Patrick Jenkin

Biography

Charles Patrick Fleeming Jenkin was born on 7 September 1926. He was educated at Clifton College and Jesus College, Cambridge where he read law. After a stint in the Army, he was called to the Bar Middle Temple in 1952 and practiced as a barrister until 1957. He then held senior positions in several major companies including Andersen Consulting and Friends Provident. [1]

Since 1990, he has acted as an unpaid political consultant to the Thames Estuary Airport Co. Ltd, which is pressing for a new airport on an artificial island in the Thames Estuary. [2]

He was made a life baron in 1987.

Links to the nuclear industry

Jenkin is Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Nuclear Energy (APPGNE), which has very close links to the Nuclear Industry Association. APPGNE’s website is registered by NIA, and administrative support is undertaken by NIA employee Miranda Kirschel. Attendees at recent meetings have included NIA Chief Executive Keith Parker, UKAEA Chief Executive Dipesh Shah and senior figures from BNFL, British Energy, Canadian nuclear firm AECL and global PR company Fleishman-Hillard (which counts NIREX among its clients). [3]

Fleishman-Hillard is no stranger to the workings of industry-dominated All-Party Parliamentary Groups – according to The Times, it provides administrative support to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Identity Fraud on behalf of one of its clients, the shredding machine manufacturer Fellowes. Shortly before Christmas, this Group announced that Christmas cards were a target for fraudsters and should be shredded – generating considerable media coverage. A case study of how Fleishman-Hillard has helped Fellowes describes how the PR firm:

“Created an awareness campaign around the need to destroy personal documents in order to protect against identity theft. A nationwide survey was carried out and endorsed by third parties including the police fraud squad and the National Neighbourhood Watch before targeted sell-ins to national and broadcast media.

The campaign generated more than 70 pieces of coverage, including interviews with CNN, C4 News, Radio 5 Live, and the Evening Standard. There were also news stories in The Observer, the Daily Star, The Mirror, and all key trade and retail media.� [4] [5] [6]

At a meeting of the APPGNE on 23 February 2005, packed with senior nuclear industry figures, there was a discussion of the importance of the Government ‘pre-licensing’ available nuclear reactors designs to ensure that new nuclear power stations can be built quickly. A few months later in the Lords, Jenkin questioned the Government about its policy on pre-licensing. [7]

Jenkin is also a consultant to the Sumitomo Trust and Banking Company Ltd. The giant Sumitomo group owns both the Sumitomo Trust and Banking Company and Sumitomo Metal Mining Company, which is involved in the nuclear industry. Sumitomo was involved in Japan's worst nuclear accident, which occurred at Tokaimura, near Tokyo, on 30 September 1999. Two workers at the plant died when they ignored safety procedures and dumped large quantities of uranium into a tank. The uranium reached critical mass and exploded. Tens of thousands of people in the area were quarantined and checked for radiation. The plant was owned by the JCO company, which was in turn owned by Sumitomo Metal Mining. Sumimoto is also a member of the World Nuclear Association. [8] [9] [10] [11]

Jenkin was a Member of the Council of the Royal Institution of Great Britain (2002-2005) which is a ‘kindred organisation’ of the British Nuclear Energy Society. On 15 June 2005, it hosted a debate about the future of nuclear power at which Ian Fells spoke. At an event in Cambridge on 9 July 2005, the Institution held a ‘debate’ about nuclear power predicated on “an assumption that any policy choice that addresses energy security and climate stability would need to be based on an assessment of a diversity of sources including nuclear�. [12] [13] [14]

In a UKAEA publication dated February 2003, Jenkin was pictured with senior nuclear industry figures at a visit to a nuclear site. [15]