"A Labour donor made a vast personal fortune on the back of a £20million handout of taxpayers' money, an inquiry has found.
Lord Drayson had threatened to pull his PowderJect company out of Britain unless it was given public cash.
In 2003 the vaccine manufacturer was offered the £20million to build a factory by a government-run regional development board.
Just two months later he sold the subsidised company to its U.S. rival Chiron, landing a profit for himself and his family estimated at £80million.
He is now a science minister and, following last week's reshuffle, also a defence minister attending Cabinet meetings. The affair raises disturbing questions over Labour's burgeoning quango network and the way it handles large sums of public money in deep secrecy."
The key phrases in the article are these:
"An official report on the PowderJect deal, which the North West RDA commissioned but unsurprisingly decided not to publish, finds that the takeover which made Lord Drayson's fortune was 'significantly influenced' by the handout from the quango.
It adds that the grant produced a less-than- expected return for the public.
The controversial peer's dealings with Downing Street, Whitehall and the Labour Party have been under scrutiny since when, as Dr Paul Drayson, he made donations totalling £100,000 to Labour funds during 2001 and 2002.
Shortly afterwards PowderJect was handed a £32.5million Government contract to supply smallpox vaccine.
Made a peer by Tony Blair in 2004, Lord Drayson joined the Government the following year and became Gordon Brown's science minister last October. "
"However no research lab was built. The report says it is unlikely that the facility will ever materialise and that future state development contracts should ensure companies are held to their commitments."
and of course "Lord Drayson declined to comment."
No comments:
Post a Comment