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Sleaze and potential level of corruption rises in the Liam Fox / Adam Werrity affair

October 16, 2011
Liam Fox, British Conservative politician.

Image via Wikipedia

The Fox-Werrity scandal keeps growing. Liam Fox may have resigned but as the spotlight falls on his “best man” Adam Werrity, it becomes clear that the brain behind the subterfuge was that of Liam Fox. Adam Werrity was just a pretty boy with a pretty bad degree when he was selected and built up by Fox. (A 2.2 degree is pretty close to a “fail”). He took advantage of the position he was put into to effectively operate a slush fund to pay for his luxury jaunts – all ostensibly for facilitating the contacts between Fox and influential – and risch – backers. But what is clear is that he was nothing more than a front for Fox. If at any time Fox had withdrawn his backing for his “best friend man”, Werrity would have been a zero and he can not point to any real accomplishments of his own.

Werrity only shone in the light provided by his master.

To what extent Fox was running a shadow foreign and defence policy from behind the scenes to satisfy the interests of his backers is the real question that remains. How many defence contracts were placed as a result of the shadow Fox policy is also unknown. How far UK foreign policy was influenced by Fox and his backers is a mystery. I just listened to the UK Foreign Secretary, William Hague, on BBC Radio and his stonewalling of the question of Fox’s influence on UK foreign policy (in Sri Lanka particularly) only raised my suspicions that he too feels he has been duped by his friend. His only real defence (and hope perhaps) was that that government was so large that Fox’s influence could not have penetrated very far.

The Telegraph today is pretty scathing. Liam Fox: How his best man Adam Werritty brought him down. But it cannot be forgotten that Liam Fox was the one who built Werrity up in the first place.

Liam Fox has only himself to blame. Fiercely intellectual, politically astute and genuinely capable, Dr Fox has in the end come unstuck over a misguided but long-held friendship with a man 17 years his junior.

He met Adam Werritty when his future best man was still a teenager and nurtured him for close to 15 years. He installed Mr Werritty as the head of businesses and charities which had his backing, enabling them to travel the world often at the expense of others.

They may have worked hard but the pair played hard too. They dined together in the finest restaurants, enjoyed marathon drinking sessions and even indulged in occasional bouts of karaoke.

It might have been acceptable behaviour — a giddy mixture of business and pleasure — out of power. But for a Defence Secretary, presiding over multi-million pound contracts and cuts, it proved to be fatal. ….. 

Werrity is described brutally by The Telegraph as a handsome teenager who the years have not been kind to. And considering that Werrity was only about 18 when as an undergraduate he was singled out by the 35 year old Fox, it begins to seem like the case of a gullible – but not very bright teenager – being seduced and corrupted by a much older and cleverer and unscrupulous man.

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Posted in Behaviour, Corruption, Ethics, Politics, UK | Comments Off on Sleaze and potential level of corruption rises in the Liam Fox / Adam Werrity affair

Another plagiarising “churnalist” resigns – this time at Politico

October 15, 2011

There would seem to be a plagiarising epidemic – but it is just that with the world wide web there is nowhere to hide.

After Johann Hari, and Steven King this time a reporter from Politico – Kendra Marr – has been found regurgitating material from the New York Times and Associated Press among others. The Media Decoder blog of the NYT has the story:

A reporter for the news Web site Politico resigned on Thursday after allegations that she had used content in a number of her stories from articles that had been published in The New York Times, The Associated Press, NJ.com and other sources.

John F. Harris, Politico’s editor-in-chief, and Jim VandeHei, the site’s executive editor, published an editor’s note Thursday night after an e-mail inquiry by Susan Stellin, a freelance reporter for the New York Times, which prompted Politico editors to review work by reporter Kendra Marr. …. 

Seven articles have since been updated with editor’s notes explaining that earlier versions of the stories used reporting from other sources without attribution. Editors at Politico would not comment on the matter.

What is a little strange is the Politico has not or will not provide any details as to the extent of the plagiarism (for example by giving examples of what was plagiarised). But her profile is still on the Politico website. Her articles have been laundered and the plagiarised versions have been deleted. An editors note is added.

Kendra Marr

Kendra Marr

Kendra Marr is a national political reporter for POLITICO. She spent a year reporting out of the White House briefing room and is now tracking the 2012 presidential contenders.

Marr previously covered financial news for The Washington Post, where she followed Detroit’s automakers through bailout and bankruptcy. Her work has also appeared in the San Jose Mercury News, The Orange County Register and The Miami Herald.

