UK CONSERVATIVES - LONDON MAYOR BORIS JOHNSON - MAKING MOVE ON PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION

INDEPENDENT ARTICLE ... Moving away, for just a moment, from the cynical manoeuvrings of a politician on the make, it is an insult to Londoners that their Mayor should be trying to combine a vital – full-time – job with his race to the Commons, and thence, he may hope, to No 10. Boris, as he must love being known, clearly thinks he can look after this great world city in his spare time, but he is wrong, and his many apparent protestations that he would not attempt to combine both careers is a poor reward for Londoners who placed their faith in him. More widely, it will have done his reputation no good, nor the Tories’ chances of hanging on to the mayoralty next time around. But what is his reputation? Borisologists are divided about what makes this man tick. They say he is authentic, but is he? Is he, as many say, a clever man playing the buffoon? Or is he in fact a buffoon pretending to be a clever man playing a buffoon, even if he can quote Latin at will? He is not, it is fair to say, the latest attempt by the Conservative Party to ape Tony Blair and create a cloned copy of a leader in his somewhat tarnished image. To that extent, yes, Boris is authentic, original, almost refreshing – and this goes some way to explaining his electoral triumph in London, not usually promising territory for a Tory. ...  will have enjoyed his ridiculing of the Coalition as being like a Conservative bulldog mating with a Liberal Democrat chihuahua. They do not appreciate his liberal line on immigration, however, and the more censorious (i.e., all of them) are prudish about his private life. All of us worry about Boris’s urge to display his jocularity at every occasion, no matter how sombre. Mr Cameron finds it much easier to be, or at least to appear, sincere and “prime ministerial”. Mr Cameron may well not be the competition, however. On the Michael Heseltine principle that the assassin never succeeds in inheriting the crown, Mr Johnson will have to wait for a vacancy to arise (which does not preclude him from trying to create one). If Mr Cameron wins big at the general election, then Boris will have a long wait. If he loses, then Boris could be ensconced in the leadership by around this time next year. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/mayor-culpa-boris-johnson-is-an-exceptional-talent-but-he-is-doing-voters-a-disservice-in-being-a-parttime-leader-of-london-9652829.html

COMMENT

Boris Johnson's the Mayor of London
Conservatives
Took over from Ken Livingstone
His dad:  European Parliament; European Commission; World Bank.
Oxford Uni / Eton College
Worked at journalism (Times etc), History (book; documentary) - get a load of this:

first documentary series, based on his book The Dream of Rome, comparing the Roman Empire and the modern-day European Union, was broadcast in 2006.

See, it's all about imperialism.  LOL


Haven't followed the links to explore his book etc.

Check out this wikipedia info:

Johnson explained his political philosophy in 2010, linking it to the One nation conservatism of Disraeli:

"I'm a one-nation Tory. There is a duty on the part of the rich to the poor and to the needy, but you are not going to help people express that duty and satisfy it if you punish them fiscally so viciously that they leave this city and this country. I want London to be a competitive, dynamic place to come to work.^"

Of late, Johnson has been the subject of numerous rumours as to the future of his political career, and the possibility that he would stand to be the head of the Conservative Party. In 2012 Grant Shapps claimed that Johnson lacks many of the skills that are needed as the leader of a political party and prime minister.

Stuart Collier

Johnson was criticised in 1995, when a recording of a telephone conversation made in 1990 was made public, in which he is heard agreeing under pressure to supply to a former schoolmate, Darius Guppy, the private address and telephone number of the News of the World journalist Stuart Collier. There is no evidence that Johnson supplied the requested information, even though he promised under duress that he would. Guppy wished to have Collier beaten up for attempting to smear members of his family.

Not known if info passed on and nothing happened to the NOTW journo.

More controversies at the wikipedia link ... rather fancied this one:

"Chicken feed" remark

In a July 2009 interview with Stephen Sackur on the BBC programme HARDtalk, Johnson referred to the £250,000 per annum income he receives from his side job as a columnist for The Daily Telegraph as "chicken feed," suggesting that he wrote the columns "as a way of relaxation ... on a Sunday morning," and that he wrote "very fast" so the columns did not take time away from his duties as Mayor.

The big deal was the recession at the time.  But to me the big deal is the amount of cash in journalism.  Wow!  And the cross-over between journalism and politics.


