Liam Fox resignation exposes Tory links to US radical right

[CHIMO]

David Cameron has been accused of allowing a secret rightwing agenda to flourish at the heart of the Conservative party, as fallout from the resignation of Liam Fox exposed its close links with a US network of lobbyists, climate change deniers and defence hawks.

In a sign that Fox's decision to fall on his sword will not mark the end of the furore engulfing the Tories, both Liberal Democrat and Labour politicians stepped up their demands for the prime minister to explain why several senior members of his cabinet were involved in an Anglo-American organisation apparently at odds with his party's environmental commitments and pledge to defend free healthcare.

At the heart of the complex web linking Fox and his friend Adam Werritty to a raft of businessmen, lobbyists and US neocons is the former defence secretary's defunct charity, Atlantic Bridge, which was set up with the purported aim of "strengthening the special relationship" but is now mired in controversy.

An Observer investigation reveals that many of those who sat on the Anglo-American charity's board and its executive council, or were employed on its staff, were lobbyists or lawyers with connections to the defence industry and energy interests. Others included powerful businessmen with defence investments and representatives of the gambling industry.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/oct/15/liam-fox-resignation-exposes-tories

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1. Recommend

[sabrina 1]

2. I hope they start naming names. The US far right, MIC, and other

organizations, are in every country in the world, influencing elections, propping up rightwing leaders and even bribing elected officials, as in India.

The scandal in India, revealed in the Wikileaks cables, where US money was used to help a chosen candidate win a special election, nearly toppled the Indian Government a few months ago. One elected official asked 'who is running this government, India or Washington DC'?

A small group of International crooks have been running the world. Any doubts as to the US influence on elections elsewhere were removed by the Wikileaks cables, which is why the people of the world are now joining the American people to not just reform their governments, but to completely remove them and start all over again. The corruption is so widespread around the globe, it just can't be fixed.

I am glad that Britain is finding out about the foreign influences on their government. I wondered how Bush was able to get so many leaders around the world to get on board with his illegal wars, especially when their own people were opposed to them.

Today's worldwide Occupytheworld demonstrations are such a hopeful sign that now the people, not just the Corps, have gone Global and maybe together all of them can begin to end this horrible, corrupt era.

[sabrina 1]

3. Looks like some familiar names have been revealed. The Koch Brothers again!

So it's not just the US Government they are trying to control.

At the heart of the complex web linking Fox and his friend Adam Werritty to a raft of businessmen, lobbyists and US neocons is the former defence secretary's defunct charity, Atlantic Bridge, which was set up with the purported aim of "strengthening the special relationship" but is now mired in controversy.

An Observer investigation reveals that many of those who sat on the Anglo-American charity's board and its executive council, or were employed on its staff, were lobbyists or lawyers with connections to the defence industry and energy interests. Others included powerful businessmen with defence investments and representatives of the gambling industry.

Fox's organisation, which was wound up last year following a critical Charity Commission report into its activities, formed a partnership with an organisation called the American Legislative Exchange Council. The powerful lobbying organisation, which receives funding from pharmaceutical, weapons and oil interests among others, is heavily funded by the Koch Charitable Foundation whose founder, Charles G Koch, is one of the most generous donors to the Tea Party movement in the US. In recent years, the Tea Party has become a potent populist force in American politics, associated with controversial stances on global warming.

They are like cockroaches. I really hope these revelations and their failed Economic scams not to mention the fall of the Murdoch Empire and the rising up of people around the Globe, will begin to dismantle this evil cartel before they do any more harm to the world.

No wonder we are involved in so many wars. I don't think our government, Congress OR the WH has any control at all over the affairs of this country. I think it has been taken over by huge Corps and Billionaires and if so, how do we get rid of them?

[drm604]

4. K&R

:kick:

[T_i_B]

5. Not a suprise

Liam Fox always had a reputation as a very right wing Thatcherite. He was also very hawkish on foreign policy and as such you'd expect this sort of thing from Dr Fox. In the end however it wasn't right wing ideology that did for him but old-fashioned nepotism.

[LeftishBrit]

6. Doesn't surprise me, but ugh anyway!

More on the topic:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/16/lessons-atlantic-bridge-questioning

It has been obvious for some time that there is increased collaboration between the British and American right. In the quite recent past, Tories tended to be *pro-American*, regardless of the party of the American president. Maggie 'n Ronnie had a particularly special relationship based on being right-wing; but I don't think that even Maggie went around criticizing American Democrats. As recently as 2008, some Tory-dominated newspapers were reasonably positive about President Obama's election. But in the last couple years, the Daily Telegraph's columnists have been pursuing an agenda not unlike the American Christian Right, and with the same hatred of Obama. Melanie Phillips of the Daily Mail did already hate Obama in 2008 and has got progressively worse about it. And the grassroots Tory website, ConservativeHome recently co-operated in setting up an associated American RW site, 'Conservative Home USA'.

As early as 2005, the former Tory leader and now the Secretary for Work and Pensions, Ian Duncan-Smith co-authored an article on 'Compassionate Conservativism' with RICK SANTORUM - something that I think should have attracted much more negative publicity than it did.