Marr grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and international studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

KENDRA’S RECENT STORIES

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Posted in Ethics, Media | Comments Off on Another plagiarising “churnalist” resigns – this time at Politico

Rupert Murdoch faces opposition – but no real threat – from News Corp minority shareholders

October 14, 2011

Rupert Murdoch and his family members have about 44% of the voting shares in News Corp and his good friend Saudi  Prince Alwaleed bin Talal owns the second largest voting block with about 7% and this gives Murdoch effective control over the composition of the Board and all decisions.

But the smaller shareholders who have been grumbling for some time are beginning to get noisy and even showing signs of resistance.

But the minorities are not rolling over. Their biggest gripe is the “rampant nepotism” in the company, and it is here that Murdoch may eventually have to give ground. ….. Even before the (hacking) crisis, small News Corp shareholders had launched a lawsuit against its “rampant nepotism” for paying £415m for Shine, a television production company founded by Rupert Murdoch’s daughter, Elisabeth.

Reuters reports that at New Corp’s Annual General Meeting in a weeks time, the opposition to Murdoch will be on display:

Rupert Murdoch’s multi-million dollar campaign to win back the hearts and minds of News Corporation’s independent investors suffered a new blow on Friday after another key shareholder group called for his eviction from its board.

Hermes Equity Ownership Services (HEOS), the shareholder advisory service affiliated to Britain’s largest pension fund, issued a rallying cry to investors to vote against all Murdoch family re-elections to the board of the embattled media group at next week’s annual general meeting on October 21. …..

…. The organization, which votes on behalf of the BT Pension Fund and more than 20 other institutional clients running $140 billion of assets, has also called for an independent investigation into the phone hacking scandal that led to the closure of top-selling British tabloid The News of the World….. “The time is right for the company to appoint an independent chairman to rebuild trust, help correct the governance discount, and ensure that the interests of all investors are properly represented,” Jennifer Walmsley, Director of Hermes Equity Ownership Services, said.

Besides seeking the removal of Murdoch and sons James and Lachlan, HEOS — whose members hold 0.5 percent of News Corp’s shares — Hermes is also withholding support for the re-election of directors Arthur Siskind and Andrew Knight, citing concerns for their independence. …… Earlier this week, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) said Murdoch and 10 other News Corp directors should be ousted from board in the wake of the phone hacking scandal, which it said “laid bare a striking lack of stewardship and independence.” 

The ISS statement prompted News Corp, which has bought back more than $1 billion of its stock since August, to step up its appeal for shareholder support with a letter that reiterated its strong financial performance in the face of the flagging global economy.

… “There is a huge problem with shareholder democracy at News Corp — it breaches what we see as a fundamental shareholder right of ‘one share, one vote’,” (Walmsley) said.

But 51% of the voting shares is a clear controlling interest no matter which way you look at it and no matter how loud one may shout for “one share one vote”. It will be difficult to overcome and minority shareholders who are truly upset may have no other option than to vote with their feet. HEOS with its 0.5% can make noise but cannot really do much else. Murdoch is canny enough to make sure that won’t happen. He just needs to ensure they get an attractive return even if the “Murdoch” discount holds back the share value. So my expectation is a lot of noise but no real change. Perhaps James Murdoch will give up one of his Board positions just to placate the noisiest opposition.

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Posted in Behaviour, Business, Ethics | 2 Comments »

Europe this week: ethics loses as Berlusconi and Juholt continue while Fox resigns

October 14, 2011

Berlusconi clings to power in Italy, while Håkan Juholt continues wallowing through his mire in Sweden and Liam Fox resigns in the UK.

Strange are the ways of politics and ethics. And even when ethics seems to win – as in the Liam Fox affair – there is a sense that the victory is superficial.

Berlusconi will probably hang on by his finger nails as Italy goes the way of Greece. Juholt has probably ensured that his party – the Social Democrats – will lose members and the next election. In the UK the full extent of the dubious antics of Liam Fox’s “best man” have yet to be revealed and David Cameron is struggling with the lack of competence in his Cabinet.

It is tempting to conclude that the common thread is that ethics and competence cannot survive together. But I refuse to believe that it is impossible to be competent or a politician without sacrificing your ethics – even if such examples are difficult to find.

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Posted in Behaviour, Ethics, Politics | Comments Off on Europe this week: ethics loses as Berlusconi and Juholt continue while Fox resigns

Is the Liam Fox affair a repeat of the Profumo affair?

