Britain's Power Elites

Britain's Power Elites: The rebirth of the ruling class, by Hywel Williams, published: 31 March 2006, was reviewed by John Campbell in The Independent, 10 April 2006.

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/reviews/article354649.ece

Mrs Thatcher looked after the super-rich and Tony Blair has continued this policy.

According to Campbell:

Hywel Williams's central claim is that we are ruled by a financial elite.

The financial elite have huge salaries and even bigger bonuses.

The financial elite include consultants, accountants and hedge-fund managers.

The financial elite corrupt the politicians.

Campbell writes:

The cosy relationships between ministers and a succession of dodgy financiers reflect a political culture which has sold out to business, most wickedly in the ongoing scandal of PFI deals by which the public is systematically ripped off.

Even party conferences are now sponsored by companies in pursuit of contracts.

The new post-Thatcherite consensus politics has reverted to an 18th-century struggle for patronage and place.

Williams tells us that "social mobility is now lower in Britain than... in any other advanced country with the exception of the USA."

What neither Williams nor Campbell tell us is who are the brains behind the financial elite.

Are we talking about an Anglo-American-Israeli-Chinese-Arab elite?

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March 15, 2006 http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1730892,00.html

Lord Browne, BP's chief executive, was given pay and shares last year and early this year that could be worth more than £19m, it was revealed yesterday.

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Rich list

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3715205.stm

UK'S RICHEST DRUG BARONS

1. Brian Brendan Wright
Business: Drug trafficking
Worth £100+m
2. Michael Tyrrell
Drug trafficking
£100m
3. Curtis Warren
Drug trafficking
£80+m
4. Mickey Green
Drug trafficking
£75m
5. A Liverpool godfather*
Drug trafficking
£55m
6. A London crime family*
Drug trafficking
£50m
7. David Huck
Drug trafficking
£30m
8. Brian Charrington
Drug trafficking
£20+m
9. Walter Douglas
Drug trafficking
£20m
10. Thomas McGraw
Drug trafficking
£14m
* denotes can't be named for legal reasons

UK'S RICHEST FRAUDSTERS

1. John Palmer
Business: Timeshare fraud
Worth: £300m
2. Sheridan Leslie Cox
Boiler room fraud
£280m
3. A Scottish-based team*
VAT fraud
£30m
4. A playboy businessman*
VAT fraud
£15+m
5. An entrepreneur*
Pension fund fraud
£15m
6. A swindler now on the run*
Accounting fraud
£11.85m
7. Monmoham Singh Sandhu
VAT fraud
£6+m
8. A criminal hard-liner from Kent*
VAT fraud
£6m
9. David Withers
VAT fraud
£2.5m
10. Azil Nadir
Fraud
£2m
* denotes can't be named for legal reasons

UK's RICHEST SMUGGLERS

1. Tom 'Slab' Murphy
Business: Cigarette and oil smuggling
Worth: £35-40m
2. The Deo Gang
People smuggling
£37m
3. Martin Potter
Drugs, cigarette and arms smuggling
£25m
4. A London villain*
Alcohol and cigarette smuggling
£17.3m
5. The Daniels family
Cigarette and drug smuggling
£16m
6. Frederick Roberts
Cigarette smuggling
£8+m
7. James Nisbet
Cigarette smuggling
£7m
8. An Essex crook*
Cigarette smuggling
£6m
9. An Irish paramilitary*
Alcohol and fuel smuggling
£4-5m
10. Kashmir Singh Nanan
People smuggling
£4m
* denotes can't be named for legal reasons

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Sunday Times Rich List:

Lakshmi Mittal - £14.8bn
Roman Abramovich £7.5bn
Duke of Westminster - £5.6bn
Hans Rausing -£4.95bn
Philip and Christina Green - £4.85bn
Oleg Deripaska - £4.37bn
Sir Richard Branson - £3bn
Kirsten and Jorn Rausing - £2.75bn
David and Simon Reuben - £2.5bn
Spiro Latsis family- £2.4bn

Source: Sunday Times

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