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SNP Pay New Labour to do SNP currency Review


SNP are paying Rupert Murdoch's PR team, which is more of a New Labour RBS Devo Max team, to review SNP currency policy for independent Scotland.

In yesterday's Herald article headed

the article states

"The currency of an independent Scotland proved one of the biggest vulnerabilities of the Yes campaign in the 2014 independence referendum, after the UK Government rejected the SNP’s plan to continue using the pound in a formal currency union.

To refresh her party’s thinking on the issue, Ms Sturgeon last year asked corporate lobbyist Andrew Wilson to look at currency options as head of the SNP’s Growth Commission"

This "corporate lobbyist" Nicola has hired is the man who proposed Devo Max who is in fact an ex SNP MSP.

Contrary to what most people might think, it was not Better Together who proposed fiscal autonomy - better known as Devo Max - but former SNP finance spokesperson, Andrew Wilson - who said in 2000

"It is possible to have fiscal autonomy like the Basque country and other parts of Europe where you raise and spend money in Scotland and then send some money south."

By 2001 Andrew Wilson had persuaded Alex Salmond to back Devo Max - saying this could get Labour and Tories in it with them as the book, Salmond Against the Odds, reveals.

Having secured Labour and Tory and Lib Dem support on Devo Max - Better Together did the cheerleading for Alex Salmond and Andrew Wilson's Devo max plan, with Andrew Wilson writing in the Scotsman in 2014 "we all want currency union to work" - who were "we all" exactly ?

As, in 2013 SNP's Andrew Wilson went into business with Malcolm Robertson, the son of New Labour's George Robertson, together setting up the PR firm "Charlotte Street Partners" - the company Nicola Sturgeon is paying to undertake the .currency policy review for Independent Scotland for SNP.

"In 2014, Malcolm was one of four industry experts asked by the UK Government to review its engagement in Scotland and provide a number of recommendations to the Secretary of State for Scotland."

But the links to Better Together don't end there.

When the company was set up, SNP's Andrew Wilson invited Roland Rudd to be on the board - the brother of Theresa May's current Secretary of State, Amber Rudd.

Links in Wikipedia reveal Peter Mandelson, the architect of New Labour, is godfather to one of Rudd's children with "Rudd campaigning for Mandelson in his Hartlepool constituency in the 2001 general election"

Tony Blair's son Euan was an intern at Rudd's company Finsbury - "Rudd one of the "Four Wise Men" who advised Blair in 2007 on life after leaving office" with Rudd also "linked to Ed Balls and Tessa Jowell of Labour, and Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats", with another of Rudds' friends being Robert Peston - who just weeks ago

"ripped into Nicola Sturgeon over her referendum call, suggesting she was not giving Scotland enough time to make an informed decision"

Charlotte Street Partner's Rudd and Peter Mandelson are on the board of Open Britain together - along with Nick Clegg's official advisor, when he was deputy Prime Minister, Jim Murphy's advisor and Jack Straw's son Will.

Rudd is part of the team encouraging people to campaign to help Labour's only MP in Scotland, Ian Murray to keep his seat and stop SNP winning it as he does not want Brexit.

As well as Roland Rudd being on the board of Charlotte Street Partners with George Robertson's son, he is also on the board of Centre for European Reform with George Robertson - his son's mother in law Baroness Elizabeth Smith was also on the board.

The Centre for European Reform was set up by David Milliband and Nick Butler - sharing an office with some of the most prominent MP's in the Tory Party.. It is funded by big corporations - RBS used to be one of the funders - and is alleged to have links to American and UK intelligence agencies

Centre for European Reform is also linked with PR firm APCO - who partnered with a company George Robertson's son worked for at the time of the New Labour Scottish Lobbygate story in 2009.

Along with a member of Demos think tank (which was said to be central to New Labour's vision for Britain) a host of power brokers from Europe and America are on the board with Robertson and Rudd.

Former director and Trustee of Demos, Mary-Theresa Rainey, joined Rudd on the board of Charlotte Street Partners in February this year.

Until September 2014 she was on the board of the "Thirty Club of London" which the Guardian slates as a secret elite club which attracts "the media's big beasts, including Michael Grade, Lord Puttnam and Andrew Neil."

Royalty attend Thirty Club of London meetings, with Prince William and his wife, it is said, attracting too much media attention when attending one of their meetings - for William to give a speech to the media barons - his PR people did not want to discuss.

The SNP communications director, Kevin Pringle, who was in charge of the failed indepenence referendum - joined Charlotte Street Partners after his new boss, former SNP MSP Andrew Wilson, got the Devo Max he had craved since at least 2000. (Picture Pringle/Sturgeon from Express Newspaper left)

Pringle's Charlotte Street Partners biography reveals he is now also a columnist for Rupert Murdoch's Times in Scotland.

Another of Charlotte Street Partners people is Stuart Taylor, who advised New Labour MSP Cara Hilton - who took the seat from SNP after their MSP Bill Walker stood down.

Taylor also advised Scottish Lib Dem MP Joe Swinson who served as a Minister in Cameron and Clegg's coalition government and he also worked for Rupert Murdoch's Sky News.

The online Scottish investigative journalism website, The Ferret, revealed just weeks ago Rupert Murdoch pays Charlotte Street Partners to be Rupert Murdoch's lobbyists.