October 13, 2011
Christine Keeler in 1963

Christine Keeler in 1963: Image via Wikipedia

The UK press and blogs are full of the Liam Fox / Adam Werrity affair. The main stream media only write in euphemisms about the relationship between Fox and Werrity. The blogs of course are much more forthright in their suggestion that Fox is gay and Werrity his long time boy-friend. The constant reference to Werrity being Fox’s best man at his wedding is – I suppose – meant to imply that his marriage was a subterfuge to mask his being gay. Some examples of the articles in the media and the blogosphere: The Telegraph, The StudentRoom blog, Order-order.com blog, The Spectator, PressTV, Daily Mail

From Wikipedia:

The Profumo Affair was a 1963 British political scandal named after John Profumo, Secretary of State for War. His affair with Christine Keeler, the reputed mistress of an alleged Russian spy, followed by lying in the House of Commons when he was questioned about it, forced the resignation of Profumo and damaged the reputation of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s government. Macmillan himself resigned a few months later due to ill health.

For the historical comparison to hold:

  1. Adam Werrity would need to be the Minister’s lover (and the UK press always carefully refers to him as “his friend of 18 years and his best man”),
  2. Werrity would need to be in the pay of a “foreign power”. It seems apparent that Werrity has been financed by a number of conservative US lobby groups and some suggestion of Israeli and even Iranian lobby groups.
  3.  Werrity’s objectives would have to have been to influence Fox or to extract sensitive information (with or without Fox’s knowledge) for his paymasters.
By all accounts this could well be a case of history repeating itself.

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Posted in Ethics, Media, Politics, UK | 1 Comment »

Update – Steven King resigns from Irish Examiner but continues with APCO Worldwide

October 13, 2011

UPDATE! 13th October

I posted about this story earlier here, and Steven King has now resigned after his plagiarism was discovered:

Irish Examiner columnist Steven King resigns following plagiarism controversy

THE IRISH EXAMINER says that its weekly international affairs columnist Steven King has resigned from the paper.

The resignation follows allegations that King plagiarised passages for his column from a number of sources including blogger Brendan O’Neill of Spiked, and from Salon.com and Commentary Magazine.

The allegations were made by journalist Brian Whelan, who previously uncovered evidence of plagiarism in the work of London Independent columnist Johnn Hari. Hari is currently on unpaid leave and is undertaking a journalism training course.

…. The Examiner reports today that King said he was out of reach while visiting Ethiopia recently…..

which of course makes me wonder which unsavoury person or party in Ethiopia is using APCO Worldwide as its spin-doctor.

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Posted in Behaviour, Ethics, Media, Politics | 1 Comment »

Now Murdoch’s WSJ caught in a circulation scam as his European publishing head resigns

October 12, 2011

It’s pretty clear that The Guardian does not much care for Rupert Murdoch or his newspapers but they are involved in so much which is shady that it provides permanent employment for some of The Guardian’s “investigative journalists” (who are not themselves above some hanky panky from time to time).

After the News of the World / News International phone hacking fiasco, this time it is the Wall Street Journal which has been found to have been cooking the books about its circulation figures. Andrew Langhoff  who is Murdoch’s publishing head in Europe has resigned to contain the damge. Executive Learning Partnership, or ELP, a Netherlands-based consulting firm is also implicated.

The Wall Street Journal also carries the story: Publisher of WSJ Europe Resigns After Ethics Inquiry

The Guardian – 

One of Rupert Murdoch’s most senior European executives has resigned following Guardian inquiries about a circulation scam at News Corporation’s flagship newspaper, the Wall Street Journal.

The Guardian found evidence that the Journal had been channelling money through European companies in order to secretly buy thousands of copies of its own paper at a knock-down rate, misleading readers and advertisers about the Journal’s true circulation.

The bizarre scheme included a formal, written contract in which the Journal persuaded one company to co-operate by agreeing to publish articles that promoted its activities, a move which led some staff to accuse the paper’s management of violating journalistic ethics and jeopardising its treasured reputation for editorial quality.

Internal emails and documents suggest the scam was promoted by Andrew Langhoff, the European managing director of the Journal’s parent company, Dow Jones and Co, which was bought by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation in July 2007. Langhoff resigned on Tuesday.

…… In what appears to have been a damage limitation exercise following the Guardian’s inquiries, Langhoff resigned on Tuesday, citing only the complaints of unethical interference in editorial coverage. Neither he nor an article published last night in the Wall Street Journal made any reference to the circulation scam nor to the fact that the senior management of Dow Jones in New York failed to act when they were alerted last year.

