The ‘Right Wing’ Patrick Mercer was an agreeable target for the BBC…they had no problem setting him up for a fall.
The Chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Committee, Tim Yeo, was a different matter altogether….and even now as the BBC reports this latest potential scandal they downplay its significance, miss out ‘evidence’ and in fact actually deny that some of the claims were made despite them being highlighted by other news providers….even the Guardian reports the claims in full:
Tim Yeo denies claims he offered to advise solar energy lobbyists for cash
As pointed out several times on these pages Guido (the Sunday Times video is ‘revealing’ to say the least…the BBC misses out major chunks of it) pretty much nailed Yeo’s potential conflict of interest by highlighting his numerous business interests in renewable and green industries……earning £530,000 from private firms since taking over the committee according to the Sunday Times…and having £585,000 in share options in low carbon companies.
Yeo has been caught in a Sunday Times sting in which the Times claims he was offering to smooth the path of green industry lobbyists by helping them meet the right people, including government figures….being close to “really all the key players in the UK in government’ and ‘able to introduce them to ‘almost everyone you needed to get hold of in this country”.
[Sunday Times is paywalled so here’s the Telegraph’s report]
The ST claim he told them he also advised GB Railfreight on how to present their case before they gave evidence to the ECC committee….he told the Sunday Times ‘lobbyists’ that he could advise them also….as it was a “good way of getting your stuff on the map”.
What many might think is most damning is the claim that he said he could not speak for the lobbyists publicly because “People will say he’s saying this because of his commercial interest…..but….what I say to people in private is another matter altogether.”
The Sunday Times also claims he said he could work one day a month for the lobbyists when the offered a fee of £7,000 per day.
Yeo denies all such accusations and says he was about to email the lobbyists to say he wasn’t prepared to work for them as it was incompatible with his role as chairman of the ECCC….and he denies ‘coaching’ GB Railfreight.
What is interesting is the BBC’s article in which it finally catches up with events having for so long ignored them.
However….the article does all it can to distance Yeo from the accusations and any thought that he might in fact have something to answer for, it asks no difficult questions itself.
For a start there’s the title: ‘Tim Yeo Facing Coaching Claim’
The BBC highlight the claim that he ‘coached’ ‘GB Railfreight’…but that isn’t the main accusation…the other accusations, listed above, don’t get a mention in the BBC’s story.
The bulk of the BBC’s ‘report’ is in fact made up of statements that are supportive of Yeo…and as stated actually misses out the most serious allegations against him.
Here are the BBC’s ‘supportive statements’:
1. “Lobbying – attempting to influence politicians – goes on all the time and is perfectly legitimate,” says BBC political correspondent Chris Mason.
2. Mr Yeo has since said he had not tutored this representative, the managing director of GB Railfreight, about giving evidence.
There is no suggestion GB Railfreight did anything wrong. It has said in a statement that its managing director made the same arguments the company has made regularly.
In the committee hearing, Mr Yeo publicly excused himself from the questioning because of his acknowledged conflict of interest.
3. Mr Yeo said: “I intend to contest these allegations very vigorously indeed.” He denied “absolutely” to the Sunday Times that he had breached the MPs’ Code of Conduct.
4. He also told the paper’s undercover journalists, after they withdrew their offer to work with him, that he was relieved because he’d come to the view that the work was not compatible with his position as an MP and committee chair.
5. Asked about the issue, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said he could not comment on the allegations but told the Murnaghan programme on Sky News that “if you’re obeying the rules, you’ve got nothing much to fear”.
6. Mr Yeo denies this and says he intends to contest all the allegations. The BBC understands Mr Yeo has referred himself to the Parliamentary standards commissioner.
7. Lobbying isn’t illegal. Trying to get MPs to change their mind is all part of politics. Paid advocacy – paying cash for questions in Parliament – is against the rules. But that’s not the allegation here. There’s no suggestion Tim Yeo’s agreed to do anything like that.
Hang on…..‘Paid advocacy – paying cash for questions in Parliament – is against the rules. But that’s not the allegation here. There’s no suggestion Tim Yeo’s agreed to do anything like that.’
Really? The Sunday Times says that he was offered £7,000 a day as a fee for him to push for new laws to boost its business……the claim by the Sunday Times is that ‘He told them he could commit to at least one day a month.’
So when the BBC says there is ‘no suggestion’ that he agreed to work for a green energy company that isn’t true…the suggestion is very much there.
Regardless of the truth of the allegations, which Yeo vigorously denies, the BBC is taking sides here before knowing the truth….it plays down his ‘coaching’ and fails to mention altogether the other accusations of a more serious nature.
As for the ‘coaching….he says he excused himself from questioning Railfreight because of the perceived conflict of interest….but then he didn’t need to question Railfreight…because, according to the Sunday Times, he had provided them with the answers..he knew the answers already….not only that he knew that they were the answers most likely to be accepted by the committee. But still…no conflict of interest there..he had ‘excused’ himself.
Rather than investigate and seek to establish the truth it looks like the BBC has already also decided what the answers should be…..Yeo is innocent of all charges.
I imagine anyone from the general public reading the revelations in the Sunday Times might well be astounded and would say that this is potentially an extremely serious breach of trust and have reams of questions to ask…not so the BBC.
