[A-List] UK state: Geoffrey Robinson

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Journalists like Paul Foot routinely, and correctly, lambast New Labour for
falling into bed with the likes of Geoffrey Robinson, who personifies much
of what many Old Labour people (in addition to Foot) find so distasteful
about Blair's "Project". Robinson's shady business career has been the
subject of a book by Tom Bower, unauthorised biographer of Robert Maxwell.
Robinson himself was very much involved with Maxwell's dealings, and used
money "earned" from these to part-finance New Labour's rise, including
paying for Gordon Brown's "office" prior to the election victory of May
1997. Robinson also "saved" the New Statesman from closure by getting rid of
editor Steve Platt and installing a much more New Labour friendly collection
of journalists, including the ubiquitous John Lloyd, a former editor himself
(and now "associate editor") before becoming the FT's Moscow correspondent
cheering on Yeltsin's tanks as they sacked the Duma in 1993. Now Lloyd
authors "think" pieces for Demos, the FT, Prospect and other suspiciously
New Labour friendly publications, including the New Statesman.

However Robinson was caught flat-footed when discovered giving dodgy loans
to Peter Mandelson, and both ministers had to resign. Robinson's
difficulties were magnified when the precise details of his financial
affairs began to unravel -- his mysterious continental benefactor, his
offshore trusts, his dealings with Maxwell. His response to this sudden
reversal of fortune was to bite the hand that he had fed, authoring a book
in which he told his side of the story, including his financial support of
New Labour and his betrayal by its apparatus. That was a bit of a damp
squib, if only because there was nothing of real substance beyond what was
already known, hence no heads rolled. However, chances are that Robinson
knew and knows much more than he let on, and is using that knowledge as a
bargaining chip while the authorities and others continue to pursue him. As
with Colin Wallace, one way for the state to sabotage its opponent is to
smear him by discrediting him. Thus arrange to "disappear" Wallace's sky
diving association membership records and thereby make him appear to be a
fantasist (thanks to Paul Foot, however, we discovered that lazy MI5 only
destroyed the records of the British association, and not the International
association). In Robinson's case, how better than to portray the former
Paymaster General as an embittered old soak taken to careering around in his
old Jaguar with a few grams of coke or whatever handy. In this way he can be
deselected as an MP and lose the Parliamentary privilege he enjoys and which
he could use to raise some uncomfortable issues in the manner employed by
Ken Livingstone when the latter asked a battery of pointed questions about
the activities of Airey Neave during the 1970s. Robinson could quite easily
highlight the very strong connections between New Labour and Robert Maxwell,
the subject of an ongoing, occasional A-list series.

Robinson is a much easier target than Wallace, because it is highly unlikely
that Paul Foot and others of a similar ilk will rush to Robinson's defence.
Victimhood may indeed be deserved, but I think in this case there is a lot
to be said for presuming the man innocent and doing our outmost to uncover
whatever dirt Robinson might have on those whose interest it is to bury him.
We need not sympathise with this champagne "socialist" in order to ensure
that the secret state does not dispose of him. It will be interesting to see
how his plight is recorded in the journals of record.

------

Substance is found in Jaguar as police arrest former Labour minister
RAYMOND DUNCAN and HELEN PUTTICK
The Herald, 19 December 2002

POLICE said they had seized a substance from the car of a former Treasury
minister yesterday when he was charged with refusing to take a breath test.

Geoffrey Robinson, the millionaire ex-paymaster-general and friend of the
prime minister, was also charged with driving without insurance and driving
a vehicle not in accordance with his licence.

Police stopped the MP in his Jaguar for driving erratically on the A454 in
Walsall shortly after 6pm on Saturday.

West Midlands police said the 64-year-old former chief executive of Jaguar
Cars, who was remanded on unconditional bail, was charged with failing to
provide a specimen for analysis.

The force added: "A substance was also seized. Mr Robinson's home address
has been searched, nothing of note was found."

The case against Mr Robinson, of Munstead Health Road, Godalming, Surrey,
who was not present in Walsall Magistrates Court for the brief hearing, was
adjourned until January 3.