The affair will add weight to the fears of shareholders in Murdoch’s parent company, NewsCorp, that the business has become a ‘rogue corporation’, operating outside normal rules. Some shareholders have launched a legal action in the US, attacking the Murdoch family after the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World and following lawsuits in which NewsCorp subsidiaries have been accused of hacking into competitors’ computers and stealing their customers. …..

……

Circulation figures directly affect the advertising rates that can be charged and this circulation scam is nothing more than a method to defraud advertisers and – eventually – all the subscribers. Even the antics at the News of the World can be put down to maintaining circulation numbers. The certainly unethical – and perhaps criminal – behaviour of Murdoch and his henchmen and his newspapers can all be put down to greed, and a touch of narcissism  coupled with highly inflated egos.

Related: Rebekah Brooks and NoW – another new low

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Posted in Behaviour, Business, Ethics, Fraud, Media | 1 Comment »

Birds of a feather? Steven King, plagiarism, Apco Worldwide, Narendra Modi and asbestos

October 10, 2011

Narendra Modi is the  chief minister of Gujarat state in India and has overseen impressive development successes in his state, but he is considered a staunch member of the right-wing nationalistic Hindu camp and was indirectly – if not directly – responsible for the vicious anti-Muslim riots and killings in the state in 2002.

Steven King works for APCO Worldwide, a public relations and communications group, and is based in Delhi. His weekly column for the Irish Examiner has been revealed to contain widespread plagiarism and he has now apparently gone into hiding. Now it seems that part of his work at APCO includes an effort to rebrand Narendra Modi who has aspirations to be the next Prime Minister.

Tehelka reports:

…. the US Congressional Research Service (CRS) report that portrayed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as a messiah of economic reforms. …. This glory, however, is largely a consequence of the brand-building exercise that Modi had adopted in 2007 through the help of a Washington-based Public Relations (PR) and lobbyist firm APCO worldwide. APCO, which is the second largest independent PR firm in America, took on the responsibility of taking care of PR for both Modi as well as the biennial industrial summit ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ in 2007. The firm, known for intensive lobbying, brought in investment commitment of up to Rs 20.83 lakh crore (ed. about $4.1 billion) in the 2011 summit. The Gujarat government has been paying nearly Rs 15 lakh rupees (ed. about $31,000) a month to ( APCO) since 2009 in order to bring about the image makeover.

APCO has also been managing Modi’s own behaviour and projection, for which the cost has been over $25,000 per month since 2007. Curiously, APCO was chosen over 10 other firms that also included Weber Shandwick, Grey Worldwide, Twenty-Twenty and Vaishnavi Communications owned by the controversial publicist Niira Radia. The firm, which also specialises in political PR, is notorious for having dictators such as former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha amongst its clients. The firm, which keenly observes political conditions across the world, also boasts about changing its clients’ fortunes.

“We have a deep understanding of how governments make decisions and how to shape those decisions. It is through this extensive experience that we are able to advise sovereign nations on how best to tell their stories to the rest of the world,” claims the APCO Worldwide website. When asked about Narendra Modi, Steven King of APCO told TEHELKA that he could not divulge any detail on his clients.

APCO is involved in promoting other dubious causes as well:

The Department of Occupational Safety & Health in Malaysia has called for a ban on all forms of asbestos in order to save people’s lives. …. 

APCO Worldwide is lobbying the government of Malaysia, on behalf of an undisclosed client, to exclude chrysotile asbestos from the ban. Chrysotile asbestos represents 100% of the global asbestos trade today… The scientific consensus is clear – just as it is on tobacco – that all forms of asbestos, including chrysotile asbestos, cause mesothelioma, lung cancer, other cancers and asbestosis and that safe use is not possible.

Only lobby organizations that have a financial interest in selling asbestos claim that asbestos can be safely used, just as the lobby organizations acting on behalf of the tobacco industry have denied the clear science on tobacco harm.

APCO Worldwide has refused requests to disclose who is the client who has hired APCO Worldwide to carry out this political lobbying.

We understand that the client who has hired APCO Worldwide to oppose the ban is, in fact, the International Chrysotile Association, which represents the global asbestos industry.

As the Consumer Association of Penang has stated, “It is imperative that Malaysia joins this global campaign to ban the use of all types of asbestos and not bow to pressure by groups that place financial gains before public health.” ….

Whether Steven King is the  greater liability to APCO or whether it is vice versa is debatable.

