‘Popular Conservatives’: Do as I Say, Not as I Do

Exclusive: Jacob Rees-Mogg rails against ‘Davos man’, while Liz Truss goes skiing with.. Davos men. Meanwhile former IEA chief teams up with his wife on company behind PopCon

Image: Lewis Goodall/X

Friday’s newsletter was all about the dark money fuelling Liz Truss and the putatively ‘Popular Conservatives’.

The latest Tory splinter group has promised “to restore democratic accountability to Britain”. But already, it seems the so-called PopCons have been somewhat less than transparent.

First off, remember how Jacob Rees-Mogg had been railing against ‘Davos man’ at the Popular Conservatives launch? (Yes, that’s the same Rees Mogg who pocketed at least £7.5million in dividends from his investment firm Somerset Capital Management since Brexit.)

Well, on Friday morning, just a few hours after the newsletter went out, the latest version of the register of MPs' interests was published. 

The register included an update from one Elizabeth Truss. The former prime minister registered that last month she was the recipient of a ski pass, ski guides, a formal dinner and a reception worth over £1,000.

Guess where Truss’s ski freebies were? 

Davos…. 🙄

There is little sign of the British-Switzerland All-Party Parliamentary Group - chaired by Tory MP Andrew Rosindell - doing much work besides giving free trips to mostly Tory MPs. In that respect, it’s like too many of the 750 or so APPGs, with a few honourable exceptions.  

Truss’s seemingly endless supply of chutzpah is not the only PopCon update.

In last week’s newsletter I mentioned that the leaflets at the PopsCons’ launch were published by a company called Popular Development Partners Ltd. The firm - which was only set up in October - has two directors: Mark Littlewood - former Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) head honcho and now PopCon director - and someone called ‘Angela Mannion’ who appeared to have no online footprint.

A number of readers got in touch with suggestions for who Ms Mannion might be - thanks to everyone who did!

Based on various pieces of evidence, including details of email addresses and dates of birth matching other company registrations, it now appears that Angela Mannion is also Angela Harbutt .... the wife of Mark Littlewood and, until August, director of development at the IEA. 

The IEA, of course, refuses to disclose its donors, although we know it’s taken money from BP, Big Tobacco and US funders of climate denial. The think tank has denied any involvement in PopCon.

I contacted Harbutt to ask why she had used a different name when registering Popular Development Partners - which is perfectly legal - and who was funding the company. I’ve not had any response but will update this story if I do.

We do know that Harbutt is a veteran of the world of anonymously-funded think tanks and astroturf campaigns. 

She was previously the campaigns manager for the industry-funded smoker’s group Forest. She also ran ‘Hands Off Our Packs’, a tobacco-industry funded astroturf campaign opposed to anti-smoking legislation. 

Last September, Harbutt flew to Seoul for the Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum, which is funded by Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and a slew of other tobacco firms. 

Harbutt advised delegates in Seoul to “invest” in courting journalists at the start of their careers. “Start now and it’s going to take five, six, seven, eight years and you’ll have people who are then at the newsdesk who know and trust you,” she said.

The Tory Right seems to be already following similar advice, if the remarkable amount of media coverage given over to the IEA and ginger groups such as the PopCons is anything to go by.