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Supplemental statement
I, Ian Bramwell Greer of 19 Catherine Place,
London SW1E 6DX will say as follows:-
1. This statement is supplemental to my statement
dated 27 June 1995.
British Steel
2. In the amended Statement of Claim served
on behalf of my company it is contended that had we continued
to work for British Steel Tinplate IGA would have had an opportunity
of tendering for an account with British Steel. I should explain
that I am a good friend of Lord King the former Chairman of British
Airways, who are a long standing Client of IGA. Lord King introduced
me to the Chairman of British Steel who told me of the enormous
problems being faced by the Steel industry. Lord King suggested
that my company could be of very great assistance to British
Steel and I subsequently met the Chairman and two of the Board
members. IGA put in a tender but this was subsequently rejected.
3. In addition we did a month's work for British
Steel from our Brussels office with which they were very pleased.
Whitbread Plc
4. After the article in The Guardian
I met two people who worked for Wendy Dellar, a former employee
of IGA and Whitbread Plc. I was told that when the Chairman of
Whitbread Plc saw the article in The Guardian he was horrified
and went into a tremendous flap. Wendy Dellar had already confirmed
to me that there was a great deal of concern and unhappiness
in Whitbread about the article. We were re-appointed in Europe
by Whitbread but not re-appointed in the UK even though we had
cut our fee to 50 per cent when we re-tendered for their account
as it involved less work. Our work for Whitbread was of an extremely
high standard and they were very satisfied with us.
5. I also spoke to Peter Jarvis, the Chief Executive
of Whitbread after the article in The Guardian was published
about the time our contract was due to be renewed. I mentioned
the article and he said he was very sorry that this had happened.
6. I am certain in my own mind that but
for the allegations in The Guardian we would have succeeded
on our tender. I would mention that this was the first time we
were invited to tender by Whitbread, that we had halved our fee
(because the job was going to be a monitoring job), that Whitbread
were still employing us in Europe and that they are now employing
someone else.
7. There was absolutely no need for Whitbread
to invite anyone else to tender but for the allegations in The
Guardian because IGA are well known for providing a good
monitoring service. I would suggest that Whitbread continued
to employ us in Brussels because they saw the article as a UK
problem rather than a problem affecting Europe.
Contracts awarded to other lobbying companies
8. The contracts set out in the Statement of
Claim which were awarded to other companies exclude those contracts
for which we could not tender because of a conflict of interest.
The fees for these contracts have been estimated by myself and
Andrew Smith together with our colleagues, directors, Perry Miller
and Robert Macduff.
9. I would say that the industry is worth between
£25 - £30 million per year. Our turnover was running
around £3.7 million and we were aiming towards the £4
million mark. I believe we are the only company to achieve this
turnover in the industry. There is plenty of work about. A new
company named Apco has been set up by three of our former employees.
They had recently held a party for 450 people. The company has
sufficient capital to enable it to operate without making a profit
for two years. They are already turning away business. I would
emphasise that IGA were at the very top of the industry.
10. For the first time ever, the main lobbying
companies have come together to form the Association of Professional
Political Consultants and have submitted lists of Clients. Charles
Miller is the Secretary of this Association. The APPC was commended
by Lord Nolan in his report. The reason why lobbying companies
have agreed to submit lists is because MPs have been complaining
that they were not aware who lobbyists represented. They will
now be supplied with these lists. The main political consultants
have agreed to abide by a code of conduct.
11. As I have said, IGA were at the very
top of the league. There are very few companies whose turnover
are anywhere near ours. These are Westminster Strategy, Westminster
Consortium, GJW, Market Access, Charles Baker, Westminster Communications,
Lowe Bell Political and Public Policy Unit. There are eight companies
in the big league, 20 in the medium league and 20 one man bands.
12. It is fair to say that for the big lobbying
companies business has, over the last five years, been on the
up and up. The industry did suffer as a result of the whole scandal
by which I mean the Nolan committee. The Sunday Times
and most particularly the articles in The Guardian. The
industry has now recovered from this.
13. I have been looking very hard at the future
and wondered, prior to the articles in The Guardian, whether
the lobbying industry was going to carry on, as I was proposing
to turn my company into a company offering more political strategy
than lobbying. The Labour Party are not in favour of lobbyists
or any intermediaries and this was one of the reasons why I felt
that company should move into a different direction.
