<
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/nov/03/tory-linked-lobbying-firm-agreed-to-help-swing-drc-election-leak-suggests>
"A lobbying firm with deep ties to the Conservative party planned a secretive
campaign to influence elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in
exchange for millions of pounds from a mining company.
Leaked documents suggest the influential firm co-owned by the veteran Tory
strategist Sir Lynton Crosby agreed to help the mining company swing a
presidential election in the central African country.
The files suggest CT Group also worked, under the radar, on a political
influence campaign in Zambia on behalf of mining interests while working on a
campaign to oust the country’s president.
Crosby is credited as the mastermind behind a series of Tory election campaigns
for David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson. In recent years, multiple
former CT Group employees have moved into senior roles at party headquarters
and within government.
The most recent was Mark Fullbrook, who previously ran the lobbying firm with
Crosby and served as Downing Street’s chief of staff until last week.
The disclosures about CT Group’s work in Africa on behalf of corporate clients
came as the party’s new leadership considers whether to retain another longtime
Crosby associate, Isaac Levido, to run its next general election campaign.
The leaked files appear to show how, between its work on Tory election
campaigns, CT Group sought to shape political events in multiple African
countries on behalf of deep-pocketed commercial clients.
According to one document, marked draft, CT Group told representatives of the
Canadian mining firm First Quantum Minerals that both Crosby and Fullbrook
would work on the 2011 campaign against the DRC government.
The documents suggest CT Group stood to gain as much as £1.2m in fees from
First Quantum for what it said would be a seven-month project, with a £1m bonus
available if CT Group met certain targets."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