This is new to me, so I could be wrong:

Get the impression this guy is all about 'imperialism' in one form or another:  his background; his interest in Rome; his Conservative politician status; his Disraeli thing (got impression Disraeli very much the imperialist) .. his 'dynamic' competitive London thing .. ie  it's all about business.

GAZA - UK CONSERVATIVES - DAVID CAMERON'S MINISTER QUITS

UK minister quits over gov’t Gaza policy Tue Aug 5, 2014 Sayeeda Warsi, a British Foreign Office minister and the first Muslim to sit in the UK cabinet, has resigned over the UK government’s policy on Gaza. Warsi wrote on Twitter on Tuesday that, “With deep regret I have this morning written to the Prime Minister (David Cameron) and tendered my resignation. I can no longer support Govt policy on #Gaza.” Warsi is the first minister to resign on principle from the British government since the coalition was formed between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats in 2010. This comes as Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron’s coalition government has drawn criticism, including from the main opposition Labour Party, for not taking a tougher line against Israel over its military attacks on Gaza. On August 3, Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband criticized Cameron for failing to take a firm stance on Israel’s aggression against Gaza, saying the prime minister had failed to speak out about the Israeli atrocities. In addition, the British government recently came under fire after reports showed that the Israeli regime has been using weapons containing British-made components in the fatal aggression against the Gaza Strip. According to British media, arms export licenses worth $70 million have been granted to 130 British defense manufacturers since 2010 to sell military equipment to Tel Aviv. The Israeli military launched its recent offensive against the Gaza Strip on July 8. At least 1,867 Palestinians, including around 430 children, have so far been killed and over 9,500 others injured during the onslaught. Tel Aviv says 64 Israelis have been killed in the war, while Hamas puts the number at more than 150. Source - Press TV - here.

Good for her.  Right thing to do.

Unlikely Cameron's going to win the Muslim vote next election.

UK - Influence of Pro-Israel lobby groups

Went to #auspol to check out tweets.

Scrolling through, find this:

Over 50% of British Gvt MPs are on Israeli payroll Guardian reports. Is Ausn gvt pro-Israel for $? http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/nov/16/pro-israel-lobby-conservatives-channel4-dispatches … #auspol @Chara_fc

Via Twitter Guardian Article Pro-Israel lobby group bankrolling Tories, film claims 50% of MPs in the shadow cabinet are Conservative Friends of Israel members, according to Channel 4's Dispatches Ian Black, Middle East editor The Guardian, Monday 16 November 2009 Pro-Israeli organisations in Britain look set to see their influence increase if the Conservatives win the next election, a film scrutinising the activities of a powerful but little-known lobby warns today. At least half of the shadow cabinet are members of the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), according to a Dispatches programme being screened on Channel 4. The programme-makers describe the CFI as "beyond doubt the most well- connected and probably the best funded of all Westminster lobbying groups". Inside Britain's Israel Lobby claims that donations to the Conservative party "from all CFI members and their businesses add up to well over £10m over the last eight years". CFI has disputed the figure and called the film "deeply flawed". The programme also describes how David Cameron allegedly accepted a £15,000 donation from Poju Zabludowicz, a Finnish billionaire who chairs Bicom (the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre). Zabludowizc, the film reveals, has business interests in an illegal West Bank settlement. He also gave £50,000 to Conservative Central Office. Zabludowicz says his contributions "are a matter of public record". William Hague allegedly accepted personal donations from CFI board members totalling tens of thousands of pounds after being appointed shadow foreign secretary. More than £30,000 from CFI supporters went to the campaign funds of members of Cameron's team who were first elected in 2005, the film claims, using publicly available information. The programme-makers say that while this is legal, it is not well-known. The CFI director, Stuart Polak, told the Guardian the figure of more than £10m is not supported by any facts. "It is fictitious, misleading and damaging to the reputation of CFI and its supporters," he said. "CFI as an organisation has donated only £30,000 since 2005. Each of these donations has been made transparently and publicly registered. In addition to this £30,000, it is undoubtedly the case that some of our supporters have also chosen, separately, to donate to the party as individuals." Two years ago a controversial study by American academics Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer explored the influence of the Israel lobby over US foreign policy. But Britain's pro-Israel organisations have been subjected to far less scrutiny. ... rest of article @ source: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/nov/16/pro-israel-lobby-conservatives-channel4-dispatches

I'm guessing that where you have well organised lobby groups, there is undoubtedly some level of influence.

