Golden Arrow Public Affairs: Instalment 6

Before I go on, let's recap the story so far...

Last Sunday the Sunday Times exposed the relationship between lobbying firm Golden Arrow and two Labour Ministers. See HERE and HERE. The next day I wrote about how Golden Arrow goes about attracting clients HERE. A PIECE followed on Ivan Henderson, the former Labour MP for Harwich, who fronts their lobbying efforts and had a Parliamentary pass which gave him the run of the Commons. I then showed how Golden Arrow deploys its 'pet' Minister Gerry Sutcliffe to impress their clients HERE and then WROTE about Lord Hanningfield's PQ on their activities. The spotlight then fell on Golden Arrow's former Transport Minister consultant David Jamieson HERE.

Today, let's look at the Golden Arrow team which services its non declared clients...

ANDREW SHARP is Golden Arrow's MD. He's a former Labour Party regional organiser and
when he worked for the Labour Party at HQ he was responsible for doing all the work on the post Nolan bill on political contributions and specifically was responsible for drafting the clauses which required PLC's to have approval from their shareholders to give political contributions of 5k and above. This will have come in useful when his client National Express made financial contributions to the Labour Party.

IAN WOODRCROFT is a research executive who used to work for .... oh, what's this? Tony Wright MP, the very same Labour MP who gave Golden Arrow's Ivan Henderson his parliamentary researcher's pass.

ANDREW PAKES is described on the Golden Arrow website as a is a specialist in political messaging and campaign management. He is a Southwark councillor and a former NUS President.

So with David Jamieson and Ivan Henderson this is the entire Golden Arrow team. Their contacts in the Labour Party are clearly excellent, and that's how they win their business - entirely based on who they know, rather what they know. Their clients are dazzled by their address book rather than their skills as strategic consultants - or should I say those clients who are too stupid to read between the lines.

So who are their clients? As they do not belong to the professional organisation for public affairs consultants, the APPC, they are not required to reveal their client list. So far, I have been able to ascertain that the following companies and organisations are clients of Golden Arrow...

Port of Felixstowe
Hutchison Whampoa
National Express
Passenger Transport Executive Group
Nexus PTE
Warwickshire County Council
GNER

I know that Golden Arrow are closely monitoring what I write on this site about them. So come on chaps. Let us know your client list. Isn't it the ethical thing to do? Your silence on this matter speaks volumes. And if you won't let us know, perhaps my blog readers will help compile the list.

Golden Arrow Public Affairs: Instalment 5

David Jamieson was never a very distinguished Government minister - doling out a few million for canal barges in Yorkshire, unveiling national motorbike strategies, that was about his level. Probably the only thing he was known for, if at all, was being interviewed on live television about his work as Roads Safety Minister while a pedestrian was being knocked down by a lorry in the background. When he stood down from Plymouth Devonport in May 2005 to spend more time with his Transport Consultancies not even Tony Blair considered him good enough to join the ranks of noble nonentities such as Lord Lipsey.

With Golden Arrow taking a few bumps, I wonder if Jamieson got has himself involved in another accident now? His "no claims bonus" looks good: according to the Dept for Transport accounts for 2005/6, he received a severance payment as compensation for loss of office of £7,293. Not much perhaps - but aren't you supposed to get severance payments for being made redundant, instead of deciding to quit? I wonder if that was tax-free, courtesy of the tax-payer. According to the Sunday Times reports, now he is a consultant with Golden Arrow, Mr Jamieson charges £250 per hour for, er, phoning his old colleagues at the Dept for Transport - so the "third party cover" is pretty generous too. But not only does Mr J consult for Golden Arrow, he also works for another lobbying consultancy, Sovereign Strategy, a fact that his colleagues at Golden Arrow aren't that happy about by all accounts.

And no speed traps for Mr Jamieson: he forgot to clear his new Golden Arrow job with the Sir Humphrys (you know, the kill-joy committee that's supposed to stamp out conflicts of interest) but that hasn't stopped him zooming off with his new career. Still, like the speed limit, that must be a rule that doesn't apply to special people, eh?

Golden Arrow Public Affairs: Instalment 4

Lord Hanningfield has tabled an interesting PQ on Golden Arrow Public Affairs. A friend of mine says the Department for Transport are "bricking it" about the spotlight being shone on this.

