've racked up the same horrific debts, and yes, they blame their current crisis on the same oil price hike and credit crunch. But no, they will not be going. And their bankers cannot refuse to supply more credit. Because their bankers areus, and apparently we have to stump up no matter how much gets pissed away.
So instead of going into immediate administration, the current "idea" seems to be that Labour needs a "convincing new narrative". Never mind that their pants are now a roaring inferno, and if they could still walk that way they certainly wouldn't need the fire extinguisher. According to ex-Commissar Hewitt and 11 other luminaries, if they can just cook up that "convincing new narrative", they'll be back on track.
And what is that narrative? Here's a sample:
"We need to explain what we’re going to do about the things that affect people day to day: inflation and interest rates, household bills and mortgages."
Get the vacuous let's-assume-away-the-problem kind of idea?
We watched Newsnight's "political panel" discussing this last night. It was on just before the Newsnight Review of the week in the arts. Which was no coincidence - vast amounts of the political debate among Westminster insiders seems to comprise nothing more than a search for a narrative. It's politics reduced to a play or a Booker entry.
No successful business could run like that. Businesses have to provide goods and services that customers are actually prepared to pay for.
Yet we somehow allow the arrogant clowns who spin and narrative their way into government, to spend 43% of our money without neccessarily delivering anythingwe actually want.
As we listened to that studiedly scruffy Labour insider bloke who's married to the bird on the sofa, Mrs T put it in a nutshell: we don't want a convincing new narrative - we just want you all to eff off.
PS Yes, and another thing... why has the BBC got a specialist correspondent covering all the various ways government spends our money (Education correspondent, Health correspondent, Environment correspondent, etc etc), but no specialist correspondent covering the ways the government takes our money? Why haven't they got a Tax and Charges correspondent? Gah.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Contents
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[edit]Personal life
[edit]References
[edit]External links
Saturday 13 September 2008
For the former Welsh professional footballer, see Derek Draper (footballer).
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