LORD SAINSBURY SUCCESSOR ANOTHER INDUSTRY CRONY

As Lord Sainsbury's seven year tenure as Science Minister comes to an end GM Watch looks at the man tipped to be his successor

Those who thought that Tony Blair could never outdo his choice of an unelected biotech investor and food industrialist as his Science Minister will be reassured to know that the man tipped to be Lord Sainsbury's successor is Lord Drayson, the former head of the BioIndustry Association (Motto: 'Promoting UK Biotechnology').

Just as the Sainsbury-Blair relationship has brought allegations of corruption and cronyism, the Drayson-Blair relationship has also been mired in accusations of sleaze. In September 1997 Sainsbury gave Labour its biggest ever single donation. On October 3 1997 he was made a life peer by Blair and a year later Minister for Science. The former head of the BioIndustry Association, Paul Drayson, is also a Labour Party donor, and has also been given a peerage by Blair in highly controversial circumstances.

The controversy began when Drayson, previously an admirer of Mrs Thatcher, made a substantial donation to Labour while the government was deciding who should be awarded a smallpox vaccine contract. Drayson gave a further donation of half a million pounds to Labour just six weeks after the PM made him Lord Drayson. Controversially, the Blair government awarded Drayson's company, PowderJect, the smallpox vaccine contract without any competition.

It is said that after meetings between Drayson's BioIndustry Association and a Treasury minister, Blair's Chancellor, Gordon Brown, uncharacteristically approved a tax reform which would save Drayson's company an immediate £2m on its tax bill. After selling his company for a very considerable profit, Lord Drayson described himself as 'a very successful guy through my own hard work'.

Drayson's company, while he still headed it, was a financial supporter of the pro-GM Science Media Centre – a pet project of Lord Sainsbury's. PowderJect's support for the SMC dried up following Drayson's departure. Drayson has also served on a working party of the controversial pro-GM lobby group 'Sense About Science'.

While Drayson was the head of the BioIndustry Association, it proposed sweeping new restrictions on the right to protest. The introduction of such legislation would make it difficult to legally conduct a boycott or protest against a corporation. In explaining the reason for the legislation, Drayson said his vision was for the UK to be the life sciences hub of Europe, and the bridge between the Europe and the States.

Article reproduced from www.gmwatch.org

'Sainsbury to give Labour GBP2m as unions hold back', The Sunday Times , January 23, 2005, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1452259,00.html

'Vaccine-row donor gave Labour GBP500,000', The Guardian , August 24, 2004, http://politics.guardian.co.uk/funding/story/0,11893,1289822,00.html

'How a Thatcher Fan Became a Tony Crony and Made a Fortune', Daily Mail, June 30, 2004 http://www.tylerpaper.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12167438&BRD=1994&PAG=740&dept_id=226965&rfi=6

'members of the working party' listed on http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/peerreview/

'Biotechs target activists', The Guardian , April 27, 2001, http://www.connectotel.com/gmfood/gu270401.txt