David Cameron - Immigration Raid Photo Op

Re - http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jul/30/david-cameron-pr-stunt-suspected-illegal-migrants?CMP=twt_gu

David Cameron's desperate immigration raid photo-op stunt's turned ... not so good.

Someone's rightfully raised whether the people nabbed will receive 'due process' given Cameron's made a publicity stunt of their case/s, photo-bombing the raid.

How desperate are the Conservatives?  

Election's a long way off, but I suppose they've got to appear favourably in the public eye in the lead-up.

Just checked and it's May 2015, so it's not that far off.  

Looks like the race has begun.

May the sneakiest, most unscrupulous, prime ministerial candidate claim victory.  :)

UK - Cameron - EU Migrants & Benefits Reforms

July 29, 2014 12:18 am David Cameron to halve time that EU migrants can claim benefits By George Parker and Helen Warrell David Cameron will announce plans on Tuesday to halve the time that European migrants can claim British benefits, in a drive to stop what he claims is welfare tourism. Mr Cameron will say that from November migrant workers will only be allowed to claim benefits for a maximum of three months, compared with the current six month limit. New rules also require migrants to wait three months before they can claim benefits. ... Downing Street insists that the new rules are compliant with EU law and go with the grain of reforms being pursued in other countries including Germany and France. However, neither Paris nor Berlin support Mr Cameron’s ambition to reform free movement rights generally. ... The UK’s stance on immigration has prompted criticisms from Brussels, with Viviane Reding, EU justice commissioner, suggesting this year that the UK’s immigration debate was “emotional and populist”. She added that discussions in Westminster often ignored the fact that the UK was the biggest exporter of people to the rest of the EU. The UK government has been unable to produce evidence of benefit tourism and has been criticised for not collecting adequate data. A European Commission report published last year found that when all unemployment benefits were totalled, the UK was the only EU member state where there were fewer beneficiaries among migrants – of whom 1 per cent were claiming – than among nationals, where the figure was 4 per cent. [What of other benefits?] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c737e1b6-1676-11e4-a5c7-00144feabdc0.html

The joys of EU membership.

UK - Shale Gas - Fracking Rape - Licence Bidding for Half of UK to Begin

BBC Article  Source - BBC 28 July 2014 Last updated at 01:43 Fracking licences to be granted by government The bidding process for licences to extract shale gas - using the controversial process fracking - begins later, the government has announced. About half the UK is open to exploration, but tightened rules cover areas of outstanding beauty. Companies granted a licence to begin test drilling will also need planning permission and environmental permits. The coalition sees shale gas as a major potential energy source. Critics of fracking warn of environmental dangers. ... About half the UK is open for licensing, including parts of National Parks. But applications there will only be accepted in "exceptional circumstances and in the public interest", said the government. The same rules apply for the Broads, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and World Heritage Sites. ... Critics of fracking argue that it can lead to earth tremors, water contamination and disruption to rural communities. There are also concerns about methane leakage and diverting resources away from renewable energy. ... The government is keen to promote fracking in the UK, and has already announced a number of incentives to help kick-start the industry, including tax breaks, payments of £100,000 per site plus a 1% share of revenue to local communities. It has also proposed new rules regarding rights to access land to speed up drilling. ... In the US, shale gas has seen energy costs tumble, but questions remain about whether the American shale revolution can be replicated in the UK and elsewhere. ...Extracts only ... full @... Source - BBC - here.

HALF of UK?

Including parts of NATIONAL PARKS?

How did this get through???!!

UK - Arms Embargo - Cameron's Porkie Pies

Cameron claims export licenses allowing UK arms sales to Russia don’t breach embargo Published time: July 24, 2014 15:04 Edited time: July 24, 2014 23:23  ... Heated criticism of British arms deals with Russia emerged after a group of MPs revealed over 200 licenses allowing the sale of British military equipment to the Russian Federation. These revelations surfaced in a report published on Wednesday, conducted by four separate House of Commons committees. The Committee on Arms Export Controls’ hard-hitting review contradicted a public statement by David Cameron on July 21. The Prime Minister had indicated the government had enforced an absolute arms embargo against Russia. Speaking in the Commons on Monday, Cameron called for an outright EU-wide ban on arms sales to Russia, claiming such an embargo was already in place in Britain. “Future military sales from any country in Europe should not be going ahead,” the Prime Minister told Westminster MPs. “We have already stopped them from Britain,” he claimed. But the Commons committees’ report contradicted Cameron’s claims. The review carefully scrutinized controls on Britain’s arms exports to Russia, revealing 251 export licenses for the sale of controlled goods to the Russia Federation worth approximately £132m.   ... Previously, Britain’s new Defense Secretary Michael Fallon, said Britain does not export arms to Russia “that could be used for internal repression.”   Fallon claimed Britain has “one of the strictest arms sales policies in the world. We don’t sell arms to countries that might use them internally, or might use them to cause regional instability.” But MPs have called for stricter controls on weapons sales to “authoritarian regimes” - emphasizing that over 3,000 export licenses for arms deals worth £12bn have been approved for 28 states criticized by the UK's Foreign Office for their unacceptable human rights records. Such states include Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sri Lanka.  ...extracts only...article @ ... Source - RT News - here.

