No wonder airport expansion protestors don’t stand a chance

The opening today of Heathrow Terminal 5 by the Queen is a reminder - especially for those who oppose airport expansion - of the close ties between the British airport owners, BAA, and the Brown Government.

The mouthpiece of the Spanish-owned BAA is Tom Kelly, who joined the airports authority in October last year as group director of corporate and public affairs, a few months after retiring from Downing Street as Tony Blair's official spokesman when he was Prime Minister.

When it began lobbying in earnest for airport growth in the UK, BAA supported the lobby group Freedom to Fly. At that time, the director of BAA's Public Affairs was Steve Hardwick. He had previously worked for four years for John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, who later took charge of transport policy in Whitehall.

Freedom to Fly was headed by Joe Irvin, Prescott's former special adviser, who is now working inside Number Ten for Gordon Brown. The group was chaired by Baroness 'Brenda' Dean, a New Labour stalwart and former trade union official.

Labour MPs have recently been invited to a drinks and nibbles reception by Lord Solely, the former chairman of the Labour Parliamentary Party. It's been paid for by Future Heathrow, a lobby organisation backing the expansion of the airport, and will hear BAA, BA and trade union leaders extolling the virtues of a third runway for Heathrow.

It is hardly surprising therefore that those opposing the expansion of Heathrow feel that they have no chance of stopping the Government's determination to allow London's airports to grow, whatever Brown may spout at the EU conference in Brussels today about the 'lead' Britain is taking in combating climate change. It is more hot air than you get from a Rolls-Royce jet engine.

THE MOLE: HEATHROW

FIRST POSTED MARCH 14, 2008