Peter Melchett

From SourceWatch

Peter Mond, the fourth Baron Melchett, is best known as Peter Melchett. He inherited the title at the age of 23 when his father Sir Julian, who was Chairman of the British Steel Corporation, died of a heart attack in 1973.[1] (Peter's grandfather, Sir Alfred Mond, founded Imperial Chemicals Industry (ICI)). [2]

Peter Melchett was educated at Eton and Cambridge. He was a whip in James Callaghan's Labour Party government in the late seventies, then under-secretary for the Environment before becoming minister of state for northern Ireland - at the height of the policy of 'criminalising' Irish republicans.

Announcing himself sick of the 'lying game' of Westminster politics, Melchett withdrew. [3]. He subsequently worked for the Rambler's Association in 1984. [4]. Melchett was Chair of Greenpeace UK between 1986 and 1988, a member of the International Board in 1988 and 2001, and Chair of the Board of Greenpeace Japan from 1995 to 2001. He was Executive Director of Greenpeace UK between 1989 to 2000. [5]

Himself the owner of an 890-acre farm, Lord Melchett was arrested and charged in July 1999 with theft and criminal damage for participating in a civil disobedience protested in which part of a government-sponsored field trial of genetically modified maize was uprooted.[6] [7] The following year he and the other protesters were acquitted.[8]

In January 2002 it was revealed that Melchett had accepted a position with corporate social responsibility practice of the global PR company Burson-Marsteller.

Melchett is listed with the public speaking agency JLA as being available for presentations on "food and farming issues, including genetic engineering, and the role of NGOs".[9] His speaking fees are listed as being in the range of £1k to £2.5k.

A late 2004 biographical note stated that Melchett "is Policy Director of the Soil Association, the UK's main organic food and farming organization, and works as an environmental consultant with companies including IKEA, ASDA, Wal-Mart, and Burson-Marsteller. He is currently a member of the BBC’s Rural Affairs Committee and the UK Government’s Organic Action Plan Group, and is on the Board of the European Union’s Sixth Framework Programme research project." [10]

Other SourceWatch resources

Burson-Marsteller Hires a Green 'Cash Cow'

External links

• "GM experiment 'will continue'", BBC, July 26, 1999.
• "Lord Melchett refused bail", BBC, July 27, 1999.
• "Lord Melchett: Aristocrat eco-warrior", BBC, July 27, 1999.
• Peter Melchett, "Agriculture at a crossroads: Will organic farming succeed?", BBC, October 8, 1999.
• "tale of two trials", BBC, September 26, 2000.
• Bob Chaundy, "Peter Melchett: Lord of the Greens", BBC, Tuesday, 26 September, 2000.
• Charlie Methven, "Eco-warrior peer goes over to the other side", Daily Telegraph, (London), January 4, 2002.
• "activist joins Monsanto's former PR firm", BBC, January 8, 2002
• Ross S. Irvine, "Who benefits when an international PR agency hires an eco-warrior? The agency? Clients? Or, the crusader?: Burson-Marsteller hires former Greenpeace head", ePublic Relations, January 2002.
• Andura Smetacek, "Watchout Greenpeace, Melchett has joined the dark side...", AgBioWorld.org, January 5, 2002.
• "Ex-Greenpeace boss joins Monsanto PR firm", Reuters, January 9, 2002.
• Jeffrey St. Clair and Alexander Cockburn, "From Greenpeace to Greenwash", Counterpunch, January 10, 2002.
• Catherine Bennett, "Melchett's deal with the devil", The Guardian (UK), January 10, 2002.
• "Melchett forced off Greenpeace board", BBC, 12 January 2002.
• "EDITORIAL - Melchett move is to be applauded", Haymarket Business Publishing, January 11, 2002. (This article was reproduced on the Burson Marsteller website but is not only availabe from the cache).
• Conal Walsh, "Fur flies as Greenpeace grandee takes PR shilling", Observer, January 13, 2002.
• Tim Dowling, "One Lord a-leaping: Will a switch from Greenpeace to a PR company present ethical problems?", The Guardian (UK), January 14, 2002.
• George Monbiot, "The environment movement is in serious trouble, as it is losing touch with its ideals", The Guardian (UK), January 15, 2002.
• Murray Hogarth, "Coming Out of the Forest", Sustainable Business.com, January 24, 2002. (Hogarth works with Ecos Corporation an Australian corporate consultancy founded by former Greenpeace Australia and Greenpeace International Executive Director Paul Gilding).
• PR Week Conference - Saint or Sinner: Your Company's Reputation in Your Hands", October 16, 2002. :"Speaking on the theme ‘Credible CSR - Communications as the Servant of Substantive Change’, Burson-Marsteller UK directors, Lord Melchett and Nick Bent will make the case at the annual PR Week conference for communications serving as the tool for the CEO-driven ‘business case’ for CSR, not the agenda of the marketing or media people."
• "Rt Hon Lord Peter Melchett", accessed January 2005.