Richard Granger
Quite a few people would be interested in knowing what Richard Granger is up to now. It seems Private Eye might like to tell us but according to this evidence it seems somebody has put the frighteners on them. Here's what Mr Hislop had to say:
Last week I received this letter from Schillings, a firm who do a great deal of threatening newspapers and other publications in terms of privacy. Now, Schillings have sent me a letter saying they act for a man called Richard Granger. He will be familiar to you. Mr Granger was in charge of the NHS IT project, which is responsible possibly for losing the country maybe £12 billion of money. That is everything in the present round of cuts times about four. Now, Mr Granger is not involved in a sex scandal; Mr Granger is not involved in a legover case with the News of the World. He is a legitimate target of inquiry for journalists. I have a letter from Schillings here saying, "We understand that your journalist has been approaching various parties to make inquiries". That is it, a lawyer's letter straight in. It quotes Reynolds immediately, "We remind you of the recent judgment ... defamatory allegations ... confidentiality" ‑ it is confidential and private, what we are asking about, his business life. He wants to know all the allegations, everything in advance, he wants to know when we are going to publish, and we end up with a threat. That is a "chill" wind.
Does Dr Grumble know what all this is about? He might have quite a good idea but he is just guessing. It would be nice to know for sure. We have a right to know. But will we?
10 comments:
Quite clearly, as Mr Granger is learning, the self promotion of Schillings has ensured that any client is automatically siezed upon by the media - the reverse of media management in fact. It doesn't help that they have chosen to represent rapists (Iorworth Hoare/Polanski)and bankers.
well considering his mother has previously openly slagged him off in the press i would just ring her up and ask her, she is bound to know exactly what he is up to, and is as upset with the mega mess up of nhs it he made as the rest of us
There is an interesting Times article about the "publicity management via libel threat" culture, and particularly about Keith Schilling, here.
Dr G would probably not like Mr Schilling but he does agree with him on this:
.....Keith Schilling, who has rich and famous clients because, as he puts it, his “brand is quite focused”, concedes that the real threat to privacy in Britain comes from the state, not the press. “The state has pretty much got unlimited power,” he says, “and I certainly do worry about Big Brother and that we have more CCTV cameras than the whole of the rest of Europe.” The problem, he says, is that there are no suitable test cases, though if one were brought to him, he would be happy to take it on.
Keith Schillings' comments on the power of the state would be more convincing if he hadn't chosen to represent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Ofcom - Schillings lost).
Mr Granger may have personal reasons for concealing his business activities and associated remuneration ?
in response to the previous comment. If Mr Granger now has personal reasons for wanting to prevent publication of the money side of the absolutely awful mess he made of the opportunity he was given - he wasn't thinking that way 4 or 5 years ago as these rather arrogant quotes reveal.
He is reported to have said:
"I don't have sloping shoulders. I'm more than content to be held responsible for the things that I can do something about, even the many things for which I wasn't originally responsible. The bigger context is that it is a 10-year programme to put digital infrastructure in place for a massive, diverse, heterogeneous organisation that is itself changing while this is being implemented. I think we get a bit obsessed with short-term targets." — In an interview with silicon.com in 2006.
"One of the things I find repugnant is this continuous charge of secrecy (oh! do you now..sic). I don't know any public-sector programme that has been as open as us." — Speaking at the Government UK IT Summit 2004
empty words from a man seemingly devoid of decency and now looking to protect his a**e - I don't think we have heard the last of this despite the protestations of high profile lawyers - I was disgusted when I came across this blog entry this morning!
http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/4117/ex-nhs_it_boss_richard_granger_joins_kpmg
http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/4117/ex-nhs_it_boss_richard_granger_joins_kpmg
Better late, than never.
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