It's a story with everything. The dodgy dossier.... 'Kick their ass and grab the gas'.... the revolving door to retirement riches......perhaps the secret service behaving badly. This is fertile soil for nourishing conspiracy theories. This story will run.
While I am grateful for the quote from me, it's a shame that this distinguished journalist quotes me abusing a gerund. That's something I never do. It should read 'their being' but who cares?
Today's Mail
'Dodgy dossier' helper Sir John Scarlett take top Iraq oil job
Last updated at 2:08 AM on 22nd May 2011
Tony Blair's former spy chief has been criticised for taking a job with a multi-national company which has won a lucrative contract to drill for oil in Iraq.
Sir John Scarlett, who helped draw up the so-called ‘dodgy dossier’ which accused Saddam Hussein of possessing weapons of mass destruction which could be deployed within 45 minutes, has been hired by Norwegian firm Statoil as a ‘strategic adviser’.
The 62-year-old former MI6 chief, right, who retired two years ago, was one of the intelligence officials most closely associated with the Allied invasion of Iraq in 2003. He was accused of being unduly influenced by Alastair Campbell, who was then No 10’s director of communications.
The 45-minute claim was one of the key assertions that convinced MPs to take Britain to war. Labour MP Paul Flynn said last night: ‘There is a bad smell about this, worse than oil.
‘If senior officials are involved in a particular area during their professional lives, there should be no chance of working in that same area when they retire. This would avoid any danger of them being distracted by the prospect of retirement riches.’
Norwegian-owned Statoil is one of the world’s largest oil and gas suppliers. It is a leading member of a consortium awarded exploration rights in the vast West Qurna oil field, west of Basra, in December 2009. The field is expected to yield 150,000 barrels of oil a day by 2013, making it one of the most productive in the Middle East.
Despite the controversy over the ‘dodgy dossier’, Sir John was knighted in 2007.
The consortium of which Statoil is a member beat off several other bidders for the Iraqi government contract, including BP.
Statoil declined to say how much Sir John would be paid. A spokesman said: ‘He will be on an advisory board to help us understand the geopolitical context in which we operate.’
The appointment has been approved by the independent Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, which vets jobs taken by senior civil servants after they have left office to ensure there is no conflict of interest.
Nimbies R Us
The King of Hyperbole will lead his anti windmill protesters to the Welsh Assembly next week. It's easier to blame a Labour Assembly than to demonstrate against the Tory-Lib Demo Junta who also enthusiastically support wind power.
He moderated his language this morning on BBC Wales Sunday Supplement. No more talk of the 'total destruction' of Mid Wales but he was appreciative of "off-shore" windmills. Nothing to do with the fact that his Montgomery constituency does not have a coast? He still feels martyred because his patch is being asked to take their share of the essential renewable energy sources that we will need when the nuclear promise fails.
I tried gently to remind him that all parts of Wales must make their contribution. Newport certainly is. We have a new gas powered power station providing electricity for two million people, some windmills and more on the way, a controversial biofuel power station is planned and last week permission was granted for two solar power farms. Although solar power is a silent good neighbour there were 100 objections. Local people will always protest against all new developments.
We have rampant fear-mongering. Anger is being stirred up sometimes irresponsibly. The Severn Barrage plan has probably been fatally damaged by Nimbies. Happily there are small scale alternatives for using our wasted tidal power. Glyn Davies will have his away day from his parliamentary duties next week for his demo. But I hope there will be responsible voices there to balance his chorus of complaint.
If it is not in the remote areas of Mid-Wales, where will the windmills be located? Snowdonia? The Brecon Beacons? The Pembrokeshire / Ceredigion coasts?
There are lobbies against the renewables in my patch. I will listen carefully to all they say. But I will not be making any special pleading to say that we in Newport do not dodge our share for locating renewables.
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