Well, fancy that!

And fancy calling for an EU outright ban while doing a roaring arms trade to Russia and DENYING it.

NGOs, ISLAM, BIAS & NORTH LONDON CENTRAL MOSQUE

GOOGLE NEWS FEED There Must Not Be a Ceasefire Gatestone Institute-11 minutes ago Today, calls for a ceasefire fall on deaf ears in Syria, Iraq, Somalia, and Nigeria, where governments (good or bad) face the forces of armed Islamist terrorists. http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4513/gaza-hamas-ceasefire

Noticed the above news feed while trying to check on news on Syria.

Opened the link and found what immediately struck me one of the most biased articles I've come across.

The close, in particular, stuck out as a red flag to me:

"When will the world see that, if Israel were ever to lose, we would all be next?"

Here's extracts from the above article in Google news feed:

There Must Not Be a Ceasefire by Denis MacEoin July 25, 2014 at 5:00 am "With their usual mixture of human rights concern and hypocrisy, several countries have stepped into the fresh Israel-Gaza conflict by demanding a cease-fire. Egypt has played an important role in this demarche; Hamas has turned down flatly all the conditions on which Egyptian President al-Sisi insisted. How far the war will go still hangs in the balance. As Israeli ground forces now fight with Hamas in their tunnels and bunkers, over 600 Palestinians (largely made up of men of fighting age) have died[1], as well as over 32 Israelis." "The international pressure from all sides for a ceasefire is widening and intensifying. Of course, what a ceasefire amounts to, as it has before, is to give Hamas a second chance. And a third and a fourth — whatever is needed for them to achieve their clearly stated goals of wiping Israel from the map, and then Jews." ... Israel must act and act hard, just as Britain and the United States fought hard against the Nazi threat. As we are seeing in Iraq and Syria, the Hamas mindset is spreading. Anything short of total defeat will only lead to a resumption of hostilities in the near future. If the UN and foreign states will not act with determination to defeat a terrorist group armed with sophisticated rockets and accompanied by a determination to commit genocide -- if they are happy, as always, to sit on the sidelines and criticize Israel -- then Israel must, as always, go it alone. ... When will the world see that, if Israel were ever to lose, we would all be next? There cannot be a ceasefire until the firing from Hamas has ceased, and ceased for good. [extracts only - see full article on link below] http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4513/gaza-hamas-ceasefire

So I'm wondering who produced this.  Who is Gatestone Institute?

NOT-FOR-PROFIT NON-GOVERNEMENT-ORGANISATION THINK TANK GATESTONE INSTITUTE The Gatestone Institute, formerly Stonegate Institute and Hudson New York, is a think tank based in New York City. The organization is chaired by John R. Bolton, former U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, from 2005 to 2006, and Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, from 2001 to 2005.   It was formerly Stonegate Institute and was devolved from the Hudson Institute, New York.  It identifies itself as a nonpartisan, not-for-profit international policy council and think tank for international and domestic policy, based in New York City.  It was founded in 2012 by Nina Rosenwald who serves as its president.  Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John R. Bolton is its chairman.  In The Nation, journalist Max Blumenthal reported it began as a branch of the Washington D.C. Hudson Institute and was known as "Hudson New York City".  Gatestone publicizes the writings of authors as diverse as Alan Dershowitz, Robert Spencer, Palestinian journalist Khaled Abu Toameh, and Harold Rhode.  It is described by some media as “an internationally known American think-tank, specialized on strategy and defense questions.” The organization describes itself as a "non-partisan, not-for-profit international policy council and think tank is dedicated to educating the public about what the mainstream media fails to report."   The organization believes that traditional news outlets conduct insufficient and, as a result, misleading reporting on critical issues, and thus it distributes its own information about events in the Middle East and Muslim populations in other parts of the world. The Gatestone Institute publishes an online daily report on its website, featuring extended news coverage and editorials on various subjects, with a concentration on foreign policy issues impacting the United States and its allies. Funding Gatestone Institute is funded by private donors and foundations. Criticism The Institute of of Policy Studies has noted that "[t]he institute was founded in 2011 by Nina Rosenwald, an heiress of the Sears Roebuck empire who has been a key philanthropic backer of anti-Muslim groups and individuals in the United States".  Sheila Musaji's The American Muslim includes it and Nina Rosenwald in a Who’s Who of the Anti-Muslim/Anti-Arab/Islamophobia Industry, Ali Gharib, of the blog Open Zion, describes it as "a spin-off of the Hudson Institute where right-wingers (along with Alan Dershowitz) champion hawkish, often "pro-Israel" policies and, not infrequently, rattle off Islamophobic blogposts." Source - wikipedia - here.

