Douglas Trainer

Douglas Trainer was appointed as a special advisor on health to the Scottish Executive by Jack McConnell oin May 2006.

Trainer is a graduate of Strathclyde University, a former president of the National Union of Students, a former lobbyist for Luther Pendragon and a PR advisor to Coca Cola in their attempts to fight the boycott of coke and its products led by students in the UK.

Reactionary influence at NUS

Jo Cardwell, an NUS NEC member, attacked government ministers and Douglas Trainer, the NUS president, for letting the cuts go through. She challenged Trainer to give back the £20,000 that the government spent on his education.

Cardwell called for the government to “kick out the market from education and to encourage students on the basis that they have the ability to learn not the ability to pay.” She won applause by adding: “We are going to have a shoddy dome to represent Britain in the Millennium, we will not have a good education system.”

From the audience Douglas Trainer spoke for abstention on the issue of funding and criticised the protest, describing it as “blackmail”. He attacked both political parties, saying: “You got us in to the Higher Education crisis we are in now. You all made a mess of it as far as we’re concerned.”

In a surprise move Trainer instantly suspended Cardwell from the NUS executive although he is not permitted to do this under the NUS constitution. Cardwell, who is standing for the post of National Secretary at the forthcoming NUS conference said: “This panic move shows how scared the NUS leadership are of United for Free Education. It’s an insult to basic democracy.”

Banning Islamic political groupings

The new leader of the National Union of Students (NUS), Douglas Trainer, has reaffirmed his intention to have Hizb ut-Tahrir and what he calls "other such organisations" banned from university campuses in Britain (see BMMS for October and December 1995; January, February, March and May 1996). He also praised the Campus Watch project, which is a telephone advice service run by the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) and the anti-racist organisation, Searchlight. Claiming that Campus Watch had taken hundreds of phone calls from students who had been verbally abused by far-right groups and Islamist groups, Douglas Trainer said: "It is a massively important project. NUS has a great relationship with the UJS and I am confident that together we can continue with Campus Watch and bring forward new ideas" (Jewish Chronicle, 23.08.96).

Spin for Coca Cola

Mark Thomas notes:

Members of the trade union Amicus turned up in force to oppose the planned ban, handing out leaflets stating that they had "consulted with the workers in Colombia and have been assured by them that they do not support a call for a boycott". Obviously, these people have not spoken to the Colombian trade union Sinaltrainal, which initiated the call for a boycott following the deaths of a number of its members.

Stranger still was the presence of the public relations man Douglas Trainer, seen sitting and chatting with the Amicus bloc. Trainer is a PR man consulted by Coca-Cola (in an advisory capacity, it is keen to stress). So what was a PR man with connections to Coke doing at a War on Want AGM? Was he a member? "Yes," said Trainer. So when did he join? "Thursday." Two days before the AGM.

When advisers to Coca-Cola are joining charities two days before crucial votes that will affect Coke, things appear a tad desperate for the company.

So why all the shenanigans at the War on Want AGM?

Trainer is an ex-president of the National Union of Students. Coke currently faces a major NUS conference vote on the issue of boycotting the company. As Coca-Cola's contract with the student purchasing body NUSL is up for renewal, advocates of a boycott are using the opportunity to force a vote. Has Trainer been asked to steer the company through the choppy waters of the NUS vote? Coca-Cola did not comment on this suggestion. ^[1]

Notes

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3152455.stm

• ^ Mark Thomas - won't give the world a Coke New Statesman, 13th March 2006