(UK defence minister) Liam Fox resignation exposes Tory links to US radical right (ALEC/Koch)

[alp227]

Source: The Observer

At the heart of the complex web linking Fox and his friend Adam Werritty to a raft of businessmen, lobbyists and US neocons is the former defence secretary's defunct charity, Atlantic Bridge, which was set up with the purported aim of "strengthening the special relationship" but is now mired in controversy.

An Observer investigation reveals that many of those who sat on the Anglo-American charity's board and its executive council, or were employed on its staff, were lobbyists or lawyers with connections to the defence industry and energy interests. Others included powerful businessmen with defence investments and representatives of the gambling industry.

Fox's organisation, which was wound up last year following a critical Charity Commission report into its activities, formed a partnership with an organisation called the American Legislative Exchange Council. The powerful lobbying organisation, which receives funding from pharmaceutical, weapons and oil interests among others, is heavily funded by the Koch Charitable Foundation whose founder, Charles G Koch, is one of the most generous donors to the Tea Party movement in the US. In recent years, the Tea Party has become a potent populist force in American politics, associated with controversial stances on global warming.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/oct/15/liam-fox-resignation-exposes-tories

[Tansy_Gold]

1. I'm shocked, shocked I tell you

[Hydra]

2. "American Legislative Exchange Council"

My god, these people play the same stupid game all over the world! It's even the same people doing it!

[starroute]

5. ALEC is kind of a spin-off of the Heritage Foundation

And the Heritage Foundation has had close ties to extremely conservative European circles from the start.

There is also a lot of US/UK overlap when it comes to climate change deniers, free-enterprise front groups, and similar causes -- and a lot of that is tied in with the Heritage Foundation as well.

[Hubert Flottz]

3. And who says conspiracies don't exist?

Conspirators mostly say that...

[southernyankeebelle]

4. I wouldn't be surprised if this organization is extended to all the

european countries. Koch and friends aren't happy to destroy only our economy now they want to spread their evil all over the world. They love the stress we all are feeling. OWS please stick with it.

[T_i_B]

6. Far from a suprise...

Liam Fox always had a reputation as a very right wing Thatcherite. In the end however it wasn't right wing ideology that did for him but old-fashioned nepotism.