Big Society guru receives support from Government advisor
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Last week, Phillip Blond is said to have used £40,000 from his ResPublica think-tank to pay for furniture, sharp suits, and holidays – including flights to Sharm El Sheikh and Brazil to meet lady friends.
At the time, staff at ResPublica were locked out of their office and wages were not paid on time because of money problems. One insider told the Daily Mirror that: “Phillip was like a small-time guitarist who suddenly became a national rock star. He became drunk on his own success. He couldn’t stop spending money.” Robert Ashton, a current Parliamentary advisor on social enterprise, said: “My take on the situation is that whatever Phillip Blond has done and for whatever reason, shooting the Big Society messenger won't make the ‘Big Reality’ of our predicament go away.” “It's like dismissing your cancer diagnosis because you caught your oncologist smoking. Just because someone has found some accounting errors doesn't mean that Mr Blond’s initial diagnosis was flawed,” said Mr Ashton. ResPublica was created to develop “practical solutions to enduring socio-economic and cultural problems of our time, such as poverty, asset inequality, family and social breakdown, and environmental degradation”. David Cameron was a guest speaker at think-tank’s launch in 2009 and says on their website: “Phillip Blond has been at the cutting edge of progressive thinking about public services and the future of our society. ResPublica will now enable that thinking – and the practical policy suggestions which flow from it – to be carried forward. It is an exciting initiative which has arrived at a vital time.” Mr Blond also used money from the think-tank to send Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Letwin and his wife to a performance of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Mr Letwin writes on ResPublica’s website that Mr Blond is “One of the most exciting thinkers around.” |