Chairman of the Board of Charlotte Street Partners is Angus Grossart, former "vice" chair of RBS and Chairman of the Daily Record - until Alex Salmond appointed him to turn Scotland into a PFI monopoly board to dump £billions more PFI on Scotland by stealth - as Chairman of SNP's new unelected PFI quango "Scottish Futures Trust" in 2008.

Ex "vice" chair of RBS, Grossart, was pedalling porn channels into every home via his media baron pal Rupert Murdoch's Sky - with Rupert Murdoch saying of this former Daily Record Chairman - Grossart is the "puppet master of Scotland".

As well as being ex "vice" chair of RBS, Merchant Banker Grossart was on the board David Murray's collapsed Murray International Holdings Empire for 25 years, which owned Rangers Football Club - stepping down in 2013 just before it all officially started going wrong at Murray International and Rangers - with the death knell for MIH sounded in January 2015.

Just like RBS, where Grossart stepped down in 2005 before the collapse - with Grossart actually just having moved to sue RBS in February this year, attempting to get his fingers in the RBS taxpayer pie before it is privatised after the election? - yet RBS faces fines estimated to be $12 billion for decades of mis-selling in America, some of that time Grossart was the Vice Chair of RBS.

Grossart, a merchant banker in his own right, has funded and still works closely with David Murray, Souter, Gloag and Tom Farmer who all claimed in 2010 they were going to save and expand Airdrie Savings Bank Together - only for this to collapse too in January this year.

And despite Nicola Sturgeon insisting we must all face austerity because of RBS managment actions - it is "puppet master of Scotland" Grossart's Party that is running Scotland via SNP as ex RBS man Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon appoint former RBS people left, right and centre, to the most senior positions and control of policy in their government as well as a host of councillors and MP's and MSP's being ex RBS people - including ex MSP Andrew Wilson who set up Charlotte Street Partners with Grossart

Is this why, yesterday, with Charlotte Street Partners in charge of SNP currency policy review, Nicola Sturgeon stood accused of "currency chaos" as the Herald reported

"NICOLA Sturgeon has said an independent Scotland could ditch the pound after using it as a “starting point” currency before changing to something else.

However in an interview with BBC Radio Scotland, the First Minister failed to identify what the ultimate currency would be after a Yes vote.

She said that would be fully scrutinised “if” Scotland had a second referendum.""

Notice it is now IF, not WHEN, Scotland gets a second referendum!

And what will the myserious future currency be? The American Dollar, the Chinese yuan, the Euro?

All we "know" (for now) is Sturgeon has ruled out the Euro despite the EU preference for member states to join the Euro.

With Sturgeon changing her tune over EU entry too - revealing we likely won't be in the EU after all - more likely to be a phased entry.

Nicola once again doing the hokey kockey and leading everyone a merry dance as now she claims

  • she wants out of the UK but in the £ for a wee while

  • eventually back in the EU but out of the Euro

  • then out of the £ and into some mysterious currency

while Nicola is using SNP members money to pay a team of Better Together Devo Max supporters to decide what SNP's mysterious currency policy should be - one that ensures Better together victory again?

Questions have previously being asked regarding Sturgeon's associations with Charlotte Street Partners after 50 businesses got to have a private dinner with the First Minister of Scotland, hosted by Charlotte Street Partners, where the "guest speakers" were Nicola Sturgeon and James Naughtie, who presents Today on BBC Radio 4.

Charlotte Street partners even produced a brochure of the 2015 event with Nicola, listing all the companies etc who got to have dinner with Nicola which reading like a who's who of bankers and powerful corporate sorts who have got contracts, or seeking law changes from Nicola.

"Director of campaign group Common Weal Robin McAlpine, commenting on the release, said: "It's all very well saying that everything is fine with lobbying in Scotland but when the public hear about wealthy businessmen getting privileged access at secret dinners, that's not how it feels to them. That's why nine out of 10 Scots think that lobbying poses a real risk to democracy.

In November CommonSpace reported on Charlotte Street Partners lobbyists being hired by university bosses to help oppose higher education reform .

Other clients represented by the firm, which recently hired ex-SNP press director Kevin Pringle, include Cluff Natural Resources, First Group, the Green Investment Bank and Abellio."

With the Herald story "SNP Growth Commission Hit By Lobbying Row" report in September 2016 revealing

"NICOLA Sturgeon has been urged to replace the corporate lobbyist chairing the party's new commission on economic policy for an independent Scotland."

"However Wilson’s appointment stunned lobby industry watchers, with one saying it looked like the

“corporate capture of parts of Scotland’s democratic government”.

Especially when the report reveals of Charlotte Street Partners

"However it is not a member of the Association of Professional Political Consultants or Chartered Institute of Public Relations, both of which operate voluntary client registers.

CSP does not volunteer its clients, which means the public would not know if Wilson had conflicts of interest when developing potential government policy."

Despite being asked to drop Charlotte Street Partners (New Labour Devo Max) team it seems the lady is not for turning - determined SNP members money will pay for their "services" to the cause - but which cause is it really - as all this begs the question who really runs SNP and so Scotland - Nicola or Rupert Murdochs PR team?

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