A *very* curious tale. March 16, Boris Johnson told Britons to avoid ‘non-essential contact’. Three days later PM met Evgeny Lebedev's holding company-but No 10 says meeting was 'personal' so refuses to release any details.
72 hours after warning British public to cease all unnecessary contact Johnson meets Lebedev Holdings at the PM's private residence. So that's a company, must be a business/political meeting and fully declared as such? Nope, No 10 says it's 'personal' so all details private
So PM had a 'social/personal' meeting with a holding company (as you do) but after telling everyone to cut social contact. There is an alternative explanation: it was a business meeting. Then why not disclosed? A few months later Johnson nominated his old friend Lebedev to Lords
Transparency International's @rachelcerysd says that “the idea that a minister can host a personal social meeting with a company is nonsense.”
Shadow cabinet office minister @helenhayes_ said MP "prioritised a personal, un-minuted meeting with Evgeny Lebedev" during pandemic
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🚨Did Government abuse FOI law to bury Liz Truss’s £15k food and booze bill?
🔴Freedom of Information should be 'applicant blind'
🔴So why was the FOI with Truss’s embarrassing in-flight bills to Politico before it went to the requester, @EmilyThornberry?
🔴Government trying to bury bad news on Budget Day?
Last year @EmilyThornberry sent an FOI about ministers spending on food and drink on private jets
For 1 year+ Cabinet Office delayed responding
Then, last Wednesday, CO responds with Truss £15k spend - but it sends the FOI to Politico at least 30mins before Thornberry gets it.... and suggests the story is published in that afternoon’s Politico Playbook email
Why last Wednesday? Well, was also Budget day… a very good day to bury bad news?
If government was trying to bury Truss’s in-flight spending in post-Budget scrum, didn't work
Politico published Truss story day after Budget, with @EmilyThornberry 's comments
But government’s seeming attempt to abuse the FOI process for political ends has not been reported
'PopsCons’ are backed by a company called Popular Development Partners Ltd
The firm - which was only set up in October - has two directors: ex IEA chief Littlewood and ‘Angela Mannion’, who appears to have no online footprint (h/t @GoodLawProject)
But based on various pieces of evidence, including email addresses and dates of birth, it appears that Angela Mannion is also Angela Harbutt .... who happens to be the wife of Mark Littlewood and, until August, director of development at IEA
🔴 This time last year many said Tufton Street was 'finished' after Liz Truss crashed and burned.
Exactly 12 months later: Rishi Sunak's net zero U-turn.
And who is cheering loudest and claiming credit?
Tufton Street's dark money think tanks... and guess who funds them?🧵
'Net Zero Watch' is the policy wing of the Global Warming Policy Foundation.
GWPF - address 55 Tufton Street - has received funding from US groups linked to the oil and gas sector, despite saying that it was independent of the fossil fuel industry...
But I've found documents that show Britain's secretive think tanks received huge sums from a major Tory donor, an influential Soviet-born billionaire and fossil fuel interests🧵
Recently released US tax filings shine a new light on who's been funding influential Tufton Street think tanks.
Among the new names are:
- Len Blavatnik, who made his fortune after the Soviet Union's fall.
- Yan Hou, who has given £1m+ to the Tories
- US climate denialists
Many of the think tanks around 55 Tufton Street have ‘American Friends of’ groups to receive funding from US donors.
US tax filings show that Tufton Street's US arms raised $1m+ in 2021 alone - raising concerns about the potential influence of foreign money on British politics.