Then I got to wondering, who is the writer?

Denis MacEoin's wikipedia link (here).

Wikipedia mentioned a controversy over the following report, written by MacEoin (which was 'drawn up' by an organisation known as 'Policy Exchange'):

Controversy over "The Hijacking of British Islam" In October 2007, "The Hijacking of British Islam: How Extremist Literature is Subverting Britain's Mosques", was published. The report—written by Denis MacEoin and drawn up by the Policy Exchange thinktank— claimed that "extremist literature calling for the execution of gays and the oppression of women" was found at 25 of the 100 Islamic religious institutions that Policy Exchange's Muslim research teams claimed to have visited in 2006 and 2007. (wikipedia here)

Rather than risk getting the facts mangled in summary, this is the wikipedia on the subject of the controversy:

Wikipedia (Denis MacEoin) Allegations of tampering with two receipts for books On 12 December 2007, BBC's Newsnight presented material which the programme suggested showed that some of the receipts purporting to prove the sale of extremist material had been forged, and that some of the literature had come from bookshops purportedly unconnected to the mosques named in the report. The BBC's Richard Watson also stated that "There is the worrying fact, not addressed by Policy Exchange, that the hand-writing on this receipt is very similar – to my eye it looks identical – to the hand-writing on another receipt, said to have been obtained from a mosque in Leyton, 10 miles away. A registered forensic document examiner concluded that there was “strong evidence” that the two receipts were written by the same person." Similar allegations were made by The Guardian 's Seumas Milne. Milne's report stated that "BBC's Newsnight programme . . . revealed that a forensic examination of five receipts provided by Policy Exchange for the material had found them to be either faked, written by the same person, and/or were not issued by the mosques in question. A sixth receipt was also regarded as unreliable."' Policy Exchange argued there was still evidence to link each of the institutions to extremist literature and that "The receipts are not ... mentioned in the report and the report’s findings do not rely upon their existence".  As a result of the BBC Newsnight investigation, both Policy Exchange and MacEoin were sued for defamation by the Board of Trustees of the North London Central Mosque Trust (NLCM) concerning the allegations made in MacEoin's report against the Finsbury Park Mosque. The case was dismissed, dismissed on appeal, and in October 2010 the North Lorndon Central Mosque discontinued its appeal and paid a substantial contribution to Policy Exchange’s legal costs. However, NLCM reports that the following was published on the Policy Exchange website: "Policy Exchange has never sought to suggest that the liteature cited in the Report was sold or distributed at the Mosque with the knowledge or consent of the Mosque’s trustees or staff." (wikipedia here)

Above wikipedia entry states:

• case was dismissed
• dismissed on appeal
• in October 2010 the North London Central Mosque discontinued its appeal and paid a substantial contribution to Policy Exchange’s legal costs. 
• "NLCM reports that the following was published on the Policy Exchange website: "Policy Exchange has never sought to suggest that the literature cited in the Report was sold or distributed at the Mosque with the knowledge or consent of the Mosque’s trustees or staff."

