Stuart Polak
Stuart Polak has been the director of Conservative Friends of Israel since 1989 and is partner in two Westminster based lobbying firms - The Westminster Connection (TWS) and Kesher Strategy, as a result of which he is known as an 'effective behind-the-scenes lobbyist.'[1]He is listed in the Telegraph's "The Right's 100 Most Influential" in 2007[2] and the "Top 100 most influential Right-wingers" 2010,[3] as well as the Jewish Chronicle's "Power 100" in 2008,[1]
According to Polak's Telegraph profile:
- Polak regularly takes leading Conservatives on trips to Israel to educate them. The sceptics invariably return, if not indoctrinated, fully onside. A familiar face around the corridors of the Houses of Parliament, he has done more than most to promote Israel’s case to the right of British politics.[3]
According to his Kesher Strategy bio, Polak has led over 50 delegations of politicians to Israel.[4]
In October 2015, Polak signed a letter in The Guardian along with more than 150 people drawn from the arts and politics. The letter launched Culture for Coexistence, an organisation that opposes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.[5]
'General's for hire' allegations
The Sunday Times reported on Polak's double role as a lobbyist and head of Conservative Friends of Israel in October 2012:
- The two roles of Stuart Polak, director of Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), have emerged as a result of this newspaper’s exposé last Sunday of “generals for hire”. He denies any impropriety. As well as heading CFI, a significant party donor, Polak is a key figure in The Westminster Connection (TWC), a political consultancy. Clients of TWC include Elbit Systems, Israel’s defence electronics giant. Retired Lieutenant General Richard Applegate, Elbit’s British chairman, boasted of his own and TWC’s role in lobbying MPs on behalf of Elbit when he was secretly taped for last week’s report. He claimed that the consultancy could gain access “from the prime minister down”. Applegate was seeking an increase in British spending on helicopter safety, one of Elbit's specialisms.[6]
Affiliations
- Conservative Friends of Israel - Director, (1989 - )[7][1]
- Kesher Strategy - Partner
- The Westminster Connection - Partner[4]
- Jardine Lloyd Thompson, Insurance Brokers - Senior consultant
- Ladbrokes plc - consultant
- Marsh MacLennan - consultant
- Rotch Property Group - consultant
Contact
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000116791365
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Jewish Chronicle, "The JC Power 100: Numbers 81 - 90", Jewish Chronicle, 5 September 2008, accessed on 16 December 2010
- ↑ Telegraph, "The Right's 100 Most Influential: 50-26", Telegraph, 2 October 2007
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Telegraph, "Top 100 most influential Right-wingers: 100-76", Telegraph, 3 October 2010
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kesher Strategy LLP, ben-tovim.com, accessed 14 October 2012.
- ↑ Harriet Sherwood, 'Star authors call for Israeli-Palestinian dialogue rather than boycotts', The Guardian, 22 October 2015, accessed 23 October 2015
- ↑ Insight Double role of a top Tory lobbyist: The head of Conservative Friends of Israel also represents an arms firm Sunday Times, 21 October 2012 accessed 28 October 2012
- ↑ CFI, "About CFI", Conservative Friends of Israel, accessed on 15 December 2010
