The mysterious Bilderberg Group will be convening in Copenhagen for its annual conference this weekend. The meeting of international power-brokers and political fixers is notorious for its secrecy — it has been described as cat-nip for lizard-obsessed conspiracy nuts — but in a new spirit of transparency, a guest list has been printed.
The disappointing news for billionaires is that Bill Clinton won’t be in attendance — despite being in Europe this week for a London conference on inclusive capitalism and having been a guest in the past. Then again, perhaps his reticence is due to the fact the former US President rarely gets out of bed for less than six figures these days — one wonders how much those “inclusive capitalists” are paying.
Of course, some old stalwarts will make the trek as usual. Peter Mandelson, never one to pass up an opportunity to be “intensely relaxed” in the presence of the super-rich, will be in attendance, and so will Chancellor George Osborne. But Labour leader Ed Miliband won’t be showing up despite the fact that at last year’s conference, held in England, David Cameron was the star turn, prompting the Sun to portray the PM in lizard-like guise.
It seems the Opposition Leader is too busy to hobnob with the Bilderbergers — but he is apparently happy to have Labour represented by Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls instead. Perhaps this is part of his re-branding strategy? “Everyone bangs on about Ed being ‘weird’,” jokes our Westminster wag, “but at least he can say he isn’t a 12-foot lizard masquerading as a human.”