Still not clear on what is going on and curious about 'Policy Exchange', I go to the Policy Exchange link in wikipedia:

POLICY EXCHANGE - Wikipedia Policy Exchange is a British centre-right think tank, created in 2002 and based in London. The Daily Telegraph has described it as "the largest, but also the most influential think tank on the right". Policy Exchange has been addressed by members of the Labour Governments of Tony Blair (1997-2007) and Gordon Brown (2007-2010), such as John Hutton, Peter Mandelson and Andrew Adonis, and by members of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government of David Cameron (2010-), such as Chris Skidmore, Charlotte Leslie and Jesse Norman, as well as by many non party-political figures. The New Statesman named it as David Cameron's "favourite think tank", a view shared by the Political Editor of the Evening Standard Joe Murphy, who referred to it as "the intellectual boot camp of the Tory modernisers’". Its alumni include Anthony Browne, one of London Mayor Boris Johnson’s policy directors, and a number of the Conservative 2010 intake of MPs, including Nick Boles, Jesse Norman, Chris Skidmore and Charlotte Leslie. ... members of its advisory councils include Lord Trimble, Peter Clarke, former Head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, James Cameron, Executive Director of Climate Change Capital, and Simon Stevens, former health advisor to Tony Blair. Policy Exchange hosts regular events and debates with key individuals including academics, journalists, MPs and Ministers. The Annual Colin Cramphorn Memorial Lecture, has been delivered by speakers such as Sir Ian Blair, Charles Farr and General David Petraeus. Notable publications The Hijacking of British Islam In October 2007, Policy Exchange published a report, written by Denis MacEoin, on the Muslim community in the UK, uncovering the extent of extremism within mainstream mosques and Muslim institutions. The report entitled The Hijacking of British Islam: How extremist literature is subverting mosques in the UK was described as "a year long investigation carried out by Policy Exchange into the character of the literature currently available in mainstream sites of Islamic religious instruction in the UK."  According to the report, four Muslim research teams visited nearly 100 Islamic sites in the UK "to determine the extent to which literature inculcating Muslim separatism and hatred of nonbelievers was accessible in those institutions — both in terms of being openly available and also being obtainable 'under the counter'." The researchers claimed to have found offensive material at around a quarter of the sites visited and this became the report's most publicised claim in the media. Denis MacEoin, the report's author, is on record as stating that he has "very negative feelings" about Islam. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Policy_Exchange

Policy Exchange - Wikipedia On 26 November 2009, Justice Eady struck out the claim brought against Policy Exchange by the North London Central Mosque. The six mosque trustees who had advanced the claim were ordered to pay Policy Exchange's costs of defending the action. The High Court made a further Order that £75,000 of those costs be paid by the North London Central Mosque within 28 days. In February 2010 the trustees of the mosque abandoned their individual claims in libel against Policy Exchange in respect of the same report and paid a substantial contribution to Policy Exchange’s legal costs. In October 2010 NLCM discontinued its appeal and paid a substantial contribution to Policy Exchange’s legal costs. Following that agreement the appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on 5 October 2010. Source - wikipedia - here.

However, note the sites of:

(a) North London Central Mosque; and 
(b) British Muslim Initiative:

North London Central Mosque

Policy Exchange admits NLCM clear of any wrong-doing Following NLCM win right to appeal, Policy Exchange's offer of out of court settlement accepted On 27 October 2007, the Policy Exchange published a report entitled “The Hijacking of British Islam” in which they named the North London Central Mosque Trust as one of a number of mosques in the UK which they alleged were purveyors of extremist and hate literature. As is well known, the Trustees and management of the NLCM have worked hard since the take-over in 2005 to cleanse the Mosque from the violence, extremism and intolerance that it was linked with previously during the time it was controlled by people such as Abu Hamza. The ethos of the Mosque is to be embracing of all individuals regardless of their race, religion or gender, to work for social cohesion and to encourage Muslims to play a leading role in British society. The Management take-over was a pivotal event in the community which involved local Muslim community and organizations alongside the Government, the local Authorities, the Police and Members of Parliament. The allegations contained in the Report were therefore not only offensive and defamatory but undermined the huge and important efforts by all who were involved in the take-over. The Mosque trustees and management have always emphatically denied the claims contained in the Report. Moreover, the Report appeared to be based on highly suspicious methods of research and the evidence on which the Mosque was named was entirely dubious as exposed by the Newsnight excellent investigative report by Richard Watson. The failure of Policy Exchange to sue Newsnight over Watson's report, despite explicitly threatening to do so in front of millions of viewers, is telling how shaky the grounds Policy Exchange stands on regarding their report, the report they took off their website completely after settling with another mosque similarly accused in the report. In 2007, a claim by NLCM was issued against the Policy Exchange, and the author of the Report, Denis MacEoin, for defamation. At the first stage in the High Court, the claim was struck out, not on the basis of its merit, which we maintain was strong, but on the technical capacity of unincorporated charities not being able to be claimants in defamation cases in their own right, a loop in the law we believe legislators should look at. In April of this year, the Court of Appeal, after hearing legal argument from the Mosque regarding charities and defamation law, gave us permission to appeal against the decision striking out our claim. The case would potentially have had far-reaching implications for unincorporated charities all across the UK. The appeal was listed for October 2010. We were confident of our chances of success; however, being trustees of a charity, we had to act in the best interests of the Mosque and decided that rather than continuing the risks of litigation, we would accept a request by Policy Exchange to settle out of court after we won the right to appeal. In the circumstances, the Policy Exchange has now published on their website the following statement: In our Report’ The Hijacking of British Islam’, published in October 2007, we stated that the North London Central Mosque was one of the mosques where extremist literature was found. Policy Exchange has never sought to suggest that the literature cited in the Report was sold or distributed at the Mosque with the knowledge or consent of the Mosque’s trustees or staff. We are happy to set the record straight. The Mosque is now cleared of any false accusations of being a purveyor of extremist literature. We trust that no allegations of this nature will be repeated. The Board of Trustees 03/11/2010 http://nlcentralmosque.com/component/content/article/1-latest/220-policy-exchange-admits-nlcm-clear-of-any-wrong-doing.html

