Lib Dems urge inquiry into Labour's Enron Links
Ros Taylor
The Guardian Monday January 28, 2002
The Liberal Democrats today called for an inquiry into Labour's
links with the bankrupt energy firm Enron and its accountants
Arthur Andersen.
Matthew Taylor, the Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman, this
morning described the government's business links as "pretty
dubious" and claimed that Andersen had produced some "very
questionable reports" backing government policy.
Mr Taylor told Guardian Unlimited Politics that Andersen had
issued "two key reports" last year which supported aspects of
Labour policy. The first, Value for Money Drivers in the Private
Finance Initiative - which was commissioned by the Treasury
and published in January 2000 - concluded that "on the basis of
the public sector's own figures, the PFI... appears to offer
excellent value for money."
The second, Not Just Peanuts, identified Britain, Spain and the
US as the "best performing entrepreneurial environments". Its
findings are in stark contrast to those of a KPMG report
published at the same time, Mr Taylor said.
Andersen's willingness to help the chancellor, Gordon Brown,
plan his windfall tax while Labour were in opposition had been
rewarded by extensive government business, Mr Taylor told BBC
Radio 4's Today programme.
Andersen had previously been barred from undertaking
government work after the accountants failed to stop a US car
manufacturer from extracting millions of pounds over a Belfast
car plant.
"This free work appears to have paid off, because just after the
general election they were brought back into government
business and have been absolutely at the centre of what has
been happening in government since," he said.
He added that Enron's sponsorship of a Labour event had helped
to smooth the way for their takeover of Wessex Water, while a
ban on building gas-fired power stations was lifted after former
Labour employees were taken on to lobby for it.
He added that Lord Wakeham, currently the chairman of the
press complaints commission and a former non-executive
director of Enron, needed to explain his role. Lord Wakeham has
declined to comment. Labour insisted it had never received any
donations from Enron. "It is a matter of public record, both from
our accounts and previous newspaper reports, that Enron
Europe has bought tickets for dinners and sponsored one
event," a party spokesman said. "The last event they attended
was in April 2000."
Tony Blair's spokesman added that Enron representatives had
met ministers from the Department of Trade and Industry,
including Peter Mandelson, Helen Liddell and Stephen Byers,
but denied they had received special treatment.
"We would refute absolutely that there has been any
impropriety," he said.
The change in government policy on gas-fired power stations
had been guided by market demands, he added, and Mr Blair
had never had any official meetings with Enron representatives.
However, the Conservative vice chairman, Tim Collins, supported
the Liberal Democrats' call for an inquiry. "There are certainly
some very interesting coincidences here," he said this
afternoon. "It is exactly a cash-for-access problem, and it is on
a scale which dwarves some of the problems encountered by
past ministers in past administrations."
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