Clarksons view is somewhat at odds with the truth regarding Swanwick, and those responsible. As ever a mixture of truth and misinformation seeks to rewrite history.... a very old tactic, beloved of politicians in particular.
PPP happened because Gordon Brown pledged in 1997, to stick to the previous Conservative Governments spending plan. ("Prudence"). This included receipts of some £650m specifically from the sale of NATS. Without selling NATS, there was a hole in the budget.
Oh, dear, but Labour had promised "Our Air is Not For Sale" the year before. What to do? PPP was the result and went on to become one of Gordon's favourites for yet another reason, it keeps debt off the public books.
The smokescreen was laid about NATS needs for investment, but this could quite easily have been achieved by a simple change to treasury rules, allowing NATS to borrow on the open Market, as the AEA had then been allowed to do. At the time the reasons for this were not answered.
I still have my letters from various ministers and MPs about this very point. They all declined to answer.
Gwyneth knew all this.
Gwyneth also knew full well what had gone on post IBM, and those who mismanaged it . Air Traffickers (sic) they were not. Managers? They barely "managed". They fully deserved her scrutiny.
BEX