Dear Colleagues -
Let me defend David Sainsbury a little: he received his peerage ages before the current 'scandal' over sale of peerages.
However, it is true that he is a (the?) major individual financial supporter of the Labour Party.
His resignation for personal reasons *may* have been to avoid any enquiry into his affairs but in fact the enquiry can happen whether he is in office or not.
Overall he has increased the budget for government-funded science / research in UK considerably and has indeed had influence on government policy. Unfortunately his views on OA have been contrary to almost all MPs in his party and almost all researchers in UK.
K
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-----Original Message-----
From: American Scientist Open Access Forum [mailto:AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM_at_LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG] On Behalf Of Tim Brody
Sent: 14 November 2006 14:51
To: AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM_at_LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG
Subject: Re: Lord Sainsbury on the RCUK OA Proposal: Drubbing Peter to Pox Paul
Leslie Carr wrote:
> On 14 Nov 2006, at 13:03, Tim Brody wrote:
>
>> Sainsbury represents the commercial interest through the purchase of
>> influence:
> **allegedly**. You are making a criminal accusation there! Anyone
> familiar with the British libel laws?
>
> Scotland Yard are investigating claims laws made in 1925 banning the
> sale of honours have been broken by political parties giving peerages
> in return for donations and loans. All concern in the inquiry deny
> wrongdoing. Nobody has been charged. Lord Sainsbury is one of a number
> of MPs who have been interviewed by police.
Sorry, I was drawing from this article (perhaps my phrasing should be more careful):
But Tory vice chairman Andrew Lansley said: "The scale of Lord Sainsbury's funding of the Labour Party would not be a problem were it not for the fact that he wishes to have influence over Labour Party policy and the policy of the government."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/441690.stm
Cheers,
Tim.
Received on Mon Nov 20 2006 - 10:32:01 GMT