Tesco Plc: Influence / Lobbying - Revision history

Melissa Jones: /* Public relations */ staffer from BoJo joins Tesco

2014-03-24T01:27:28Z

Public relations: staffer from BoJo joins Tesco

Melissa Jones: /* Revolving doors */

2014-03-24T01:09:40Z

Revolving doors

Melissa Jones at 00:59, 24 March 2014

2014-03-24T00:59:46Z

Melissa Jones: old page needs cleanup/updating

2014-03-24T00:58:32Z

old page needs cleanup/updating

Melissa Jones: /* Revolving doors */

2012-01-16T11:23:58Z

Revolving doors

Lynn Hill: /* Public relations */

2008-05-06T16:42:26Z

Public relations

David: /* Influencing Government */

2007-07-29T17:53:57Z

Influencing Government

David: /* Lobby Groups */

2007-07-29T17:52:52Z

Lobby Groups

David: /* Influencing Government */

2007-07-29T17:50:22Z

Influencing Government

David at 17:49, 29 July 2007

2007-07-29T17:49:19Z

Show changes

@@ Line 64: / Line 64: @@
 Terry Leahy is also on the Advisory Board of influencial policy think-tank, [[Demos]].{{ref|29}}
-===Public relations===
+===Public relations and lobbying===
+====External====
 Tesco uses a range of Public Relations firms including:
@@ Line 72: / Line 72: @@
 *[[CHA]], the workplace communications consultancy;
 *[[Good Relations]];{{ref|30}}
-*[[GGK Public Relations]] (Poland);{{ref|31}}
+*[[GGK Public Relations]] (Poland){{ref|31}}
 *[[The Maitland Consultancy]]
 *[[Lawson Lucas Mendelsohn]] (LLM){{ref|32}}
 Tesco is also listed as a client of Edinburgh based [[Scott Porter Research and Marketing Ltd]] in 2008<ref>Scott Porter Research and Marketing Ltd [http://www.scottporter.co.uk/clients.htm Clients] Accessed 6th May 2008</ref>
 ===Cause related marketing===

@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 Conservative spokesman on environment, food and rural affairs, [[Peter Ainsworth]], condemned the appointments, telling the Independent on Sunday, 'This reinforces the sense that there is a charmed circle around the Prime Minister which major corporations feel they need to get inside.'
+====Lucy Neville-Rolfe====
 Tesco's Company Secretary and Director of Group Corporate Affairs, [[Lucy Neville-Rolfe]], is a fascinating example of 'revolving doors' between industry and government. At Tesco, her responsibilities include government, EU and competition issues, investor relations, communications, community affairs and corporate affairs policy for the international business in 10 countries. She reports directly to Terry Leahy.

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:59, 24 March 2014
Line 181:		Line 181:

	[[Category:Food and Agriculture Industry]]		[[Category:Food and Agriculture Industry]]
		+	[[Category:Lobbying]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ==Influence==
-What saps our strength are high taxes: excessive regulations; inflexible working practices; and the gold plating of EU directives. All of this undermines British businesses on the home front as they battle in global markets.'
+:What saps our strength are high taxes: excessive regulations; inflexible working practices; and the gold plating of EU directives. All of this undermines British businesses on the home front as they battle in global markets.' ''Sir Terry Leahy''{{ref|1}}
 As the above quote highlights, Tesco has a bit of a problem with national and European regulation, and through lobby groups and close links with government, has sought to loosen ‘restrictive’ regulation.
-==Influencing Government==
+==Influencing government==
 :'Tesco supports the Government of the Day'{{ref|2}}
@@ Line 60: / Line 58: @@
 Tesco is a member of the [[Institute of Grocery Retailers]] (IGD).{{ref|24}} John Longworth is also chair of the IGD Director's Technical Forum.
-Tesco also appears influential within the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Britain's biggest business lobby, with Terry Leahy being invited to address its annual conference in November 2001 and the CBI's Business Summit in June 2004. Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Tesco's Director of Corporate Affairs, sits on the CBI's Europe Committee and accompanied a Foreign Office delegation to the Czech Republic in this capacity.{{ref|25}} In a recent poll of companies, the CBI supported Tesco's claim that a high proportion of absence at work is due to feigned sickness.{{ref|26}}
+Tesco also appears influential within the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Britain's biggest business lobby, with Terry Leahy being invited to address its annual conference in November 2001 and the CBI's Business Summit in June 2004. [[Lucy Neville-Rolfe]], Tesco's Director of Corporate Affairs, sits on the CBI's Europe Committee and accompanied a Foreign Office delegation to the Czech Republic in this capacity.{{ref|25}} In a recent poll of companies, the CBI supported Tesco's claim that a high proportion of absence at work is due to feigned sickness.{{ref|26}}
 Lucy Neville-Rolfe also sits on the UNICE Task Force on Enlargement, UNICE being the Union of Industry and Employers Federations of Europe, of which the [[CBI]] is a member- federation.{{ref|27}} UNICE has been picked out by Corporate Europe Observatory for its lobbying against binding agreements on greenhouse gas emissions,{{ref|28}} which sits somewhat uncomfortably with Tesco's professed concern about the subject. (see Corporate Crimes)
@@ Line 75: / Line 73: @@
 *[[Good Relations]];{{ref|30}}
 *[[GGK Public Relations]] (Poland);{{ref|31}}
-*[[The Maitland Consultancy]].
+*[[The Maitland Consultancy]]
 *[[Lawson Lucas Mendelsohn]] (LLM){{ref|32}}
-Tesco is also listed as a client of Edinburgh based [[Scott Porter Research and Marketing Ltd]] in 2008<ref>Scott Porter Research and Marketing Ltd [http://www.scottporter.co.uk/clients.htm Clients] Accessed 6th May 2008</ref>.
+Tesco is also listed as a client of Edinburgh based [[Scott Porter Research and Marketing Ltd]] in 2008<ref>Scott Porter Research and Marketing Ltd [http://www.scottporter.co.uk/clients.htm Clients] Accessed 6th May 2008</ref>
 ===Cause related marketing===
@@ Line 133: / Line 131: @@
 Tesco has two Lifelong Learning Centres – at Welham Green Distribution Centre in Hertfordshire and Fennylock Distribution centre in Milton Keynes, where employees can sign up for e-learning through [[Learndirect]].
+<references/>
 ==References==

@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 ===Revolving doors===
-Tesco is keen on employing former government officials. In 2001, it paid [[Philip Gould]], one of Tony Blair's most trusted political advisers, to help reorganise its publicity, media and lobbying operation. It also hired David North, the Prime Minister's private secretary and a specialist in rural affairs, to take up a new position as director of government affairs and Corporate Social Responsibility, a post that was introduced as a direct result of Philip Gould's advice. North represented Blair on the Rural Recovery Task Force, set up to rebuild British farming after the foot and mouth crisis. He also helped to run the Cabinet Office's unit to support biotechnology at the height of the GM foods controversy in 1999.{{ref|16}}
+Tesco is keen on employing former government officials. In 2001, it paid [[Philip Gould]], one of Tony Blair's most trusted political advisers, to help reorganise its publicity, media and lobbying operation. It also hired [[David North]], the Prime Minister's private secretary and a specialist in rural affairs, to take up a new position as director of government affairs and Corporate Social Responsibility, a post that was introduced as a direct result of Philip Gould's advice. North represented Blair on the Rural Recovery Task Force, set up to rebuild British farming after the foot and mouth crisis. He also helped to run the Cabinet Office's unit to support biotechnology at the height of the GM foods controversy in 1999.{{ref|16}}
 Conservative spokesman on environment, food and rural affairs, [[Peter Ainsworth]], condemned the appointments, telling the Independent on Sunday, 'This reinforces the sense that there is a charmed circle around the Prime Minister which major corporations feel they need to get inside.'

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ==Influencing Government==
-'Tesco supports the Government of the Day'{{ref|2}}
+:'Tesco supports the Government of the Day'{{ref|2}}
-Tesco says it made no political donations during 2003. During the year the group made contributions of £44,713 (2003 - £31,282) in the form of sponsorship for political events: [[Labour Party]] - £14,368; [[Conservative Party]] - £5,502; [[Liberal Democrat Party]] - £6,340; [[Plaid Cymru]] - £1,300; [[Fianna Fáil]] - £1,203; Usdaw (the main union for Tesco employees) - £16,000.{{ref|3}}
+[[Tesco]] says it made no political donations during 2003. During the year the group made contributions of £44,713 (2003 - £31,282) in the form of sponsorship for political events: [[Labour Party]] - £14,368; [[Conservative Party]] - £5,502; [[Liberal Democrat Party]] - £6,340; [[Plaid Cymru]] - £1,300; [[Fianna Fáil]] - £1,203; Usdaw (the main union for Tesco employees) - £16,000.{{ref|3}}
 According to Red Star research, in the late 1990s Tesco executives featured on six government task forces, more than for any single company and far more than the other supermarket chains. These included Terry Leahy, who sat on the Board of Trade's [[Competitiveness Advisory Group]] (although from the DTI website it is unclear whether this still exists in 2004){{ref|4}} and former Tesco Retail director, [[Michael Wemms]], who was a member of the [[New Deal Task Force]].{{ref|5}}