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Posted in Behaviour, Ethics, Politics | Comments Off on Birds of a feather? Steven King, plagiarism, Apco Worldwide, Narendra Modi and asbestos

Steven King of APCO Worldwide goes into hiding after plagiarism disclosed

October 9, 2011

After Steven King’s blatant – and rather incompetent – plagiarism in his articles for the Irish Examiner was disclosed by Brian Whelan all his previous articles for the Examiner are now being scrutinised. The editor of the Irish Examiner, Tim Vaughn,  has acted rather quickly and decisively which is certainly commendable (especially compared to the immediate and knee-jerk denials and defensive statements which are usually the case).

King is employed by APCO Worldwide and is based in Delhi but has now gone into hiding and is not responding to the Irish Examiner’s attempts to contact him. APCO Worldwide is a communications and public affairs consulting firm serving the corporate world and government bodies. No doubt they are expert at tailoring their copy to suit the needs of their clients. It begs the question as to what extent plagiarism and recycling other people’s material for their reports to their clients is part of their normal behaviour. Of course expectations of ethical standards at a public relations firm are not very high since their brief is to make their clients look good under all circumstances. Perhaps it is a case of the methods used routinely in public relations spilling over into King’s article for the Irish Examiner.

The Irish Independent reports:

The ‘Irish Examiner’ said it had been trying to contact Mr King, who is based in India, by email, phone and text message since Wednesday evening, but had not received a reply. “Obviously, I would much prefer if I had a response from him by now,” editor Tim Vaughan said. “This morning, therefore, I suspended publication of any future columns and in the meantime I still await a response.”

Mr King is based in New Delhi, where he works for public affairs and strategic communications firm APCO Worldwide. His company profile states that he is the former chief political adviser to Northern Ireland’s ex-First Minister David Trimble, and was also an Ulster Unionist Party negotiator on the Good Friday Agreement.

He has been writing a weekly column for the ‘Irish Examiner since 2006.

…. Mr Vaughan said Mr King’s previous columns were being put through plagiarism-detection software. “It is not practical for a newspaper to run every article through such software prior to publication, and there is a huge element of trust involved with freelance contributors.”

Interestingly APCO also makes much of the “trust” their clients have in them. I wonder what the clients being served by Steven King’s “cut and paste” methods may think?

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Posted in Behaviour, Ethics, Media | 1 Comment »

Håkan Juholt exhibits either greed or ignorance (or possibly both)

October 8, 2011

Håkan Juholt, the relatively new leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, is in deep trouble.

He became leader of the party following an old fashioned “coup” in March this year  – reminiscent of a Soviet style of leadership change which did not bode well for the “renewal” of the party.

S-ledaren Håkan Juholt försäkrade vid fredagsförmiddagens presskonferens att han inte avsiktligt brutit mot reglerna när det gäller hyresbidrag från riksdagen.

Håkan Juholt: FOTO SCANPIX via SvD

 

It now seems that back in 2007 he moved into his girl-friend’s apartment in Stockholm and since then has been claiming the entire rental of the apartment as his “temporary” residence in the capital. Apparently he should not have been claiming more than half the rental. (By the rules, if he had evicted his girl-friend and was the sole occupant he would have been perfectly entitled to his claim!).

In any event his exaggerated claims have totalled some 160,000 kronor (about $23,000) that he was not entitled to. Yesterday he called a press conference and apologised excusing his behaviour on “not being aware of the rules”. He paid back the money yesterday. His acknowledgement of his “ignorance of the rules” is being received with some incredulity since an “internal audit” within the Social Democrats had apparently identified the problem back in 2009. The Parliamentary Finance Office pointed out the non-compliance a month ago when Juholt applied for an increase in his compensation because the rent had increased. That he kept silent for a month and only decided to apologise and pay the money back after the Aftonbladet newspaper had revealed the scandal has not added to his crediblity.

The extra payment he claimed has amounted to about 3,500 kronor per month and considering that his monthly salary is 144,000 kronor (about $21,000), the impression he has created is one of a greedy little man looking for every kronor he can squeeze out of the system.

Of course he is not the first – and is certainly not the last – Swedish politician caught with his hand in the till. Many have distinguished themselves by jumping housing queues and “purchasing” rental accommodation with very lucrative results. Swedish politicians are also known – both at the national and at the local level – for blatantly arranging the rules to ensure their financial well-being even after they have left office. Their defence thereafter has always been that they are “just following the rules” but they don’t usually mention that they made the rules themselves.

Swedish politicians like most of their European counterparts are extremely moralistic about the behaviour of others but are remarkably hypocritical when it comes to their own behaviour. Their own sense of ethics leaves a lot to be desired.

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Posted in Behaviour, Ethics, European Union, Politics, Sweden | 3 Comments »

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