Former Prime Minister Sanna Marin (sd.) said on Thursday that he will start as a strategic advisor to the British think tank Tony Blair Institute.
The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) is an organization founded by and named after the former British Prime Minister, whose aim, according to its website, is “building a better future and bringing about change”.
It employs more than 750 people and operates in more than 30 countries.
Read more: Such is Sanna Marin’s new employer, the Tony Blair Institute: the founder of the organization that guides political leaders is the former British Prime Minister
Funding from Saudi Arabia
Over the years, TBI has received criticism because of its partners.
In 2018, TBI was reported to have received funding of over ten million euros from Saudi Arabia, which the institute later confirmed.
In August, British newspapers The Guardian and The Times reported that TBI has acted as an adviser to Saudi Arabia and received money from the country’s government as well as a journalist Jamal Khashoggi after the murder.
TBI has also been a financier From Vladimir Putin a highly decorated Russian oligarch.
Until April last year, the institute received funding from a Russian industrial billionaire by Moshe Kantor from the organization he founded. The 69-year-old Kantor has received British citizenship and currently lives in the island nation.
TBI does not disclose all of its funders, but they are known to include governmental actors such as the US State Department and charitable organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Marin answered the funding question at a press conference on Thursday. According to him, the institute receives funding from its customers, i.e. in this case also from Saudi Arabia.
The difference between a consultant and a lobbyist is a line drawn in the water
In her work, Sanna Marin will advise clients who, based on publicly available information, are states, a partner at consulting firm Miltton explains to Jussi Kekkonen.
For example, Miltton’s customers are companies and organizations instead of governments.
In politics, expertise and investigative activities are needed, where consultants help, a world politics lecturer tells Matti Ylönen from the University of Helsinki.
– Publicity and participation in public debate is very important for a politician.
In large countries, think tanks and organizations founded by state leaders are very common.
According to Ylönen, various consulting firms are increasingly “messing everything up”. According to him, the phenomenon is common in EU politics.
According to Ylön, the difference between a consultant and a lobbyist is a line drawn in water.
– I have researched influencer communication consultants, who could also be called lobbyists. Of course, it depends on the consulting company whether this is the case.
According to Ylönen, influencer communication consultants sometimes go to meet decision makers, but it is rarer.
– It is more common to understand networks and expertise about who should be approached, when decisions are made, with which message and who are the key contact persons, Ylönen says.
According to him, the consulting industry in Finland has grown a lot around the communication agency business.
Such companies in Finland include, for example, Pohjoisranta, Ellu kanat and Miltton.
According to Ylönen, the pay gap can be huge. The most famous people can negotiate their consultant salary, working hours and working conditions.
– According to all sense, Marin belongs to this category.
Consulting and lobbying from the United States
Professional lobbying specifically originates from the United States, Matti Ylönen says.
– Britain also has a long tradition of providing lobbying services. The lobbying service has only recently spread to Finland and the Nordic countries.
The so-called K-street is a street in Washington, the capital of the United States, known as a lobby center and the location of numerous law firms, trade organizations and some think tanks.
According to Ylönen, the revolving door phenomenon is accentuated in the United States, as a large part of the administration changes every few years when the party changes as well.
K-street offers opportunities to wait on the brink of politics for your own party to come to power.
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