‘While it looks as though Yeo is going to fight the allegations, claiming without a hint of irony that he was on the point of writing to the company to tell them that he was uncomfortable working on the basis they’d discussed, the general vibe among the Westminster insiders seems to be that Yeo is toast.’
…whilst the BBC instead of making toast of him ‘butters him up’ instead.
‘conservativehome‘ says:
‘If the allegations are proven, then it is very hard to see how he could continue not only as committee chairman but as an MP.’
So, serious allegations that the BBC doesn’t take seriously…for some reason.
Is the BBC corrupt?
When it comes to covering up for the climate change industry it certainly looks that way.
My thoughts exactly.
Tim Yeo looks a bit like Chris Patten, sounds a bit like Chris Patten and is certainly as arrogant and pompous as Chris Patten. Perhaps he has confused the Beeboids.
At the very least Trougher Yeo looks likely to have to give up the chairmanship of the Select Committee. For years he has abused that position by pushing or defending the alarmist /Warmist case while earning money from special interests linked to the Committee’s work. Maybe another crack in the huge Warmist facade.
there are that many cracks, the whole eco-fascist movement is about to collapse. (or has is collapsed already?)
Even the politicians are beginning to jump ship, climate change isnt even on the agenda for the G8 summit.
the eco-activists at al beeb must be suicidal 🙂
Maybe the BBC are being cagey about the reporting of Yeo’s alleged misbehaviour because they’ve probably invested a chunk of their pension fund in one of his green “businesses”?
Yeo could push for legislation in various ways without specifically asking a question in Parliament, no? As long as he hasn’t done that, specifically, Hawkins is “accurate”, job done.
As Yeo is chairman of the crucial committee I would have thought there must be restrictions on his freedom to lobby apart from asking questions in Parliament. This leaves such a bad smell.
This man has nine lives. Do not write him off yet.
Guido is thinks there’s enough evidence for a conviction under the Bribery Act 2010. fingers crossed
“Tim Yeo agreed to go on Sky’s Murnaghan Show last night and backed out this morning – perhaps he feared further incriminating himself. Guido believes that on the evidence of what Tim Yeo said on film to the Sunday Times he admitted to offences under the Bribery Act 2010. Guido will be writing to Metropolitan Police Commissioner drawing attention to the evidence. When we did the same in the Jim Devine case he was sentenced to 16 months…”
http://order-order.com/2013/06/09/no-show-yeo-incriminated-himself/
MPs and the BBC – they both sicken me in equal measure, and Alan’s post neatly sums up why.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who spotted all the news in this story the BBC were determined not report. Anyone who follows the CAGW scam knows Yeo has form – but even I was genuinely shocked to see the staggering amount he is reported to earn from his ‘green’ industry contacts, if these allegations are at all correct.
Have we found our very own equivalent of ‘do as I say, not as I do’ Al Gore in the hapless Mr Yeo..?
One thing’s for sure: if we have, don’t expect the BBC to tell us.
it always amazing how stupid these lot are not to know that these bbc undercover plods are always out to set them up for the big fall.these mps are supposed to be the cream of this country and educated at are top uniiversitys,you would not think so would you,but dont worry,the standard defence they always come out with when they get caught with there pants down is i have done nothing wrong guv it has all been one big mistale,you could of fooled me mercer and co.
No. Their priority is to try to get the matter investigated on their own terms, hence Yeo’s referral of himself to the Parliamentary Standards Authority, whose report is then voted on by fellow MPs. At the very least, this buys them time, possibly long enough for them to struggle on to the next election when they can step away on their own terms.
Good for Guido in forcing his way past this farce and obliging the police to look into the matter.
BBC News today:-
Front page: 11 stories including Islamic school fire at No. 2, Nelson Mandela at No. 9 and Iain Banks just missing out at No. 11. Not a mention of Yeo.
UK page – nothing.
England page – nothing.
Politics page: At story No. 7 we finally get “MP denies committee coaching claim”, complete with a semi-supportive analysis from Ross Hawking (political correspondent)
Well considering the BBC pension fund is invested in Renewable Energy, prehaps the BBC is in a conflict of interest its self when reporting on green issues…..
Could stand to loose millions when it all collapses.
The BBC are presumably waiting for Mandela to die – after which their full facts version of the Yeo story will be published and nicely buried under an avalanche of eulogies.
This tried and tested method enables the BBC to retrospectively point to “evidence” that they covered a story properly, without ever risking that the majority of the public will hear an “off-message” story that undermines the BBC world-view.
We already know the ultimate response to any complaint over their reporting of Yeo “We’ve investigated and we think on balance that we go this just about right”
I note that Timothy Yeo manages to include the fact that he did his “consultancy work” as he travelled by train-none of that car business with our Tim.
Innocent of hurting the environment, then-and no further questions <Judge Gore!
Case dismissed!…and yet?
Wasn`t it Yeo who was fathering bastards out of wedlock under the Major Era…
Oh dear- black spot now to be conferred by Lord Porritt, Shriver and the other friendly, charming faces of eugenics…the Optimum Population Trust etc.
Oh Lordy-all so hard to call, but seeing that Yeo is on the side of the windmillls (as was Huhne)…I imagine the BBC will be as kind to him as they were to wee Chris and other martyrs of the environmental cause.
Well…"mental" certainly!
Notice the professional attempts to avoid mentioning the “G” word (ie that the journalists were posing as reps of a “green-energy” company), nor the “renewables”. It’s just “energy” company for the Beeb.