Mark Adams (Lobbyist)

Mark Adams is a political consultant and lobbyist. With Robert Durward, Adams is a co-founder of the Scientific Alliance. He is also the founder of the PR firm Foresight Communications, which helped launch the Scientific Alliance.

Adams joined Lansons Communications as a Board Director in November 2010, following the acquisition of Foresight Consulting. In December 2011 he quit his position as acting head of public affairs 'to launch a campaign for higher professional standards in lobbying'. This came a week after Adams made an official complaint with the PRCA over the conduct of Bell Pottinger Public Affairs after a sting by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

Biography

The following is Mark Adams's biography from the Foresight Communications website:

Foresight Communications was founded by Mark Adams in January 2001. Mark has extensive experience of Government and consultancy. From January 1992 until December 1997 he worked at the heart of Government, serving as Private Secretary to two Prime Ministers, John Major and Tony Blair. Since then, Mark has worked as a Director at two consultancies, with a wide range of client experience. From June 1984 until December 1991, Mark worked at the then Department of Employment. He graduated in Economics from Cambridge University and holds an MSc in Economics and Econometrics. Mark is a Board Director at the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry with responsibility for policy and a member of the Chamber's Council. In addition, Mark is a member of the Management Committee of the industry's self-regulatory body, the Association of Professional Political Consultants. He is the most senior former civil servant in public affairs consultancy.

Climate change hall of shame

The following is a biography of Adams from the climate change lobbying website, Rising Tide:

Mark Adams is a former Private Secretary to John Major and Tony Blair who left to set up a career as a lobbyist, public relations consultant and denier of climate change. In 2000 Adams set up a web site (http://www,scientific-alliance.com) to "use scientific fact to counter scare-mongering by the so-called green lobby". The site quotes the usual tiny handful of deniers and links to the US right-wing anti-environmental think tanks (Cato Institute, George C Marshall Institute described as having a "rigorous unbiased analysis"). The organisation purporting to be behind the website, the Scientific Alliance, does not involve any scientists or indeed exist in any formal sense. It is a public relations vehicle modeled on the US think tanks based out of Adam's Westminster office and created by Robert Durward, the director of the anti-environmentalist lobby group, the British Aggregates Association.

Affiliations

• Deputy Chairman of the Board of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Chairman of the housing association, Charlton Triangle Homes