EXCLUSIVE: Phillip Blond’s ResPublica rumoured to be in serious trouble
Posted on May 5, 2011Phillip Blond’s rise to Westminster celebrity status has been meteoric. After launching the concept of Red Toryism in early 2009, his talent for self-publicity combined with the sense of there being an ideas vacuum in Westminster saw him appearing on media outlets all over the place. By the end of 2009 he had apparently raised quite a sizeable wedge of cash and launched ResPublica, his own thinktank.
It’s always interesting when a new thinktank emerges – particularly when it already has the financial and media velocity to hit the ground running. Unfortunately, I think even Blond’s best friends would confess that not a lot has happened in the 18 months since the launch.
Now I gather all is not well at ResPublica towers. Its website reports that it has 16 staff – a costly number to run on budget funded by donations, as anyone with think tank or charity experience will tell you. There are serious concerns circulating among ResPublica’s own team that the organisation is running out of cash in a big way and will soon need to let some staff go – in fact, they are worried that a sizeable majority of the staff will have to go to keep the books balanced and the thinktank in existence.
If these concerns are true then it seems the wheels are coming off the Phillip Blond bandwagon, which does not bode well for the future of his philosophy and message. Has his star burned out already?
Tags: Exclusives, opinion, Phillip Blond, Politics, ResPublica, Thinktank, Westminster
Categories: Exclusives, Opinion, Politics, Westminster
If that’s true I don’t think I’ll be shedding many tears. When you scratch Red Toryism it turns out to be essentially nostalgia for a romanticised past. That’s not my cup of tea…
31.05.2011 13:05
Great news. Hopefully it will lead to the demise of whatever credibilty the gullible extended to that charlatan.
31.05.2011 15:13
I met him just over a year ago after his money dropped and during our meeting, he strarted to flirt with the receptionist at his serviced office and then promptly offered her a job. I learned all I needed to know at that point
31.05.2011 16:20
Red Toryism is the last thing we need. The current Toryism has too much yellow already!!
31.05.2011 17:08
God let this be true, “Red Toryism” (along with it’s mirror image “Blue Labour”) is psuedo-fascism dressed up as beer and cricket.
31.05.2011 17:42
Sorry Mark, but what is your source for this?
31.05.2011 17:46
Meteors fall, they don’t rise.
31.05.2011 18:20
[...] Society” think tank9:44pm Tue May 31stShareTweetAdd a commentKudos to Mark Wallace for his exclusive on the parlous state of the balance sheet over at think tank ResPublica. Led by “Red Tory” [...]
31.05.2011 20:44
Philip Who??
31.05.2011 21:18
Interesting indeed. Nesta who employed Philip Blond as a fellow, recently terminated the relationship because Respublica failed to deliver any of the policy reports that they had committed to in their contract. Nesta still paid them off with an £80,000 grantdespite the fact that Respublica had failed to deliver on any of their commitments. Also I hear via the grapevine that key figures at Respublica have been brushing up their CVs and applying for all and sundry. Respublica is also reported to pay above market rate to attract the brightest and best.
31.05.2011 21:39
ResPublica Policy Ltd is flagged up as late filing its accounts on Companies’ House website.
01.06.2011 11:40
Mark has the story pretty well spot on. However the departures began some time ago. Deputy Director Asheem Singh and many others have all left in the past few weeks. Phillip meanwhile is in Australia on another jaunt. Raising funds or an expensive way to put your head in the sand?
02.06.2011 04:56
[...] my story on Tuesday reporting the possibility of Phillip Blond’s ResPublica think tank letting “a sizeable majority of staff” go, the Sunday Times has apparently [...]
05.06.2011 19:09
Praying for ResPublica”s success, thanks for the heads up.
30.09.2011 04:03
[...] and inadequate work markwallace Posted on March 3, 2012 Tweet Last year, this blog exclusively revealed the financial troubles being faced by the notorious ResPublica think tank, run by Phillip Blond, the self-proclaimed guru of Red [...]
14.03.2012 12:11