Latham Unhappy With Union Tactics

Live Nation UK chief Paul Latham says he doesn’t have any problem with condemning the anti-immigration British National Party, although he’s not so happy about the way a major theatre workers’ union has asked him to do so.

Referring to a May 28 letter from BECTU, which has about 26,500 members working in broadcasting, film, theatre, and other areas of the entertainment and leisure business, he said he’s disappointed its contents were in the public domain before it landed on his desk.

“I haven’t seen the letter. I don’t know which address they’ve sent it to, but it hasn’t turned up here yet,” he told Pollstar three days after the union journal reported BECTU had written to Live Nation criticising its “parent company” for selling advertising space to the British National Party.

“I’m sorry that the first thing I know about all this is when the press ring me up and ask questions,” Latham said, querying the way BECTU has handled the situation.

“Like most people, I find the BNP abhorrent but I can’t work out why I’ve been singled out in this way,” he said, pointing out that Clear Channel Communications – which owns more than 200 street-side advertising hoardings in the U.K. and runs LED screens in London’s Piccadilly Circus – hasn’t been LN’s parent company since the 2005 spin-off.

The letter suggested employees in LN venues feared their employer could be accused of being indirectly linked to the BNP.

The first paragraph of the union journal article referred to CCC as being LN’s parent company, although the 2005 spin-off was mentioned later in the piece.

“I’m horrified because it goes against everything I stand for – my left-wing views are well-known throughout the industry – and Live Nation would most certainly have no desire to be associated with the rhetoric of the neanderthal BNP,” Latham said after Pollstar supplied him with a copy of the letter. “It just seems like public politicking and I can’t really see the reason for it.”

The letter came from BECTU general secretary Gerry Morrissey and claimed union members employed in LN theatres wish to be “reassured that their employer is in no way associated with, or condones any promotion of, the BNP.”

“There’s no problem with what he wants me to say but I can’t work out why he’s asking me to say it or why BECTU’s going about it in this way,” Latham explained.

Latham said he’s drafting a reply to Morrissey to assure him that he stands alongside him in condemning the BNP, but also questions the seemingly spurious links between LN and the BNP and the fact the union has chosen to conduct its correspondence via the media.

The BECTU members’ journal also claimed Clear Channel has caused “a political storm” by agreeing to sell advertising space to the BNP in the run-up to the European and council elections on June 4.

Anti-fascist group Searchlight reportedly organised a postal protest against the move, which it says has prompted “thousands of complaints” to the company, although Clear Channel is said to be disputing the numbers.

The letter says the sale of advertising space by Clear Channel runs counter to a cross-party condemnation of the BNP, with parties like UKIP and the Conservatives making strenuous efforts to distance themselves from the BNP’s racist policies.

The union has called for Clear Channel to cancel the BNP’s planned billboard advertising campaign, and join BECTU in condemning the party’s activities.

This is not the first time the BNP has caused controversy in the arts world. In 2007 the English National Ballet’s principal dancer Simone Clarke was outed as a BNP member, leading to protests from numerous civil groups including BECTU.

About 20,000 people and top acts including Kelly Rowland, Pete Doherty, ska legend Jerry Dammers, Ex-Clash guitarist Mick Jones, singer Beverley Knight and Sheffield’s Reverend & the Makers converged on soccer club Stoke City’s Britannia Stadium May 30 as part of a Daily Mirror campaign against racism.

The BNP regards Stoke-on-Trent as its jewel in the crown as the party has nine members on the city council.