Thread by @Ian_Fraser

Alyn Smith should have added the IEA is a lobby group masquerading as a thinktank (and an “educational charity”) which is renowned for dangling access to ministers in front of donors. Emily Carver’s “how boring” response was, frankly, pathetic. #bbcqt

https://twitter.com/PhantomPower14/status/1527413142648672283

Here is footage showing IEA director general Mark Littlewood offering potential donors (actually undercover reporters for @UE) access to government ministers in 2019 (I got his name wrong in the original tweet).

https://twitter.com/Ian_Fraser/status/1092861913728516097

If you’re interested in finding out more about the origins and goals of the Institute of Economic Affairs ⁠— a neoliberal lobbying organisation that masquerades as a “thinktank” ⁠— this blog by Adam Curtis should be your starting point. #IEA bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurt…

The time @Ross_Greer challenged BBC deputy director-general Ann Bulford over the broadcaster’s platforming of dark-money funded lobbyists, e.g. from the IEA. This was in 2018 but nothing seems to have changed.

And you may ask yourself: would the Institute of Economic Affairs’ director-general @MarkJLittlewood block journalists if the IEA believed in transparency?

“We need greater transparency from thinktanks such as the IEA. The government should compel them to publish their donors. Media such as the BBC should oblige them to reveal their funding sources before they can participate in public debate”— @bmj_latest
bmj.com/content/365/bm…