14. As to our new business I would say that
there has been an enormous trend away from annual contracts and
now companies instruct IGA and other lobbyists to do "project
work". This work is higher paid but of a less duration.
Often these contracts last for only three to six months. IGA still
acts for a number of companies on an annual contract basis however.
15. As to the contracts awarded to other companies
this is probably only the tip of the iceberg. IGA does not publicly
report its Clients and neither do many other lobbying companies.
For example, Westminster Consortium do not feature in our list
although they will have secured new contracts in the last year.
The Press get to find out about these new contracts either from
Press Releases issued by the lobbying companies when they are
awarded new contracts or in cases where the account has been highly
contested by four or five other players.
Loss of opportunity to sell the companies
16. I should make it clear that I have never
at anytime sought bidders for IGA. I have had a number of approaches
from companies to buy IGA from me and I would refer to the documents
retailing the approaches from Mr Sorrell of WPP and from Sir
Tim Bell. WPP approached us when we were a year old but there
was no desire on my part to sell the company and I rejected the
offer. I subsequently had another offer from them. I am now seriously
thinking about selling the company and but for the allegations
in The Guardian believe I would have sold the company
by Christmas 1995. I am 62 years of age and for me the purpose
of having the business was to realise its value upon my retirement.
I have now lost half my staff and the company's turnover and
profit has seriously suffered.
17. When Sir Tim Bell made his offer for my
company I considered it very seriously. It was an attractive
offer as I would remain on the Board and have £2 million
in cash and shares. There were two reasons why I did not accept
the offer at the time. The first was that I could not get assurances
from him on how our team would integrate into Lowe Bell. I wanted
cast iron guarantees from Sir Tim about their future which he
was not in a position to give. Secondly, I had received advice
from my accountant, in writing, that I should work for a further
two years drawing bonuses from the company and then sell the company
for £3 million (not £2 million) upon my retirement.
I did not wish to sell the company prior to my retirement because
I did not want to work for anyone else.
18. I believe I would have sold the company
by Christmas 1995 because of my age and because of the threat
of a Labour government.
19. As to the threat of a Labour government
I felt it would be in the best interests of IGA if I sold the
company because I am overtly Conservative and lobbying work would
necessarily have a down turn in business if the Labour Party
got into power. I expect I would have sold the company and worked
for another 18 months until the general election just to ensure
a smooth transition. By the time of the election Andrew Smith
will be aged 34 and old enough, and experienced enough, in my
view to take over as Chairman.
20. I would be barmy to think that anyone would
be interested in buying the company now. It is worthless.
21. As to the reputation and goodwill of
IGA I can do no better than refer the Court to the article in
The Guardian by David Hencke entitled "The Power
and Prestige of Ian Greer" in which he says, after doing
much preparatory work for the article, that I and my company
enjoy an extremely high reputation with our Clients. I wrote
a book about lobbying in 1985 and regularly appear on radio and
television. IGA was seen as the leader of the industry. I would
say that our reputation is absolutely outstanding and caused a
degree of animosity with our competitors.
22. Many of our Clients have stayed with us
for a considerable amount of time; British Airways have been
with us since 1985, we have acted for Thames Water for five-six
years, we have acted for DHL from day one, we have acted for
Lucas Industries for approximately 5 years, and have acted for
Cadburys for more than five years. Until about two years ago
we only lost a Client very rarely. We would often go for five
years without losing a Client. We have more companies listed
on the FT-SE 100 than anybody else.
23. I am now 62 years of age and have no capital
apart from my house which is worth approximately £½
million together with furnishings and paintings worth £200,000.
I have no other debts and no mortgage. I always envisaged selling
the business and planned to bring my 90-year-old parents to come
and live with me. I cannot do that now. I bought a bungalow for
my parents and pay all their service charges. I am finding this
increasingly difficult. All my plans for the future are now in
a mess. I am now considering bankruptcy and whether or not I
can survive. If I won the case tomorrow, IGA will not be brought
back to where it was before the article was published in The
Guardian on 20 October 1994.
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