Expenses and phone-hacking prompt new political grouping
By Ian Dunt Follow @IanDunt
A new political grouping demanding public interest juries has been created in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal.
The group, which includes author Phillip Pullman and former BBC director general Greg Dyke, put out a statement linking the banking crisis, the MPs expenses scandal and the phone-hacking row as the work of a "feral elite" running Britain.
It is demanding that a 1,000-strong group of randomly selected members of the public establish a public interest test on the structure of political, media and financial leadership.
Writing in the Guardian, the group says: "Something is unravelling before our eyes. From bankers to media barons, private interests have bankrupted and corrupted the public realm. Power, for so long hidden in the pockets of a cosy elite, has been exposed. Those who wield it have been found wanting – in scruples, in morals and in decency.
"Politicians, bankers and media moguls … share a common culture in which greed is good, everyone takes their turn at the trough, and private interest takes precedence over the public good.
"With no pressure for higher ethical standards, the new all-powerful elites were like kids left free in the sweetshop, going feral as they lost all self-control and all touch with society."
The agenda is being launched by Neal Lawson, chair of left-wing pressure group Compass. The rhetoric bears a striking similarity to recent speeches from Ed Miliband in which he outlined the need for the powerful to take more responsibility towards society.
The declaration was also signed by several left-wing commentators, Caroline Lucas, parliament's only Green MP, some Liberal Democrats and an assortment of other academics and trade unionists.
