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January 11th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda - Former No 10 director of policy was a member of David Cameron’s inner circle
By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:24 PM on 10th January 2012
Adviser: Lobbying company Portland announced it had appointed James O’Shaughnessy
A senior adviser to David Cameron has been accused of breaking rules designed to prevent former government officials from trading on their inside knowledge, it has emerged.
Number 10 insisted today that its former director of policy did comply with rules on
business appointments when he took on work for a lobbying company.
James O’Shaughnessy left Downing Street last
October after four years as a member of Mr Cameron’s inner circle.
And yesterday lobbying firm Portland announced that he had been appointed
its chief policy adviser.
Portland’s clients include the
governments of Russia and Kazakhstan, Google, McDonald’s, Vodafone and
the arms company BAE Systems.
The appointment sparked questions over
rules designed to stop former officials trading on information gained
while they are inside government and access to ministers.
Like other former officials, Mr
O’Shaughnessy is required to inform the Advisory Committee on Business
Appointments of any jobs he plans to accept within two years of leaving
office.
On its website, Acoba states that it
cleared him to work for an independent strategy and research consultancy
advising charitable and corporate organisations, with certain
conditions limiting the kind of work he can carry out.
The former special adviser should wait
three months before accepting any commissions with clients in the
education sector and should seek permission for any such commissions
accepted in the following nine months, said Acoba.
Aide: Until last October, Mr O’Shaughnessy was part of David Cameron’s (pictured) inner circle
Outside the education sector, he ‘should not undertake any work which involves providing advice on the
terms of any bid or contract relating directly to the work of the Prime
Minister’s Office or the Department for Education’.
And for two years after quitting
Number 10 he should not ‘become personally involved in lobbying
government on behalf of his clients’.
While in opposition, Mr Cameron warned
that lobbying was ‘the next big scandal waiting to happen’ and he has
promised new laws to regulate the industry. The Prime Minister’s
official spokesman today said his proposals would be unveiled ‘very
soon’.
The former chairman of the Committee
on Standards in Public Life Sir Alistair Graham described Mr
O’Shaughnessy’s decision to take up a role with Portland as ‘a serious
error of judgment’, telling The Independent: ‘He has been working at the
heart of government and it would be difficult for the committee to know
what conditions to attach to his future employment if it did not know
he was going to work for a lobbying firm.’
But the Cabinet Office today said that
Mr O’Shaughnessy had not breached the rules, because he was not
directly employed by Portland. Instead, the lobbying firm had offered
work to his independent consultancy, which he had accepted.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: ‘James O’Shaughnessy followed the rules. He submitted an application to
the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments to set up an independent
consultancy.
‘The committee advised – and James
accepted the advice – that any commission relating to education should
be subject to a three-month waiting period and for the following nine
months he should seek permission for any commissions he wished to accept
with clients in the education sector.
‘All work through the consultancy
would be subject to a two-year lobbying ban. Mr O’Shaughnessy’s
consultancy’s acceptance of this commission by Portland was in line with
the advice he received from the committee.’
And the Prime Minister’s official
spokesman said: ‘James O’Shaughnessy has followed the rules and the
consultancy that he is undertaking is in line with the advice that he
received from the committee.’
A spokesman for Portland said: ‘We are delighted that James will be providing advice to our company and our clients.
‘We have contracted with James through
his independent consultancy and under the conditions set out in the
original Acoba advice, as the Cabinet Office has confirmed.
‘Of course he, like all people working
for Portland who have left government, will fully comply with the
conditions placed on him.’
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