Daniel Hannan

Articles and resources
Daniel Hannan (b. 1st September 1971 Lima Peru) is the Conservative MEP for South East England in the European Parliament. He is a libertarian.  Curriculum vitae: Daniel Hannan was educated at Marlborough and Oriel College. Gained an MA (Modern History), Oxford University (1992). Director, European Research Group (1994-1999). Leader writer, The Daily Telegraph (1996- ). Columnist, The Sunday Telegraph (since 1999). Special adviser to Michael Howard MP (1997-1998). Vice-Chairman, Conservative Students (1992-1993). Chairman, Conservative Graduates (1994-1999). Member, Executive Committee, European Young Conservatives (1995). Member of the European Parliament (since 1999).

"Daniel Hannan is the President of the Young Britons' Foundation and has recently been ranked tenth by The Daily Telegraph in its annual poll of most influential centre-right figures in Britain. Having attended Marlborough College and Oriel College, Oxford, Dan first became director of the European Research Group before subsequently becoming a leader writer for The Daily Telegraph. In 1999, Dan was elected to the European Parliament and has represented the South-East since that time. Dan has risen to prominence thanks to his excoriating attack on Gordon Brown in the European Parliament which became a YouTube sensation. He is now a regular guest on Fox News. The co-author with Douglas Carswell of The Plan: Twelve Months to Renew Britain."


 * Supporter, Freedom Association

Climate Change
Hannan was the subject of a letter of concern by two Labour MEPs to Tory leader David Cameron. They write :" Tory MEP Daniel Hannan suggested that the aim of the UN-driven Copenhagen talks - to bring in an international solution to an international problem - is somehow a conspiracy" As a professional politician Hannan is careful not to openly nail his colurs to the mast. In an article published in The Daily Telegraph titled 'Climate change: the case for scepticism' Hannan states "The case for anthropogenic global warming was, as far as I can understand, slightly more convincing a decade ago than it is today." But he continues as a propagandist "All of which makes it almost impossible for the layman to reach a confident view." Then onto " also tend to agree with Nigel Lawson that adaptation would be more effective and cheaper than a programme of greenhouse gas reductions ", so although the global warming isn't happening Hannan is confident mankind will adapt. No figures or evidence are offered in support of this position.  He is adept at turning arguments on their head for his own purposes. So when the Meteorological Office got their long term weather forecasting wrong for summer 2009 Hannan wrote an article entitled "The Met Office has lost its authority on global warming " neatly sidestepping the fact that long term weather forecasting has been rendered less accurate because of global warming.  Any doubt that Hannan clearly doesn't care for man made climate change is dispelled in an article entitled "So SHOULD conservatives believe in man-made climate change?" Hannan briefly discusses causation of anthropogenic global warming from his point of view. He then argues in favour of adaptation over mitigation, neatly suggesting the adaptation versus mitigation question is an either/or debate. A morally dubious position, particularly in the context of mixing causation with solution.

Links to the Koch Brothers
In an article entitled "If Tea Partiers are such deluded fools, why are they doing so well?" Hannan suggests again that the Tea Party is spontaneous and grassroots. He states "I have no special brief for the Tea Party." He defends the Koch Brothers campaign saying "The only difference between us and the Kochs is one of scale: the Kochs are wealthy, and good luck to them." But Hannan fails to disclose that he enjoys the Koch's patronage through the American Legislative Exchange Council and the National Center for Policy Analysis. In 2009 Hannan addressed the Koch Foundation in a pro bono engagement. His 2009 Declaration of Members' Financial Interests declares flights to the U.S. were paid for by the National Center for Policy Analysis, Regular Folks United, the Campaign for Liberty and the American Legislative Exchange Council . Two of those, the National Center for Policy Analysis and American Legislative Exchange Council are funded by climate deniers ExxonMobil and the Koch Family Foundations), the latter donating close to a million dollars . He is quoted in the Koch in-house magazine

Quotes

 * "The natural world is too important to be left to the Left."
 * "It's a pity that a number of people have jumped on to the environmental agenda as a way of advancing a different agenda
 * "The Tea Party is a spontaneous and popular anti-tax movement." 
 * (On the Competitive Enterprise Institute) "The CEI, by the way, is an outstandingly meritorious outfit, " 
 * Not that I think there is anything wrong with paid public speaking, nor with the Koch brothers; it's simply that there was nothing to disclose.
 * We ought to censure obnoxious illusions from whichever side they come 

Other political initiatives
Daniel Hannan is very close to Lori Roman's Regular Folks United in the United States and apperars on their you tube channell dissing the National Health Service. Public healthcare has become a contested area of 'dog-whistle' politics in the U.S. Speaking in America he states "this is a country where you would rather fall ill". that is a matter of opinion but his next statement is false "You've got a government bureaucracy coming between you and your doctor... and if you then try and go outside the system and say I will try and purchase the forbidden drug myself, they withdraw everything else".

Hannan appears very close to the American Legislative Exchange Council. He gave a well recieved speech at ALEC's 2009 Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA on Friday, July 17, 2009. He states that he attended his first ALEc conference ten years previously.

Other commercial interests
Hannan simply lists writing, paid speaking and journalism as his interest on his 2009 Declaration of Members' Financial Interests. He declares his flights to the U.S. were paid for by the National Center for Policy Analysis, Regular Folks United, the Campaign for Liberty and the American Legislative Exchange Council (which in turn is funded by climate deniers ExxonMobil and the Koch Family Foundations). Regular Folks United say they sponsored his U.S. Tour in April 2009, which Hannan mentions on his blog in an article entitled 'The truth about the Tea Party Movement'. He has addressed the Koch Foundation, the American Legislative Exchange Council and the Reboot Britain Conference according to his agent PFD.

Related SourceWatch articles
American Legislative Exchange Council  Tea Party Movement National Center for Policy Analysis American Legislative Exchange Council

External resources

 * EU Parliament profile page on Hannan http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/public/geoSearch/view.do?id=4555
 * Hannan's 2010 Declaration of financial interests http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-dif/4555_01-04-2011.pdf

External articles
The truth about the Tea Party Movement http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100033522/the-truth-about-the-tea-party-movement/

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