The Mandelson scandal reveals a political settlement in which democratic choice is curtailed and the power of markets eclipses the will of voters – only the left can challenge this, writes JON TRICKETT MP
IN JANUARY the Financial Reporting Council — the regulator in charge of corporate governance — said that too many firms are only “paying lip service” to the standards supposed to ensure good management of corporations.
But the government is unlikely to fulfil its regular promises to tighten up these regulations when its big donors seem to play fast and loose with the rules: this month online beauty retailer the Hut Group raised £1.9 billion in the biggest tech-related flotation on the Stock Exchange since 2015.
There are obvious “red flags” over how the firm is managed: Matthew Moulding founded the Hut Group in 2004 selling tax-free CDs online. It has grown into an e-commerce success, selling beauty and other products direct to consumers and providing commerce websites for other companies.
Martin Taylor, the hedge-fund multimillionaire who has poured millions into pushing Labour rightwards, helped finance Lucy Powell’s supposedly dissenting campaign — suggesting her victory was not the ‘soft-left’ rebellion some have claimed, says SOLOMON HUGHES
It is rather strange that Labour continues to give prestigious roles to inappropriate, controversy-mired businessmen who are also major Tory donors. What could Labour possibly be hoping to get out of it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES
SOLOMON HUGHES asks whether Labour ‘engaging with decision-makers’ with scandalous records of fleecing the public is really in our interests



