Wales GP Members Newsletter, May 2013,
including the 'complaint' item and link
Editor’s Note
The previous Newsletter in March provoked some
indignant reactions to my re-printing an item on GPRC secret court, which reported the expulsion of two GP
activists; also to my printing a tweet
from #GreenLeaksUK. A Cardiff Branch
meeting even demanded that I be expelled, ignoring the GP procedure on
complaints that the Branch itself had adopted.
As Editor, I listen to responses, but make no apologies for editorial
decisions within the remit laid down for the post.
The GPRC co-chairs under pressure agreed to reconsider the expulsions
at their meeting in June
Letter to the
Editor questions to Pippa Bartolotti
The Green Party tries to ensure our candidates for public office
have no skeletons that might come out later. Can
I pose questions on Pippa Bartolotti's explanations
given during the GP leadership campaign, for her responsibility as director of
Toucan Systems of Abertillery in supplying Thales military weapons company
(UK’s second largest defence electronics supplier)?
She wrote of “one replacement keyboard for Thales... a nuclear
establishment... equipment in a reactor environment”. That doesn't ring true -
one keyboard for an nuclear weapons company!
Another company, Encrypta Electronics had AB Electronics of
Abercynon as their major subcontractor, who in recent years assisted Thales in
equiping the new Warthog tanks for use in Afghanistan. Pippa was
director/manager and also part owner of Encrypta, and described it as:
“I worked for Encrypta Electronics, a Newport–based company which
manufactured and sold electronic devices which were to be fitted to the backs
of lorries... a miniaturised version was used on ballot boxes... AWRE (had) one
of these on trial... I left the company soon afterwards”.
AWRE, the UK's atomic weapons (research) establishment, say they
engaged Encrypta as consultant on security tags and seals for atomic weapons.
If this was for the nuclear weapons control treaty, could she be up-front and
proud of it?
How does Pippa describe the sale of half or more of the family
company Encrypta, then it going bankrupt in 2003, but the security locks business
continuing under new ownership (Unisto)?
Name and address supplied
Pippa Bartolotti's nomination form says nothing on the
above - as Editor, I asked Pippa if she’d supply a response. She declined with: I will
not answer questions from those hiding behind anonymity. My statements on all
these issues and more are in the public domain. Why not refer the member in
question to those? Pippa circulated
it to the WGP Council, who asked that her previous answer be reproduced in full
(Annex below). Other unverified information at pippabartolotti.info/ and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pippa_Bartolotti.
ANNEX
Answers 3rd July 2012 by Pippa Bartolotti
Answer to the Thales question
The world is not a perfect place, and we have to work
with reality, not some
precious fantasy that there even exists a squeaky
clean world. Toucan design
man-machine interfaces - the main business was in
catering and hospital
equipment. Keeping good quality jobs in the valleys
community of Abertillery
was something I was proud to do. In my time the
company made one replacement
keyboard for Thales. You might think it would have
been better to let a
nuclear establishment carry on with faulty equipment,
but as Toucan was the
only company with the expertise to do the job, we
erred on the side of
safety. Yes, between a rock and a hard place - but
life is full of hard
decisions and no time to prevaricate. Would we have
been right to allow
unsafe equipment in a reactor environment ? Of course
not.
Answer to Encrypta question
I worked for Encrypta Electronics, which was set up
in the recession of 1984.
It was a Newport–based company which
employed 25 people, had a profit
sharing scheme and a turnover of about £2M. The
business manufactured and
sold electronic devices which were to be fitted to
the backs of lorries for the
avoidance of ‘shrinkage’(stuff falling
off the backs of lorries). Customers were
Marks and Spencer, Mothercare and
similar.
Over time we brought out a miniaturised version which
was used on ballot
boxes in Spain. A request from AWRE to the sales dept
resulted in them
having one of these on trial. It did not stand up to
the conditions(whatever
they were) . The story ended there,
and I left the company soon afterwards.
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