British Muslim Initiative

Press Release | Policy Exchange admits it was wrong about North London Central Mosque Thursday, 04 November 2010 The BMI is delighted with the result of the out of court settlement reached between the North London Central Mosque Trust ("the Mosque") and the Policy Exchange ("PX") as regards the publication in October 2007 of the PX report entitled "The Hijacking of British Islam". The report accused a number of mosques in the UK of distributing extremist literature and in particular, accused the Mosque of only having undergone cosmetic change since new Trustees were appointed by the UK government to rid the mosque of Abu Hamza and his followers. The terms of the out of court settlement reached between PX and the Mosque culminated in a humiliating admission by PX that neither the trustees nor the staff of the Mosque had any dealings with the extremist material it had falsely alleged were found at the Mosque premises in 2007. As the BBC Newsnight programme revealed at the time of the report's publication, the receipts provided by the PX to the BBC to support the outrageous allegations that the Mosque's staff and/or Trustees were distributing extremist literature, were crudely forged. It is disgraceful for a self proclaimed 'leading independent think tank' to have provided such material to the BBC and not to have apologised for having done so – despite numerous requests to do so. At the High Court hearing on the issue of the Claimant's capacity raised by PX, Mr Justice Eady decided that a charity itself could not be the Claimant in a defamation case. This was a technical legal point and the merits of the case were not addressed at all. This decision has been misleadingly reported by some journalists including the Daily Telegraph's Andrew Gilligan. Permission to appeal this point was subsequently granted by Lord Justice Sedley (of the Court of Appeal) on the basis that there is a genuine argument for Charities to be allowed to bring defamation cases in their own right. The case before the Court of Appeal was listed for a hearing in October 2010 and the Mosque was confident that it would be successful. However, it seems that PX saw sense in settling out of court, clearly due to a real fear of losing the case and agreed to publish a statement which exonerated the Mosque's staff and Trustees from any wrong-doing and in doing so effectively admitted that the credibility and accuracy of its Report was fatally undermined. BMI has also learnt that despite claims made by PX and Andrew Gilligan, no costs were paid by the Mosque to PX. The BMI is very pleased that the Mosque took action against PX and succeeded in clearing its name. http://bminitiative.net/component/k2/item/335-policy-exchange-admits-it-was-wrong-about-north-london-central-mosque About BMI Formed by justice, peace and human rights campaigners, the British Muslim Initiative (BMI) is an organisation which seeks to fight racism and Islamaphobia, combat the challenges Muslims face around the world, encourage Muslim participation in British public life, and improve relations between the West and the Muslim world. British Muslim Initiative (BMI)   © 2006-2014

***
WIKIPEDIA
ENTRIES
NEED UPDATING 
***

Judging by press release by

British Muslim Initiative

referred to above - (link)

***

Anyone that's interested in NGOs in general, or in 'Policy Exchange' specifically, here's a link to study:

The Cold War on British Muslims: An examination of Policy Exchange and the Centre for Social Cohesion

by David Miller

http://www.academia.edu/2596703/The_Cold_War_on_British_Muslims_An_examination_of_Policy_Exchange_and_the_Centre_for_Social_Cohesion

