Jonathan Hill - nominated as UK'S EU Commissioner

The Guardian Article

Lord Hill is David Cameron's choice as UK's next European commissioner

PM hopes mainstream candidate will persuade Jean-Claude Juncker to give Britain one of main economic portfolios

    Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent
    theguardian.com, Tuesday 15 July 2014 21.16 AEST   

Lord Hill worked as a special adviser to the pro-European Ken Clarke in the 1980s. 

Lord Hill of Oareford, the leader of the House of Lords who hails from the centre ground of the Tory party, has been nominated by David Cameron to take over as Britain's next European commissioner.

The prime minister will be hoping that by nominating a mainstream figure, the incoming European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, will be persuaded to hand Britain a substantial post.
...
Cameron will present Hill's name to Juncker when they meet on the fringes of a European summit in Brussels on Wednesday. The prime minister may have to work hard to persuade Juncker to hand Britain one of the main economic portfolios – trade, internal market, competition or energy – because the incoming European commission president had said he would like EU leaders to nominate women candidates. [Are you kidding?  What's with the women?]

Cameron will also have to persuade Juncker that Hill is a substantial figure despite never having run a government department. But the prime minister will say that Hill, who worked as a special adviser to the pro-European Ken Clarke in the 1980s, is a serious politician who has adopted a constructive approach to the EU during two decades of Tory battlles over Europe. [Why not give them a woman?  Plenty to choose from now.]

The PM will also be able to say that Cathy Ashton, Britain's current European commissioner who also doubles up as the EU's foreign policy chief ...

FULL @ - The Guardian - here.

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COMMENT

Jonathan Hill, Baron Hill of Oareford (Lord)

UK Conservative politician
Middle of the road

Created life peer 2010

Worked at Bell Pottinger ... a British multinational public relations and marketing company.
It is the largest UK-based public relations consultancy measured by 2010 fee income.

Bell Pottinger offers services such as lobbying, speech writing, search engine optimisation and "sorting" (fixing) Wikipedia articles  to clients including companies, governments and high net worth individuals.  In December 2011 it came under public scrutiny after managers were secretly recorded talking to fake representatives of the Uzbek government  and abusing Wikipedia by removing negative information and replacing it with positive spin.  [PR firms, eh? ]

Bell Pottinger was, until July 2012, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chime Communications plc. Lord Bell*, who advised Margaret Thatcher on media matters when she was UK Prime Minister, is a co-founder of Bell Pottinger.

*Lord Bell is buddy of oligarch Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, handled the media attention behind poisoned Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died in hospital 23 November 2006

Policy secretary (PM John Major)
Leader House of Lords 2013-2014

Cambridge educated
History, MA

[wikipedia]

"... appointed to leader of the House of Lords despite still holding shares in Huntsworth".

SOURCE:  FT UK - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/acf870fa-0c07-11e4-9080-00144feabdc0.html

Huntsworth

Industry            Public relations
Founded           1974
Founder(s)       Lord Chadlington
Headquarters   London, United Kingdom
Locations         72 principal offices in 31 countries
Area served     Worldwide
Key people      Lord Chadlington (CEO)
Services          Public relations
                        Integrated healthcare communications
Revenue          Increase £ 174.70 million (2010)
Net income      Increase £ 15.80 million (2010)
Employees      1,600
Subsidiaries   Citigate Dewe Rogerson
                       Grayling
                       Huntsworth Health
                       Red

[wikipedia]

Ministers' meetings linked to top Tory lobbying firm Quiller Consultants

October 19, 2011 by David Singleton 

Conservative ministers are holding frequent meetings with clients of a lobbying firm headed by one of Chancellor George Osborne's close friends.

With lobbying under the media spotlight, a PRWeek analysis has found that clients of Quiller Consultants are enjoying regular access to top Tories.

Huntsworth-owned Quiller is headed up by George Bridges, a friend of Osborne’s who helped run the party’s 2010 general election campaign.

 Quiller co-founder Jonathan Hill is now a junior minister in the Department for Education.

SOURCE - PR Week - here.
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Whats's with all the UK & EU affirmative action?
Rather off-putting.
Not into token women in politics trend.


The most exciting thing about this guy is that he tried to resign as minister in 2012.
Mind you, I haven't checked beyond the PR-corrupted wikipedia site.  LOL   [UPDATED SINCE]


Must have a read of the umbrella-spy stuff some time (Litvinenko).  Didn't pay much attention when it happened.


How crap is it that these PR firms are whitewashing wikipedia.
It means having to check alternate sources of information -- which I haven't done in this case.

Someone should start a counter wikipedia, with all the juicy bits emblazoned online.