Bob Geldof has hit back at critics who have accused him of becoming "too close" to political leaders during this year's Live 8 campaign.
Geldof's response follows comments by a handful of charitable leaders who feel that the Live 8 campaign hindered as much as it helped their efforts to relieve world poverty. Those leaders also question how successful Geldof was at the G8 conference in Gleneagles, arguing that the $50 billion aid increase promised by the world's political leaders was not enough, and alleging that a significant part of that money had been pledged before.
John Coventry, of the War On Want organisation, claims Geldof thought he was "bigger than" the cause and that he had his "own strategy", adding: "He got too close to the government, and he got burned."
Meanwhile Dave Timms of poverty pressure group the World Development Movement has said Live 8 "displaced" the work of the Make Poverty History campaign with a "wall of celebrities, and no message beyond a vague notion about caring for the poor and wanting politicians to 'do something'."
However, speaking to the Guardian, Geldof rejected those views. He told the paper: "You're a rallying point and therefore a whipping boy at the same time, and that's part and parcel of the gig... [but] unless you engage with the political process, you aren't going to get political and economic justice. Live 8 forced through several deals at Gleneagles, the aid deal and the debt deal, neither of which were perfect but which were nevertheless far beyond our wildest dreams a year ago."