Social Market Foundation
Transparency Rating: Who Funds You? [1]
Dry, clever, post-Thatcherite thinktank that attempts to combine market economics (aka neo-liberal economics) with social justice.ref
SMF undertakes and commissions original research and writing on a range of public policy issues where understanding both the vitality of markets and the need for social consent can advance debate and help to shape new ideas. It develops ideas that are pro-market but not laissez-faire, setting markets in their social context and recognizing that outside the realm of theory they are underpinned by social consent. Unlike think tanks of the orthodox right, SMF believes in promoting sustainable welfare systems; and unlike think tanks of the established left, its agenda is to make these welfare systems provide better service to consumers through more effective competition and choice.
Articles
- Sept.18.2009: Labour Party Conference Sponsors. Barclays bank sponsor a Social Market Foundation meeting entitled "Labour can bridge the inequality gap". Speakers include disgraced minister Peter Mandelson and the bank's executive Martin Mosley. Analysis, IndyMedia UK.
- Jun.30.2002: Labour face 'cash for access' claims over think-tanks. An Observer reporter posing as a potential donor approached a number of think-tanks with close connections to govt. Tony Blair's favourite, the highly influential Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), boasted to the "potential US donor" of its 'very strong links' with the Department of Trade &Industry. ... "Patricia Hewitt [Trade Secretary] used to be a director of IPPR (and her special adviser Jim Godfrey used to work here too". In an email, IPPR's corporate fund-raiser Clare Rickinson listed recent breakfast meetings for core donors involving Education Minister Estelle Morris, former Transport Minister Stephen Byers and VP of the European Commission Neil Kinnock. The IPPR's core donors include Astra Zeneca, BP, BT, KPMG and Nomura. The last 3 were all backers of the IPPR report which supported the much-criticised Public Private Partnerships - a key plank in New Labour's policy. However, Matthew Taylor, head of IPPR, angrily rejected the claims. The Foreign Policy Centre, whose patron is Tony Blair, also promised the US company potential access to Ministers. The FPC's Rachel Briggs said it had 'very close links with the Foreign Office, Cabinet Office and Home Office'. Another think-tank offering access was the Social Market Foundation. It has been transformed into one of the most Blairite think-tanks, and is now chaired by Labour peer Lord Lipsey (David Lipsey, Baron Lipsey). ... also the Fabian Society. Its 'health policy forum', launched by Health Secretary Alan Milburn, is sponsored by pharmaceutical company Aventis. Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker said: "This is cash for access writ large. It is quite clear to me that Ministers and these organisations are prostituting themselves to gain advantages for the party but are using the smokescreen of a think-tank to avoid detection." Antony Barnett, Solomon Hughes, The Observer.
References
- ^ Transparency Comparison Table. Who Funds You?. Accessed Aug.2018.