Cameron's Russian chums bankrolling Tories - Daily Mail

Daily Mail Article - Headline:   Meet Dave's other chums who made billions under Putin and are bankrolling the Tories ------------------------------------------------------------ Andrey Borodin * company registered to Borodin’s address paid £40,000 for a portrait of Margaret Thatcher ... paying £140 million for Park Place in Henley-on-Thames when he arrived in Britain three years ago ... fortune estimated at £1 billion ... former banker under Putin’s rule (Bank of Moscow) ... named Russia’s banker of the year in 2001 ... fell out with [Putin] for reasons that remain unclear ... accused (by Kremlin) of being head of organised crime group that swindled £850 million in an elaborate foreign      currency scam. ... denies all wrong-doing, saying any criminality was carried out by his underlings ... granted asylum to live in the UK by David Cameron after an alleged plot to assassinate him was uncovered in     2011 ------------------------------------------------------------ Alexander Temerko * donating £474,555 to the Tories * Conservative Leaders’ Group, where members pay £50,000 a year for access to prominent frontbenchers * famously paid £90,000 for a bust of Mr Cameron at a Tory fundraising event * his energy company has been paid at least £4.5 million of taxpayers’ cash through the Department for Business’s Regional Growth Fund An oligarch with ambitions to become a British MP, Alexander Temerko ... hails from Ukraine ... made his fortune as a senior oil executive with Yukos, Russia’s massive former state oil company ... the centre of allegations of widespread corruption ( subsequently dissolved) He, too, has been accused by his former friends in the Kremlin of being leader of a criminal gang involved in fraud against former Soviet state-owned companies — charges a UK court found were politically motivated. A spokesman for the oligarch last night told us that he ‘does not expect anything back’ from the Tories in return for his donation, and pointed to the fact that he was fighting extradition by the Russian authorities as evidence of his distance from Putin. ------------------------------------------------------------ Alexander Knaste * British citizenship in 2011 * donating more than £400,000 to the Tory Party Billionaire. Born in Moscow, Alexander Knaster is a familiar face on London’s political fund-raising circuit after taking British citizenship in 2011 and donating more than £400,000 to the Tory Party. He grew up in the U.S., after his family emigrated during the Leonid Brezhnev era, but returned to Russia to work for Credit-Suisse bank in 1995 as capitalism took off. Knaster, 55, who lives in Kensington, has since added to his fortune by helping other rich Putin cronies, both former and current, to move their cash out of Russia and invest it in the West, in both British companies and property. He is now running Pamplona Capital Management in London, and is reputed to be worth £1.5 billion. His business in particular would be hard hit by sanctions, with David Cameron promising to publish the names of those likely to be affected this weekend. ------------------------------------------------------------ George Piskov * attending Tory Party fundraisers * made a £10,000 donation direct to party headquarters in 2012 Yet another wealthy Russian banker who made a fortune during the so-called ‘wild west years’ following the collapse of communism, Piskov made billions from launching a money transfer service across his vast homeland. He formed a bank called Uniastrum, which became one of the fastest-growing businesses in Russia during these boom years, but ran into trouble during the global financial crash of 2007/08. As well as a string of directorships in Russia, which he visits regularly on business, he is also the official representative of all Russian banks in London, making him one of the most powerful financial figures here. More recently, the Cyprus government has been probing the circumstances surrounding the Bank of Cyprus’s purchase of Uniastrum Bank. ------------------------------------------------------------ Lev Mikheev * donated almost £100,000 to the Tories since moving to the UK Russian-born investment banker (part of his childhood in the U.S.) - aged 51 ... well placed to tap into the new emerging markets oligarchs were keen to invest in. ... billionaire financier with offices in London and next door to the Kremlin in the Russian capital. He has homes in London, Moscow and the U.S. ... Much of his fortune came through a hedge fund called Salute Capital Management, named after the former Soviet Union’s space exploration programme Salyut, and he is reputed to have invested £1 billion a year on behalf of the new wave of wealthy clients to emerge under Putin’s rule. SOURCE - Daily Mail - 25 July 2014 - here.

Not sure what the big deal is.  The donations don't seem that huge.

Putin was mentioned heaps in the article, I'm guessing implying that Putin somehow enriched these guys (or, that's what I got out of it).  Correct me if I'm wrong. 

How much influence would these people have in UK?

Probably as much influence as anybody with cash and connections has in the UK.

So what's the issue?