UNITED KINGDOM: Sir Bob Geldof to act as consultant on global poverty for conservative policy group Globalisation and Global Poverty

Sir Bob Geldof has agreed to join a Conservative policy group on global poverty on Wednesday (December 28). New Tory leader David Cameron has persuaded the campaigner and musician to act as a consultant to his Globalisation and Global Poverty group. Geldof famously locked horns with former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s over the VAT charge levied on the Band Aid single. She later agreed to waive the charge. Geldof made it clear his job has nothing to do with politics, or improving Cameron's image. "I'm not interested in re-branding anyone, I'm interested in stopping people dying of poverty and if any party's policies go towards that, than I can support that policy whether it's from anything," Geldof said. "Twenty years ago I said I'd shake hands with the devil on my left and the devil on my right to get to where we need to be." Geldof, who was behind this year's Live 8 concerts and a leading figure in the Make Poverty History campaign, said he would argue his point in the Conservative group and make clear if he disagreed with the eventual policy that resulted. "If I disagree, I'm going to say it. So if they come out with a policy I think is rubbish, I'm going to say it's rubbish," he said. Geldof was a central figure in the Make Poverty History campaign in the lead up to the G8 summit of world leaders in Gleneagles earlier this year. Mr Blair made tackling Africa's problems a key issue of the talks and aid agencies were critical of Geldof's close involvement. Geldof said he would still work with Prime Minister Tony Blair, Chancellor Gordon Brown and International Development Secretary Hilary Benn.

ITN Source | January 5, 2006

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