THE recent BBC documentary, The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty, made for compulsive viewing. Accounts of phone hacking at some of Murdoch’s papers came as no surprise. But, as investigative journalist Nick Davies suggested, the real story is the interconnection of the British Establishment. The photo of a doe-eyed Tony Blair gazing admiringly at Sun editor Rebekah Brooks spoke volumes. The guest list at the wedding of Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall doubled as a roll call for the Establishment.
Yet, who or what constitutes the Establishment can be elusive. At one time the common factor would have been the traditional, old money, “who you know” connection. Tory grandee Alan Clark could dismiss Michael Heseltine as an upstart, “who bought all his own furniture”. However, the composition and rationale of the present-day Establishment has evolved into something different.
Personal and social networking comes a poor second to political and financial connections. The modern Establishment consists of mutually supportive interest groups including financiers, accountancy firms, consultants, lobbyists, property developers, newspaper proprietors and politicians. The networking of housing minister Robert Jenrick and property developer and Tory donor Richard Desmond, was a master class in how the Establishment operates. Politicians and civil servants glide effortlessly through revolving doors from Whitehall into company boardrooms. British citizenship is not essential for membership. Russian oligarchs own many of London’s most expensive properties, while thousands of Highland acres are in foreign hands.
Money shouts in the new Establishment and its probity is rarely questioned. For example, the source of the £16,000 forked out by the wife of Putin’s former deputy finance minister to play tennis with Boris Johnson and David Cameron. Even Lloyd George would have baulked at the Prime Minister’s recent, shameless honours list. The Establishment perpetrates a massive con trick on the rest of us. Its members apply their wealth and connections for mutual benefit, further enriching themselves. Some, like the Prime Minister and Nigel Farage, Establishment to their fingertips, have pulled off an even bigger con, mis-selling themselves as anti-establishment figures.
The case for Scottish independence is strengthened by the “you scratch my back” cronyism and self-interest hard wired into the London and Westminster Establishment. But, let’s not be smug; we have our own, multi-faceted Scottish establishment. It might be smaller and less obtrusive, but nonetheless characterised by the same sense of privilege and entitlement. Like a stick of Edinburgh rock, the same names and faces run through Scottish public life and business. If the SNP government wishes to create an egalitarian and open Scotland, it needs to cast its net beyond the ranks of the Caledonian clique.
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