Geldof defends decision to accept Tory poverty role

BOB Geldof yesterday defended his decision to join Britain’s Tory party policy group on global poverty, saying he was “in no one’s pocket”.

The Irish activist and musician said he was not interested in “narrow definitions of what politics are” and would remain non-partisan.

He said he would still work with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his government.

Mr Geldof said: “I am not giving tacit approval. What I am trying to do is agreeing to help formulate a policy that I would agree with.”

He added: “I am not party political. I am completely non-partisan, as are those dying of want. It doesn’t concern me what people think about me.”

Asked if he was being used, he said: “What’s being used of me is the knowledge that I can hopefully bring.”

Mr Geldof, who was behind this year’s Live 8 concerts and a leading figure in the Make Poverty History campaign, said he would argue his point in the Conservative group and make clear if he disagreed with the eventual policy.

“If they then formulate a policy in disagreement with what I believe, I will then say that publicly. They must know that I am in no one’s pocket,” he said.

Asked about whether he was taking sides, Mr Geldof told Sky News: “There are no sides, it’s one issue. It’s people dying of want in a world of surplus, which is intellectually absurd and morally repulsive.”

Mr Geldof said he “used to wander in and talk to Margaret Thatcher 20 years ago”.

“If I can stick my tuppence-worth into them, making new policy that will help them to push the (British) government further, then I’ll do it. That’s my job.

“I’ll still work with Blair and Benn and Brown, just like we work with the Republicans and Democrats and with Chirac in France or Merkel and Schroeder in Germany.

“I don’t care who I have to talk to, to get to where we need to be to stop people dying simply because they are too poor to stay alive.”

Asked if he was being used to help Conservatives reach new supporters, he said: “I’m sure I am being used, as much as I’m being used by the government.

“I’ll shake hands with the devil on my left and the devil on my right to get to where we need to be.”