Former director Howard Davies insists LSE had good intentions, but
political connections with Libya also under scrutiny
Jeevan Vasagar and Rajeev Syal
The Guardian, Friday 4 March 2011
Prof Sir Howard Davies, director of the London School of Economics.
Photograph: Sarah Lee
In considering the links between the London School of Economics and
Libya, the case for the defence has been that one of Britain's most
prestigious universities was playing its part in taming a rogue
regime.
To the end, the LSE's director Sir Howard Davies insisted on its good
intentions. In his resignation letter, he said the grant from the
Gaddafi foundation was used "to support work on civil society in north
Africa, which will have value in the future. The training programmes
we have run in Libya will also prove valuable in enhancing the
practical skills of many people who will be needed under whatever
successor regime emerges."
His resignation was swift and, in a scandal which has not touched his
own finances, honourable. But the damage runs deeper than his
statement admitted.
The suggestion this elite institution may have been naive is damaging
enough. But an inquiry led by Lord Woolf, the former lord chief
justice, must also consider whether it has been wilfully blind to the
nature of the Gaddafi regime.
In his letter, Davies said: "However laudable our intentions, in the
light of developments in Libya the consequences have been highly
unfortunate, and I must take responsibility for that." The
"developments" included a speech by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, in which he
warned that Libya would see "rivers of blood" if protests against his
father's regime continued. He said on Libyan TV last week: "We'll
fight until the last man, the last woman, the last bullet." The
question for Woolf is whether this was the first occasion the mask
slipped.
The LSE drew attention to an episode last May, when Saif gave its
Ralph Miliband memorial lecture, and a protester was allegedly
assaulted by one of Gaddafi's associates. Professor David Held
introduced Saif to the audience to deliver the lecture, an annual
occasion dedicated to Labour leader Ed Miliband's father who taught at
the LSE and remains one of its most revered figures.
Held, an academic adviser to Saif when he studied at the LSE, was also
on the board of the LSE's North African research programme, funded by
the Gaddafi charitable foundation. He told the audience: "I've come to
know Saif as someone who looks to democracy, civil society and deep
liberal values as the core of his inspiration." Held is said to be
appalled by Saif's "last bullet" speech.
For many, the abiding image of the scandal will be Dr Alia Brahimi, an
LSE research fellow, standing before a packed lecture theatre and
greeting an appearance by Muammar Gaddafi on a video link from Tripoli
with the words "Brother Leader". Afterwards, she held an LSE baseball
cap aloft and told Gaddafi this would be sent to him. "You're in good
company," she said. "Mandela, Kofi Annan and Bill Clinton also have
them." The speech was made last December.
Scrutiny will also fall on the LSE's political connections. LSE Ideas,
a centre for the study of international affairs, has an advisory board
chaired by the former Washington ambassador Sir David Manning, who was
present when George Bush told Blair, then prime minister, he intended
to invade Iraq.
Sir Mark Allen, another member of the advisory board, has been accused
of being a major figure in the release of the Lockerbie bomber
Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. It was while Allen was running MI6's Middle
East desk that he advised Blair that Gaddafi could be brought in from
the cold.
After he left the Foreign Office in 2004, Allen was given permission
by the Cabinet Office and Blair to work as a special adviser to Lord
Browne, then head of BP, which has extensive oil interests in Libya.
Davies is a senior adviser to the Monitor Group, a global consultancy
firm. So is Sir Richard Dearlove, his former superior at MI6. Monitor
ran a two year public relations campaign on behalf of the Libyan
government. Among those persuaded to take part in events was former
LSE head Lord Anthony Giddens.The Boston-based Monitor Group is an
influential organisation which advises governments as well as major
corporations on international issues.
Monitor carried out educational tasks for Saif Gaddafi, the son of the
Libyan leader. When he arrived at the LSE in September 2002 to work on
his doctorate entitled The Role of Civil Society in the
Democratisation of Global Governance Institutions: From 'Soft Power'
to Collective Decision-Making, he needed interviews with powerful
people on which to base his thesis.
More than 40 such interviews were carried out on his behalf by the
Monitor Group. The row over Saif's apparent plagiarism of whole
sections of other people's work for his thesis has added to the LSE's
embarrassment.
The thesis has been interrogated on an internet site which claims to
have uncovered 17 alleged instances of copying, including "a lengthy
section on the World Trade Organisation taken verbatim from [the] WTO
website". The university is investigating claims of ghostwriting and
copying.
Leaked documents showed that leading academics and opinion formers
took part in a co-ordinated campaign organised by Monitor.
Letters showed the company claimed it could show that Gaddafi had been
a man of ideas. "He has made significant efforts to think through many
of the critical political and philosophical issues of the day, and to
publish his thinking to a broader audience," the documents said.
Those persuaded to take part in events about Libya included former US
vice president Dick Cheney, political economist Francis Fukuyama and
sociologist and former LSE head Lord Giddens. According to documents,
Giddens visited Libya on two occasions in 2006 and 2007. This resulted
in articles published in the New Statesman, El Pais and La Repubblica
and the Guardian.
Whatever the outcome of Lord Woolf's inquiry, Sir Howard's departure
could not come at a worse time for the university. The LSE has not yet
declared whether it will seek to charge the maximum tuition fee next
year. All English universities face cuts to their state teaching grant
and are seeking to remedy the shortfall with increased fees and
philanthropic donations. The controversy will inevitably result in
much greater caution over accepting cash from foreign governments.
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