Creative Industries Task Force

The Creative Industries Task Force brought together many of New Labour's favourites into the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. The main Task Force is dominated by donors to the Labour Party and personal friends of Government ministers.

• Lord Waheed Alli Multi-millionaire founder of Planet 24 Television. Now Managing Director of Production at Carlton Television.
• Richard Branson, Tony Blair's favourite beardie millionaire,
• Robert Devereux, Branson's brother-in-law, has a stake in Virgin and property worth £35 million.
• Janice Hughes is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Spectrum Stategy Consultants, an Internet and Communications consultancy, and Chair of SVM (a venture capital fund).
• Lord Puttnam is the former head of Columbia Pictures, where he made oscar-winning films like Chariots of Fire and the Killing Fields. He is the boss of Enigma Productions, a Director of Anglia Television, a Governor of the London School of Economics and has been appointed as Chair of the General Teaching Council for its first 18 months from September 2000 (although he has no teaching experience).
• Robert Devereaux Richard Branson's brother-in-law. Former Chairman of the Virgin Entertainment Group. He gave £5000 or more to the Labour Party in 1997 and 1998.
• Alan McGee Founder of Creation Records in 1984, gave £20,000 to the Labour Party in March 1999. Creation Records gave £24,838 before the election in 1997.
• Gail Rebuck is the most powerful woman in UK publishing. She is Chair and Chief Executive of the Random House Group, one of the largest publishing companies in the world. Her husband is Philip Gould (of Focus Group fame), one of Tony Blair's most important advisers. Rebuck is a millionaire, and a trustee of New Labour's favourite think-tank, the IPPR.
• Eric Salama Director of WPP, the largest advertising agency in the world. He was paid £259,000 in 1998.
• Paul Smith is the UK's most successful Fashion Designer and Chairman of the Paul Smith international design company, which has an annual turnover of £142 million.

In August 1999, a new sub-section of the Task Force was set up with Robert Devereux as Chair, called the Creative Industries Task Force Inquiry on the Internet.

Resources

• Creative Industries Task Force HANSARD 3 March 1999 → Written Answers (Commons), CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT HC Deb 03 March 1999 vol 326 cc741-5W