"In April, Professor Sir David King, who retired from his post as the government's chief scientific adviser in December, became a consultant on an undisclosed salary for UBS bank.

Sir David went beyond his remit to support the stepping up nuclear power generation, his apparently authoritative endorsement duly bolstering the government's rigged case for more nuclear build.

UBS has lost $40bn in the credit crunch but can still afford a man with the right contacts. UBS also, as it happens, has a burgeoning interest in the nuclear business and advises Business Secretary John Hutton on "commercial and financial aspects of the strong and growing interest in nuclear" and on the sale of partly taxpayer‑owned British Energy. Its long‑time investment banking clients include German energy giant RWE, which is eagerly eyeing up the British nuclear scene."

From Private Eye No. 1210 16-29 May 2008. p9 and The Guardian, Friday April 11 2008 (www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/apr/11)

Junior Energy Ministers (incomplete)

Richard Caborn Jul 1999 - Jun 2000

Brian Wilson 2001 - 2003

Malcolm Wicks 2005-2006

Links are to nuclearspin.org

Richard Caborn - Minister for Trade (Jul 1999 - Jun 2000)

"11 March 2008

2. Remunerated employment, office, profession etc

Consultant to AMEC; construction in the nuclear industry. (£70,001-£75,000)"

From Extracts from Register of Members' Interests in www.theyworkforyou.com

Jack Cunningham (now Lord Cunningham of Felling)

For more information, go to: www.nuclearspin.org

"Initially Lord Cunningham was employed through the lobbying firm Sovereign Strategy, run by former Labour MEP Alan Donnelly, but since September 2007 he has been paid through his own company, Brinkburn Associates.

His work mainly involved giving advice on a range of issues affecting the City, including proposed laws, as well as helping to liaise with ministers, the spokesman added.

"Occasionally he might assist us in contacting somebody he happens to know, in a particular minister's office, and explain that we were having difficulty arranging a meeting," he said.

Lord Cunningham left the government in 1999 and was made a life peer in 2005 after stepping down as the Labour MP for the Copeland constituency in Cumbria.

Since then he has carried out consultancy work for a number of organisations, mainly in the nuclear industry.

The register of Lords' interests lists several trips to the US paid for by Sovereign Strategy or an organisation called the Transatlantic Nuclear Energy Forum, which lists him on its website as its honorary legislative chair for Europe.

Lord Cunningham was unavailable for comment about his consultancy work."

From BBC Website (http://news.bbc.co.uk) 14 February 2008

Brian Wilson

"On 26 October 2005, he was appointed non-executive director of AMEC Nuclear Holdings Ltd, the nuclear services arm of AMEC plc."

From www.nuclearspin.org

BNFL funds Unions

"Funding from state-owned British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) paid for airfares, hotels, dinners and "refreshments" for union members from nuclear plants to lobby delegates at Labour and TUC conferences in Brighton last autumn.

BNFL has been accused of using taxpayers' money to create a pro- nuclear "front" organisation, while the trade unionists involved have been attacked by fellow unionists for "getting into bed with the employer".

But this is denied by the nuclear trade unions, who insist that they are "defending our jobs, our livelihoods and our communities" from attack.

Documents obtained by the Sunday Herald reveal that £15,050 was claimed in expenses from BNFL for "Nuklear21 union meetings" in 2005- 06.

Nuklear21 is a campaign group that brings together workers from five trade unions at nuclear plants across the UK to lobby for new reactors.

Included in the expenses was £3,311 for activists to attend the annual Labour and TUC conferences in Brighton in September 2005. There, they were able to lobby ministers, MPs and trade union leaders in support of nuclear power.

Copies of the expense claims filed on behalf of Nuklear21 show that £2,050 was spent on hotels, £343 on air travel from Newcastle and £275.77 on dinners.

The five unions involved in Nuklear21 are GMB, Amicus, Prospect, TGWU and UCATT."

Sunday Herald, Aug 20, 2006

Nuclear lobbying firm funds Labour Party

Lobbying frim Sovereign Strategy began donating money to the Labour party in 2002 and, by 2006, had given at least 14 gifts totalling £77,573. It also helped to contribute towards the cost of refurbishing David Miliband’s constituency headquarters on Tyneside.

Sovereign Strategy, founded by Alan Donnelly, boasts that it offers “pathways to the decision makers in national governments” and represents the Fluor Corporation, one of the world’s biggest nuclear companies.

Donnelly set up (September 2004) the Transatlantic Nuclear Energy Forum (Tanef), which shares the same offices and staff as Sovereign Strategy.
Its “legislative chair” is Jack (Lord) Cunningham, who is paid by Sovereign, and its “industry chair” is John Hopkins, the group president (government), of Fluor.

Adapted from: The nuclear lobbyist plugged into Labour by Robert Winnett and Tracey Boles The Sunday Times May 14, 2006