Sir Brian Souter; For Services to Homophobia and Union Bashing

Sir Brian of Stagecoach

After the awards yesterday of the Queen’s Birthday Honours we have to proclaim “Arise Sir Brian Souter of Stagecoach in the County of Perthshire; For Services to Homophobia, predatory approach to competitors and Union Bashing! “ Indeed there is no truth to the rumour that Sir Brian earned his gong for services to the carrier bag industry as in the past he has been famous for turning up to meetings with stuffed shirt bankers open necked and with paperwork in a carrier bag. In fact the official citation on his being granted a Knighthood yesterday actually says:

“ Brian Souter. Chief executive, Stagecoach Group plc. For services to Transport and to the Voluntary Sector. (Perth, Perth and Kinross)”

Now I am (to say the least) not a fan of the British Honours System but even by the strange standards of such things Brian Souter’s Noble Elevation is what Mark Twain would have called a “bit of a stretcher.”

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-year-dishonour.html

In 2000 Brian Souter spent £1 million bankrolling Keep The Clause, a campaign to stop the repeal of Section 28 in Scotland. So who fixed it for Mr Souter to get a gong this time round? Could it be connected to his recent £500,000 donation to the Scottish National Party?



Scotland has been subjected to a dirty gay-bashing campaign on a level not seen since the tabloid hysteria over so called 'loony left' councils in London in the late 1980s. Brian Souter, the multi-millionaire boss of the union-busting Stagecoach Transport Empire, and member of the deeply homophobic Christian fundamentalist sect the Church of the Nazarene, assembled a rag tag coalition of the religious right and other social reactionaries to oppose the repeal of anti-gay legislation by the Scottish Executive. The subsequent campaign of lies and misinformation by his Keep the Clause organisation has borne the hallmarks of the media frenzy which ushered in Margaret Thatcher's gay-basher's charter 12 years ago. Speakers appeared under banners declaring “protect our children.”



Section 28 of the 1988 Local Government Act (known as Section 2a in Scotland but commonly referred to as Section 28) was introduced by the Tories on the back of a series of lurid stories in the right wing tabloids about the supposedly 'politically correct' policies of London Labour councils. Council initiatives to address discrimination against lesbian and gay people, black people, and women were misrepresented and distorted out of all recognition. According to the tabloids, children were being force fed a diet of gay propaganda at school.



Stagecoach Group plc has operated buses, trains, trams, express coaches and ferries. The group was founded in 1980 by the current chairman, Brian Souter, his sister, Ann Gloag, and her now ex-husband Robin Gloag with two buses in Perth. The Group benefited from the rapid privatisation (and cutbacks) The group is based in Perth, Scotland and has operations in the United Kingdom and has had operations in North America and New Zealand. Stagecoach has often found itself 'on the wrong side of the Competition Commission and faced sharp media criticism over its predatory approach to smaller operators.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagecoach_Group

'Bitter "bus wars" broke out in towns and cities throughout Britain as Stagecoach took on the local competition, often forcing the competitor to abandon traditional markets and sometimes causing the collapse of smaller operators. 'This was through aggressive pricing and timing, often running more buses on a route than necessary and just a few minutes ahead of the competition.'



I am not alone in feeling that a person who has benefited from the scandal of Bus Privatisation which saw publicly owned assets flogged off at knockdown prices, has bankrolled Homophobia, been a consistent Union Basher and engaged in abusive competition should not be awarded a Knighthood effectively (despite what the citation says) for a political donation. I am not alone and there is now an online petition against his award which you can sign. The petition says;

“We the undersigned are deeply offended that Brian Souter has been awarded a Knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2011.

Mr. Souter ran a campaign of fear and misinformation which was deeply hurtful to the LGBT community in Scotland.

The Keep The Clause Campaign increased hatred towards an already victimised group and saw a corresponding increase in violence against LGBT people.

We believe that it is wrong for such a person to be given such a high honour by Her Majesty The Queen and call on HM Government to withdraw this award.”

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/notosoutersknighthood/

Here is the unintentionally hilarious press release from his hired PR help;

http://www.beattiegroup.com/prclients/pr-press-releases.aspx?news=31&id=10970