Reform? ‘Independent’ think tanks and the narrative.

Fascinating what one will read in the Irish Times these days. Take a report, credited to Reuters, arguing ‘Ten years of austerity’ for Britain according to UK based think tank Reform.

It continues:

Britain needs 10 years of austerity to resolve its economic problems, independent think-tank Reform has said.

And:

The London-based think-tank questioned the plans of the coalition to restore growth by creating a building boom, and urged Chancellor George Osborne to stick to his spending cuts, the Daily Telegraph reported.

“Slow growth is inevitable given the levels of debt in the economy,” Reform said.

“Even under the best economic scenario, the programme of austerity should be at least a 10-year project with the first parliamentary term achieving deficit reduction and the second consolidating the gains.”

Reform, variously described as ‘independent’ and ‘non-party’, whose goal is described as ‘aiming to set out a better way to deliver public services and economic prosperity’, does indeed point to this unhappy prospect.

But the thought struck me, as it so often does these days, who precisely is Reform?

A quick glance at their wiki page reveals it a range of unlovable figures involved from the frankly bizarre Frank ‘I always call her Mrs. T when I see her’ Field of Labour and a brace of Tory and near-Tory worthies.

Here they are:

Reform’s Advisory Board includes Jeremy Browne MP, Rt Hon Frank Field MP, Sir Christopher Gent (former CEO of Vodafone), Oliver Pawle (Vice Chairman of UBS Investment Bank), Sir Steve Robson (former second Permanent Secretary at HM Treasury), Derek Scott (Economic Consultant to KPMG and Deputy Chairman of Open Europe), and Jeremy Sillem (formerly Chairman of Bear Stearns International). Consultant Directors are Rupert Darwell, Professor Nick Bosanquet (Professor of Health Policy at Imperial College, London) and Nicholas Boys Smith, author of their report on welfare reform.

Reform’s Advisory Council includes people such as Patrick Minford, Ruth Lea, Tim Congdon, Karol Sikora and Chris Woodhead.[11]

And those who founded it…

Nick Herbert (now a Conservative MP) and Andrew Haldenby (former head of the Political Section in the Conservative Research Department).

And the description on wiki?

Reform is a British centre-right, liberal, think tank[1][2] based in London, whose declared mission is to set out a better way to deliver public services and economic prosperity via private sector involvement and market de-regulation.

Though, given the above one would have to laugh:

Reform describes itself as independent and non-partisan.

So yes, quite quite independent then, if by independent one means in lock-step to the Tory part of the neo-liberal project.