Foulkes attacks Sunday Herald while defending Eversheds connection

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock MSP, one of two remaining candidates running for the position of rector of the University of Edinburgh, has accused the Sunday Herald of conducting a smear campaign against him ahead of this week's vote.

In an interview with The Journal, the MSP and peer alleges that the source of a complaint to the Scottish Parliament standards commissioner regarding Lord Foulkes’ £36,000-a-year consulting deal with law firm Eversheds LLP—quoted in the Herald as an unnamed “Scottish academic”—is in fact a political action group. Lord Foulkes has since contacted the Press Complaints Commission regarding the article, which formed the basis of a front-page feature in the University of Edinburgh's The Student newspaper on 3 February.

Lord Foulkes has also implicated rival rectorial candidate Iain Macwhirter in the matter saying: “Isn’t it a coincidence that the complaint was made the day before the Herald article... and who is it that writes for the Sunday Herald?”

Iain Macwhirter helped found the Sunday Herald in 1999, and is currently retained as a columnist.

The rectorial candidate also defended his connection with the global law firm Eversheds and distanced himself from the wave of corruption scandals now engulfing the House of Lords: “Eversheds is one of the most respected law firms in the UK, with a huge presence across Britain and overseas,” Lords Foulkes told The Journal.

“Someone has to defend the murderers,” he added. Eversheds counts one of the world’s worst polluters, and a major producer of security surveillance technology amongst its most important customers. Moreover, the firm has been accused of threatening student activists who have spoken out against its clients in the higher education sector, one of its major areas of activity.

The candidate explained that he had employed as an “advisor” by Eversheds for four years.

For the past three years, Lords Foulkes has been paid £36,000 yearly by Eversheds for 36 days work per annum. Prior to this, he acted as an unpaid advisor for one year. Lord Foulkes’ role involves introducing Eversheds clients to parliamentarians and committee chairs, conducting tours of Westminster, and advising the company on the effect of legislation on their strategic planning.

“Someone needs to help them [Eversheds’ clients] learn how the system in this country works,” said the rectorial candidate, who is a Labour Party MSP for the Lothians region.

Lord Foulkes has come under fire for his engagement as a consultant with Eversheds, with public attention focused on the "cash-for-laws" scandal swirling around the House of Lords. Four Labour peers stand accused of putting their legislative powers up for sale, following a Sunday Times investigation which culminated in incriminating video and audio recordings being publicly released.

The Labour peer is one of the few in the House of Lords who have voluntarily disclosed his paid committments to external interests, placing them on the official House of Lords register. Asked to comment on the allegation faced by his colleagues, Lord Foulkes declined to condemn his fellow Labour peers, and sought to make plain the difference between their actions and his own.

“I wouldn’t want to comment on the allegations levelled against the four peers in question. I think Baroness Royle [the Labour leader of the House of Lords] has acted in an entirely correct way in setting up an inquiry.”

“They are accused of being willing to take money to table amendments,” Lord Foulkes said.

“Eversheds have never asked me to even ask a question in the House of Lords, let alone table an amendment – something which I wouldn’t do in any case.

“In America, no one would bat an eye,” Lord Foulkes said of the wider issue of corporate interventions in the legislative process. “Certain self righteous people in the media with a vested interest—political interest—have made an issue out of this.

“The Sunday Times is a well-known right wing Tory newspaper,” the peer added. “What they did was unethical; you aren’t supposed to record someone without their consent – though that’s no excuse for any wrongdoing.”

While paid consultancy work is permitted to members of the House of Lords, it is forbidden to members of the Scottish Parliament, where Lord Foulkes has served since 2007. The rectorial candidate insisted that his two roles were separate and distinct, presented no conflict of interest.

“I have told Eversheds in no uncertain terms that I cannot do work for them or their clients in Holyrood. They are two different parliaments,” Lord Foulkes said. Despite an extensive presence across the rest of Britain, Eversheds LLP currently has no offices in Scotland.

In 2008, a complaint was submitted to the Scottish Parliament standards commissioner, Dr Jim Dyer, by SNP activist Andrew Harlick, alleging Lord Foulkes was improperly accepting funds from a commercial interest to perform consulting work at Holyrood.
No investigation was launched, as it was deemed there was insufficient evidence.

The most recent complaint, and the subject of the Sunday Herald’s article, is likely to be similarly dismissed, as cases submitted by e-mail are inadmissible.

The Sunday Herald nonetheless chose to allege that Lord Foulkes was “under investigation,” and failed to give the rectoral candidate the right of reply, prompting the complaint to the Press Complaints Commission. Foulkes' team have also pressed The Student for a retraction after they published a similar story.

Futhermore, Lord Foulkes’ campaign has taken issue with the Sunday Herald’s assertion that the source of the appeal to the parliamentary standards comissioner was a “Scottish academic"; Lord Foulkes insists that its souce was an English political action group called SpinWatch. However, two Scottish academics—William Dinan and David Miller, both of the University of Strathclyde—sit on the four-person board of SpinWatch.

When contacted by The Journal, the authors of the Sunday Herald piece refused to confirm or deny the involvement of SpinWatch in the complaint.