the Labour Party, through individual co-operatives' donations to some Labour and Co-operative Party MPs. Commission member Pauline Green dismissed the suggestion as "nonsense", and the final report has only one recommendation relating to the Co-operative Party: recommendation 47 calls for the Party and the Labour Party to continue to work closely to increase "participation and political activity". The commission also received criticism from ex-CRS director Barbara Rogers, who accused it of not consulting the Co-operative Union (despite the Union's Chief Executive being one of the commissioners) and of being hijacked by CWS to further its "agenda to mop up surrounding independent societies". Supporters of the CWS' Chief Executive dismissed the claims as "ludicrous". The commission's original terms of reference were divided into three key questions: What is the vision of the Co-operative Movement as we enter the new century – in terms of commercial objectives and social goals? How close to delivering the vision are we? What structures do we need to close the gap between the vision and the reality? The commission worked for six months to try to answer these three questions, receiving submissions from experts and interested parties, and holding regional hearings at the Co-operative Congress in May 2000 and the October 2000 Labour Party Conference. They also received a number of collective and individual submissions, and engaged in debate in the pages of Co-operative News. Technical reports and advise were commissioned from independent advisers and consultants, and many co-operative societies also provided the commission with research and statistics that they had compiled themselves. Writing in the New Statesman, John Monks said: Over the past six months, as chair of the Co-operative Commission, I have been hearing evidence from organisations and individuals with a wide range of views on the direction that the movement should take. My colleagues and I have been impressed by many things: first and foremost, the goodwill towards the co-operative movement that is to be found in many, many places. There is also a willingness to embrace change and an awareness that no change is not an option. The commission met formally on nine occasions, and the final three were dedicated to drawing conclusions from all the submissions, debates and findings to decide what changes the Movement would need to make. A series of recommendations was carefully drawn up, with the commissioners being aware that they needed to be "radical, but deliverable" if