"Cause for concern"

"A society that is as significant as the Merchant Venturers is, I believe, cause for concern," says George Micklewright, ex-leader of Bristol City Council (www.bristol-city.gov.uk). "There is public concern about secret organisations and particular concerns over ones whose members are of financial means and occupy positions of power," he adds. Micklewright says he had no official contact with the Merchant Venturers during his tenure at the Council, but didn't know if individuals he was dealing with were members of the society or not. "I had no way of knowing who was and who wasn't," he says. "It's in the Merchants' interest to be much more open. Even the Freemasons have moved in that direction in recent years."
Paul Burton, senior lecturer at Bristol University's School For Policy Studies and ex-chairman of the Bristol Democracy Commission, shares Micklewright's concerns. "They exert quite a bit of influence and we, the people of Bristol, don't know much about them and can't hold them to account," he says. "We also can't stop them doing something if we don't like it, as we can with our elected representatives. I don't know of any evidence that they represent a malign force in the city, but then we just don't know what they do represent. The problem is that we have to accept their benevolence on trust - and there's not a lot we can do about it if we don't trust them."
Parkes insists that Merchants don't use their positions to further the society's or their own interests. "Their influence is incidental to their role as Merchants," he says. "They are on these boards because of their abilities, not because they are Merchants." While that may be true of some organisations, it simply isn't true for others: ten members sit on Bristol University's Court and the six on the Downs Committee precisely because they are Merchant Venturers. Parkes also claims that Merchants are as accountable as anyone else on the boards. But how can that be true when we don't know who the Merchants are? "They are not on these bodies because they are members of the society," he repeats.