@@ Line 54: / Line 54: @@
 ===Lobby Groups===
-Tesco, along with most other supermarkets, is a member of the [[Freight Transport Association]], 'the lobby group representing the interests of road hauliers …(which) campaigns against restrictions on lorries travelling through residential areas at night, against constraint on the size of lorries and for increases in the speed limit for large lorries on small country roads.'20 In June 2004, Tesco co-signed a letter to the Chancellor calling on him to increase transport spending and 'fund the widening of the most congested parts of our key Trade Routes: the M1, M25, M4, M6, and M62'.{{ref|21}}
+Tesco, along with most other supermarkets, is a member of the [[Freight Transport Association]], 'the lobby group representing the interests of road hauliers …(which) campaigns against restrictions on lorries travelling through residential areas at night, against constraint on the size of lorries and for increases in the speed limit for large lorries on small country roads.'{{ref|20}} In June 2004, Tesco co-signed a letter to the Chancellor calling on him to increase transport spending and 'fund the widening of the most congested parts of our key Trade Routes: the M1, M25, M4, M6, and M62'.{{ref|21}}
 Tesco is a member of the [[British Retail Consortium]] (BRC){{ref|22}} , and regularly attends the BRC summer Parliamentary reception and the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) Summer Parliamentary reception, where guests were given weighty going-home bags courtesy of Tesco and others. [[John Longworth]], group trading, law and technical director of Tesco PLC, sits on several British Retail Consortium policy committees. [[Michael Wemms]], a former Tesco director who went on to become chairman of House of Fraser, is the new chair of the British Retail Consortium.{{ref|23}}
@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 Terry Leahy is also on the Advisory Board of influencial policy think-tank, [[Demos]].{{ref|29}}
 ===Public relations===

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 Tesco gave the Labour Party more than £5,000 in sponsorship in 1997 and 1998. It is the biggest backer of the New Deal scheme{{ref|7}} and has offered 1500 'opportunities' for New Deal applicants.{{ref|8}} Tesco's former Chief Executive [[Ian McLaurin]] sits in the House of Lords, and in 1999 Tony Blair's government launched its first annual report in Kensington Tesco{{ref|9}}.
-Tesco was also a £12m sponsor of the Millennium Dome. It was reported in The Observer at the time{{ref|10}} that lobbying firm, LLM - involved in a campaign on behalf of Tesco to block plans for a tax on shopping centre car parks - had 'suggested that a £12 million Tesco donation to the Millennium Dome was part of a 'quid pro quo deal'—giving its support to a government project in order to endear itself to New Labour. The paper went on to say that there is no suggestion that Tesco made the Dome donation to help it get its way over the car park tax issue. But the plan to impose the tax was dropped from the White Paper on transport—and the terms of the exemption were exactly as [[LLM]]'s [[Ben Lucas]] had suggested. The Sunday Times11 said that the estimated cost to Tesco of the car park tax would have been £40 million.{{ref|12}}
+Tesco was also a £12m sponsor of the Millennium Dome. It was reported in The Observer at the time{{ref|10}} that lobbying firm, LLM - involved in a campaign on behalf of Tesco to block plans for a tax on shopping centre car parks - had 'suggested that a £12 million Tesco donation to the Millennium Dome was part of a 'quid pro quo deal'—giving its support to a government project in order to endear itself to New Labour. The paper went on to say that there is no suggestion that Tesco made the Dome donation to help it get its way over the car park tax issue. But the plan to impose the tax was dropped from the White Paper on transport—and the terms of the exemption were exactly as [[LLM]]'s [[Ben Lucas]] had suggested. The Sunday Times{{ref|11}} said that the estimated cost to Tesco of the car park tax would have been £40 million.{{ref|12}}
 Tesco has had a prominent presence at Labour Party conferences. In 2002, it sponsored the National Reception at the Party conference.{{ref|13}} In 2003, it sponsored the Constituency Delegates' Welcome reception, and co-ran a fringe debate 'Promising the Earth? Food, Farming and Rural Communities': presumably a fascinating 'greenwash' occasion considering the reality of Tesco's total contempt for UK farmers and rural communities. (See section on 'Tesco's dealing with suppliers and farmers'.)