The concept of a military industrial complex (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military-industrial_complex) has long been present in the political lexicon.
It has enabled arms manufacturers to drive public policy in their own self interest by funding political parties, think tanks, academic research and media interests. SInce 1945 it has been a driving force for wars.
It is no exaggeration claim an analogous situation exists in public services in the UK (and abroad) where public policy in favour of privatisation has been driven by private sector corporations and their parliamentary mouthpieces.
The Morning Star headline on 5 September 2009 "prison officers rail against 'corrupt' collusion" epitomises the problem. (http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/britain/Prison-officers-rail-against-corrupt-collusion) Credit to the POA for exposing the unsavoury relationship between civil servants and the privateers.
The same can be said of course about many New Labour Ministers past and present which was brilliantly exposed by Seaumas Milne in the Guardian on 2 July 2009 in his article '"a culture of corruption has seeped far into government." (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/01/corruption-business-government-transport-health )
Books such as Nick Cohen's "pretty straight guys"
(http://www.epolitix.com/mpwebsites/mparticles/mparticledetails/newsarticle/review-of-pretty-straight-guys-by-nick-cohen///mpsite/clare-short/ )and Greg Palast's "the best democracy money can buy" (http://www.gregpalast.com/tony-blair-and-the-sale-of-britain/) have documented the privatising sleaze which has riddled the New Labour Government since 1997.
UNISON's 2008 groundbreaking report on "the rise of the public services industry" (http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/PP8917.pdf) is the outstanding trade union analysis of the the UK public servicers industrial complex.
These companies will be salivating at the prospect of a Tory Government taking power in May 2010. That's why UNISON Million Voices Campaign (http://www.unison.org.uk/million/) must urgently include critiques of the main private sector predators in health and local governmet which are as hard hitting as those of the POA against the prison service privateers.
