Loukas Christodoulou

A new UK Prime Minister, a new cabinet, but the same corporate connection. Gordon Brown has made it a priority to boost corporations during his times as UK Chancellor of the Exchequer. The former head of the Confederation of British Industry, Digby Jones, is now Minister for Trade and Investment. Behind this high-profile hiring are a slew of other corporate-related figures in the new Brown government

The Securicrats

Brown's appointment of Lord Stevens as international security advisor, and Sir Alan West as Security Minister, seem to be designed to mimic similar US posts dealing with anti-terror operations and homeland security. The Guardian commented that the two appointments were 'likely to ensure that the fight against terrorism will take on a high profile under the new administration. Both Stevens and West are also connected to what we might call the security-industrial complex, which, during the shadowy 'war on terror' is seeing demand for its services booming.

In April 2005 Stevens became a director of LGC Group Holdings, a company, which performs 'forensics science' services for business and state. LGC has hence been a beneficiary of the increasingly wide-spread seizure of suspects' DNA by the UK police. Stevens is also the chair of Quest Ltd, which provides private 'security, investigations and risk management' services. Stevens is also a director of Invicta Capital, an investment and legal services firm which last year ceased funding the British film, when Gordon Brown himself closed a tax loophole that they were using. Stevens' other directorships, as declared on his Register of Interests, are with money transfer company Travelex and the elusive 'Mercer St Consulting' which does not seem to have a website!

Alan West, for his part, is a former Admiral and Sea Lord and currently chairs QinetiQ's Defence Advisory Board. Did someone say 'Qinetiq? Another of Brown's new appointees played a crucial part in privatising the former Defence Evaluation and Research Agency in 2001, as

QinetiQ energy

Shriti Vadera is the new Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for International Development. She spent fourteen years at UBS Warburg., a giant investment bank, heavily involved in privatisation across the globe (in fact, chosen as Privatisation Advisor of the Year in 2002). Vadera was heavily involved in managing the Qinetiq sell off, as an advisor of Gordon Brown. Meanwhile, her old firm, UBS was also involved in advising the government on the Qinetiq sale. The then head of privitisation at UBS was one James Sassoon – who later joinedthe Treasury under Brown, and who now works as 'Representative for Promotion of the City'.

Apart from these UBS veterans, Brown's people also include another investment banker - Jeremy Heywood, who was Managing Director and co-head of Morgan Stanley from December 2003, and is now Brown's head of 'domestic policy and strategy'.