Lord Hanningfield: to ask Her Majesty's Government how many times Ministers or officials from the Department for Transport have met representatives from Golden Arrow Communications since March 2005; and what was the date and nature of each meeting. HL2866

Golden Arrow Public Affairs: Instalment 3

Does Golden Arrow Public Affairs rely rather too heavily on its relationship with its two particualrly cooperative (some might say 'tame') Ministers, Gerry Sutcliffe (pic) and Stephen Ladyman. Proof of this comes from a lunch which Golden Arrow Public Affairs organised for the Haven Gateway Partnership with Gerry Sutcliffe on 3 March 2006 in Clacton.

The Haven Gateway Partnership consists of the ports of Harwich, Felixstowe, Ipswich, Colchester, Harwich Navyard and Mistley. All would no doubt have been lobbying for the approval of the Bathside Bay Container Terminal project. Coincidentally, final approval was given by Transport Minister Derek Twigg only three weeks later.

At the time of the lunch Gerry Sutcliffe was a junior Minister at the DTI (he's now at the Home Office) in charge of competition policy, employment and consumer affairs. His role as competition minister is particularly relevant here as Felixstowe's main competitor is Associated British Ports, who had a similar expansion plan in Dibden Bay in Southampton turned down. ABP might well have objected to Bathside Bay on competition grounds. I wonder if they were also given the benefit of a lunch with the Competition Minister?

The lunch and guest list was organised by Golden Arrow, who count Hutchison Whampoa and the Port of Felixstowe among their clients too. They also paid the bill recharged it to their very grateful clients!

Now, the question is: did Golden Arrow arrange for a similar event with their other 'pet' Minister, Stephen Ladyman?

Over to you... you know the email address.

Public affairs consultancy is a totally honourable profession, but, when it's dragged through the mud by people whose only skill appears to be opening their bulging contacts book, it's not difficult to understand why public affairs consultants no longer like calling themselves lobbyists.

I was a lobbyist for nearly ten years and I can spot this kind of lobbyist a from a mile off. The ethos of companies like Golden Arrow seems to invokes all that is wrong about lobbying. One can only hope that their clients will slowly be coming to that conclusion themselves.

Golden Arrow Public Affairs: Instalment 2

This is the former Labour MP for Harwich, Ivan Henderson. He's just been selected as the Labour candidate for the new seat of Clacton. He's also one of the main driving forces behind Golden Arrow Public Affairs, the company which was exposed in last week's Sunday Times for... well, read HERE and HERE.

Golden Arrow refuses to sign up to the lobbying companies' professional code of conduct. Part of that code of conduct dictates that lobbyists should not hold Parliamentary passes. Ivan Henderson has used a parliamentary pass to gain free access to the corridors of power since his election loss in May 2005. He was given his pass by the Great Yarmouth MP Tony Wright and it was declared in the House of Commons Researchers Register in May 2006, with due reference to Golden Arrow. I have today written to Mr Wright asking exactly what research duties Mr Henderson carried out for him in return for his free run of the building.

I have also asked when Mr Wright asked Mr Henderson to give up his pass, as he does not figure on the latest register, published two weeks ago.

Indeed, has Mr Henderson now availed himself of a parliamentary pass courtesy of the new scheme which allows any ex MP who served for two Parliaments to have a free run of the building? And why did he need a researcher's pass in the first place if he is entitled to an ex Members' pass?

In addition, we should ask the question if there ought to be a publicly viewable Register of Interests for ex MPs who have passes. Surely the public has a right to know who has free access to Parliament and what their interests are?

Declaration of Interest: I have a properly declared temporary Parliamentary researcher's pass for research work I undertake for a Conservative MP.

PS Thank you to all those who have emailed me with further information about Golden Arrow. Very interesting stuff. Keep it coming...

Golden Arrow Public Affairs: Instalment 1

In the previous THREAD, William Norton asks the following question about Labour lobbying firm, Golden Arrow...

Aren't Golden Arrow the transport consultancy which employs David Jamieson,
who was a transport minister until May 2005?

Yes, William. Indeed they are. And it seems as if he is their main selling point. A reader, who is Head of Public Affairs for a major company, has contacted me with the following information...

We asked Golden Arrow to come to us and pitch for public affairs work,
promoting [deleted]... What they gave us was a talk on how important David Jamieson was and is, and we were basically left with the impression that we would be financing his expense account as he wined and dined ministers on our behalf. Very little accountability, few deliverables, except close personal contacts. Their formal
proposal was in style and substance a GCSE project, right down to the wallet it came in. There were no proposals to contact the opposition parties or senior civil servants as part of the strategy, it was completely one sided, and in their words - a bit dodgy.

This is the very same David Jamieson that refused to abide by the Ministerial code and submit his employment by Golden Arrow to be vetted by the Cabinet Secretary. David Blunkett made that mistake once. More later.