Across the party divide - eFinancial News

Baroness Hogg, chairman of both 3i and of the specialist economics consultancy Frontier Economics, has rallied to the support of David Currie, the Labour Party peer appointed to head Ofcom, the UK’s new super-regulator for the media.Lord Currie’s appointment has been attacked as another example of Labour Party cronyism by the Conservative Party. He is close to the Government as a former adviser to both Tony Blair, the PM, and Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. But Hogg was having none of it.At a party to celebrate Frontier’s third birthday in the City of London last week, Hogg told Currie and assembled guests she thought it was an excellent appointment. "I am absolutely confident he will do the job with rigour and independence," she said.Her backing for Currie is particularly significant since Hogg has impeccable Conservative credentials, albeit from the enlightened wing of the party. She sits on the Tory benches in the House of Lords and ran the Number 10 policy unit under John Major.Copyright © 2002 eFinancial News