Wales Green Party Expulsion Newsletter 2

                               
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.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I