Rob Perry, a Walsall-based solicitor for the controversial MP, who has been
dogged by a series of sleaze allegations and who last year was suspended
from the House of Commons after breaching its rules, said his client denied
all the charges and had confirmed that the vehicle was fully insured and
that he was in possession of a valid driving licence.

Mr Perry added: "Mr Geoffrey Robinson categorically denies ever having
contact with any banned substance."

The hearing coincided with news that an unidentified man drove along the M8
Glasgow-Edinburgh link while more than six times over the legal drink drive
limit.

He was one of the first people arrested in the initial week of Scotland's
Christmas drink-drive campaign.

------

Troubled fortunes of the man who fell to earth
New Labour ex-minister is never far from controversy

VICKY COLLINS

GEOFFREY Robinson, the disgraced former minister, appeared on the verge of a
return to the UK business scene with the blessing of his former cabinet
colleagues. Yesterday's events could put a stop to such ambitions once and
for all.

Only last month, Mr Robinson, known to be a close ally of Gordon Brown, the
chancellor, emerged as a key behind-the-scenes player in the efforts to save
British Energy, with the national press reporting that he had been recruited
by the government.

He even wrote to Adrian Montague, the new chairman of the energy giant and a
former close colleague at the Treasury, offering to help solve the firm's
problems.

The multi-millionaire is remembered best for his contribution to the
downfall of Peter Mandelson, New Labour's former spin doctor, but there is
little in either his political or business dealings that has not, at some
point, been the subject of scrutiny.

The son of a furniture-maker, Mr Robinson began his career with British
Leyland in the 1970s when the company was suffering from crippling debt. He
quickly rose to prominence, eventually moving to Milan to run Leyland
Innocenti.

He met Joska Bourgeois, a Belgian car importer, many years his senior, who
bequeathed her multi-million-pound fortune to him when she died in 1994.
Much of the money was deposited in off-shore trusts.

By the time Mr Robinson returned to Britain in 1973 he had turned around
Leyland's Italian division and his success led to his appointment as the
managing director of Jaguar.

The respect he had earned was quickly lost, however. His decision personally
to entertain a large number of shop stewards, rumours that he had given some
of them Jaguars on permanent loan, and the loss of a contract for a new
paint shop to an Italian company all contributed to his first fall from
grace. He left with a £50,000 golden handshake.

He then made his first foray into politics, winning the Labour seat of
Coventry North West in 1976.

Five years later, he re-entered the world of business with the creation of
his own engineering company - aided by the gift of a start-up fund from Ms
Bourgeois. That company, later to become TransTec, was to prove a gold mine
for Mr Robinson.

Then enter Robert Maxwell. Both he and Mr Robinson were on the board of
Hollis Group, an engineering company that Maxwell eventually sold for £115m
to a management buyout led by Mr Robinson.

But Maxwell had to buy it back when Hollis went wrong. Mr Robinson later
received criticism for failure to disclose his directorship or the £200,000
payment he received from Maxwell while at Hollis. He still denies receipt of
the sum.

Meanwhile, the lifelong Labour supporter went from spokesman on science to
regional affairs, and then trade and industry.

The Maxwell/Robinson relationship continued with a reverse takeover of
Central & Sheerwood in 1991, allowing Mr Robinson to float TransTec - which
earned him millions.

He was promoted to the paymaster-general's post in 1997, when Labour was
voted into government, but financial controversies quickly put paid to his
ambitions.

He quit the government a year later, when it was revealed he had lent then
trade secretary Peter Mandelson £373,000 to buy a house. Mr Mandelson, whose
department was investigating Mr Robinson over the affairs of Hollis
Industries, also resigned.

In 2001, the £200,000 payment made while at Hollis was examined by the
parliamentary standards committee, and Mr Robinson was suspended from
parliament for three weeks.

It was the fourth time the standards committee had upheld complaints against
him for not declaring outside interests.

The same year, TransTec collapsed after discovery of ac-counting
irregularities relating to a £13m claim by a customer that had not been
entered in the accounts. TransTec employees are still in dispute about their
pensions.

Since then the furore over Mr Robinson has died down, and he has lain
relatively low, only recently returning to the public arena. The charges
brought against him yesterday will do little to aid his ambitions.