This was a Department of Culture press release on Friday...
Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, has announced the appointment of the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) board.The board is responsible for overseeing the running of lottery distributor BIG, which replaces two former lottery distributors. The fund awards £600million of lottery money a year to good causes throughout the UK.The BIG board comes into effect today (1 December) and has operated in an interim capacity since June 2004 BIG's board is made up of seven general members and four national chairs, led by an overall chair. The national chairs have the additional responsibility of leading committees supervising the distribution of funds within their countries.
Now let' see if you can spot the common theme here...
Sir Clive Booth (Chair) He is a member of the Labour Party and has canvassedfor the party in his local constituency in the last three General Elections.
Sanjay Dighe Mr Dighe is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is a member of the Labour Party.
Roland Doven MBE Roland has undertaken some canvassing for the Labour Party during local elections.
John Gartside He is no longer a local authority member or an active member of the Labour Party. (Mr Gartside was Labour leader of Warrington Council)
Albert Tucker Mr Tucker is a member of the Labour Party, but has notundertaken any political activity during the last five years.
So of the twelve Board members five are committed Labour Party members, activists or have a record of activity in the Labour Party. The other seven members have no recorded political activity within the last five years. How many Conservatives or Liberal Democrats are members of the Big Lottery Fund Board? That's an easy one. None. Zero. Nada. Keine. As if we should be surprised...
The full information is HERE.
28 comments:
No, we shouldn't be surprised. Keep it in the family is what comes to mind. Mind you, the Conservatives would do just the same as well, and possibly any other party of power would not willingly appoint another party's member to such a committee. Bit of a non-story really.
Naturally.
Conservative or LibDem members would just throw the money around when it obviously must be targeted.... at consultants intent on getting fat and rich through at the Olympics trough.
After all, haven't these consultants already made their donations to NuLab in the reasonable expectation of grossly padded contracts? Can't let these committed supporters down, now can we?
Like jens, I would no longer trust the Conservatives to be any different and I'd just as soon that Lib Dems had no power anywhere.
I am constantly amazed how many gravy trains politicians can put together and wonder how much it costs us who work for a living.
5 out of 12 members is around 42 per cent labour - which is probably in line with the population as a whole.
What is the problem here ?
One reason why hospital trusts are in such deep water is that too many of the people serving on their boards are Labour timeservers, appointed since 1997 and not up to the job.
Simple - kill *all* the quangos. If you want to be on a public sector board, stand for election.
Rarely is a bird's eye view of the C list NuLabour free-loaders offered, in all their self-important vulgarity.
Never mind Iain, when dave becomes PM, he'll find something for 'you' to make up for North Norfolk!
I'm beginning to see a trend here and if Dave Cameron, or his minions, read this blog they should be worried. This is exactly the reaction one can expect of people who have witnessed his leadership so far and can see no difference between him and Blair.
I'd like to know how the Tories and Lib Dems didn't tumble to this one earlier.
"Bit of a non-story really."!
Sorry, but in this case the board should not have any members with a past political allegiance to ANY party!
It really concerns me that Lottery funds allocated could be influenced by any kind of political interference!
Iain, IRRC John Major has spoken about his dismay at the way Labour has "changed the goal posts" on Lottery funds distribution?
Another case of cheek by Jowell.
This started with the Tories and Lord Rothschild bunging millions of Lottery Funding into the Royal Opera House.............that's how the lottery became a giant reptile fund
It made me wonder how many more of these quangos have been "stacked" in favour of Labour?
The word "Legacy" comes to mind - it will take more than one political generation to dismantle the bias.
This is not just about individuals slewing the decision processes. This is about ethos.
The ethos of BIG is very clearly a Nulab secular liberal one which takes as read such notions as multiculturalism and is inimical to notions of nationalism and religion.
Applications that don't play the game will certainly get binned.
john gartside was ousted as leader of warrington council in an internal coup.
It's no different from what the Tories did when they were in power. Tory supporters were routinely appointed 'on-merit' to health boards and other quangos. Don't think it would be any differet under a future Tory government. that politics and it sticks.
Is it any surprise that the public are so sick of politicians? Both parties are equally guilty at bringing politics into disrepute.
I'm just waiting for a chance to discuss the renewal of the Trident missile question.
Me, I think its a ridiculous idea. I want to see our troops given the equipment they need, like bullets, rifles and radios that work for example. Fire-hosing ludicrous quantities of money down the shit-chute labeled trident does nothing to increase our security and puts our troops in danger.
Booth, eh? Rings a bell.... No, don't tell me, I'll remember in a minute.... ummmm....
NO! Surely not! They wouldn't dare!
Looks like Tony has found a way to clear Labours debts.
The sort of stitch up that gives politics (and the lottery) a bad name.
I'd abolish the lottery tomorrow if it was me. State sponsored gambling-no thanks.
It's a tax on fools-not original, but still true.
Its hardly a surprise, patronage is the way Parliament runs, and probably why so many voters are turning away in disgust. I'm with Croydonian on this one
Sadly, this is a widespread phenomenon which will cause problems for David Cameron when he wins power. I deal with many quangos and they are all stacked with Labour members or supporters.
Of course it's partly our fault as many more Labour and even Lib Dem people apply for the jobs - particularly since the voters started to kick them out of their council seats. And all parties are not the same - during the last Conservative government I knew councillors who regularly complained about the number of socialists who were appointed to regeneration boards, health authorities etc. The Secretary of State's response was blunt - "if you want Conservatives appointed you had better encourage some good ones to apply."
Labour also spotted the opportunity to provide consolation prizes to male candidates who lost out because of all women shortlists. Perhaps CCHQ are missing the same opportunity...
tories would - indeed did - do exactly the same.the answer is to either make it illegal to appoint anyone who has ever been a member of the party in power, so they can only appoint non-politicals or tories or lib dems, or to elect these positions.
then again, not every party sympathiser is a patsy. who caused blair the biggest headache in his second term? greg dyke, former labour council candidate and donor to the blair leadership campaign. so it's not always as straightforward as it looks. but it looks bad alright. jowell needs advisers to spot this sort of thing. or perhaps she just isn't politically sharp enough herself.
raggasonic - cheek by jowell - deserves a small round of applause, I feel
Roland Doven has done 'some canvassing for Labour at local elections'!!!
He was a Labour Councillor in Lambeth (Ms Jowell's constituency falls in the borough), between 1998 and 2002.
£600 million. That is pretty much what we put into ESA. Take them both & put them into X-Prizes for a commercial shuttle & Moon base & we would have them & more within 8 years.
'As if we should be surprised...' spare us the know-it-all cynicism Iain.
Clive Booth has been chair of the Big Lottery Fund since June 2004. That hasn't caused any complaints before - why is it suddenly a problem now?
In any case, the Big Lottery Fund's job is to hand out about £600m between now and 2009 to disadvantaged groups across the UK. Not really the kind of task that interests a Tory, is it?
is sam coates the most iritating journalist in the UK? He constantly gets on the front page of a once great paper with "exclusives" based on a bit of google searching.
To anyone in the know the stories just state the obvious - All PArty Groups are funded by big companies, governing parties fill qunagos with people like them. It's all so boring.
Come on Iain talk about something interesting....
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