TonyBlair4Labour: who are the secret owners behind the site?

Tony Blair’s new campaign website to support Labour has an extremely complicated ownership trail behind it that ends in secrecy – but his office has declined to explain why or provide details.

A few days ago TonyBlair4Labour.org was launched, bringing to us the shock news that Tony Blair wants people to vote Labour. (Actually, it is interesting is that Gordon Brown’s star has fallen so far that now being associated with Tony Blair is viewed as a positive by Labour. At the last general election photos of Tony Blair were frequently all over Liberal Democrat leaflets and often completely absent from Labour ones.)

There are two oddities about the site – an amusing one and a mysterious one.

The amusing one is that the site itself says in various forms ‘Vote Labour’ but then its terms and conditions says you should not rely on any advice given on the site and the site owners will not be held liable for any consequences if you do follow the advice. That’d include the advice, er…, to vote Labour.

The mysterious one is the site’s ownership. The site says it is run by Windrush Ventures No.3 LP. This limited partnership is in made up of two partners – Windrush Ventures No.2 and BDBCO No 819 Ltd. BDBCO No 819 Ltd is in turned owned by BDBCO No 822 Ltd and that in turn is owned by a series of shareholders. However, we don’t know the identity of the eventual beneficial owners as the shareholders listed as simply lawyers acting as nominees.

So to recap – the site is run by a partnership that in turn is part made up of a company that is owned by another company whose eventual ownership is shrouded in secrecy.

Odd hey?

Even odder, I have asked Tony Blair’s office to comment on this ownership and to explain the reasoning for it and so have they have refused to comment.

Note: for further background on the complicated legal network behind Tony Blair’s activities, see The Guardian and The Telegraph.