Do You Believe there is No Connection Between Cash and Honours?
Tony Blair created 292 peers. Millions were raised from the recipients of those honours.
The correlation between making large donations to the Labour Party and receiving an honour is extraordinary. Statistical analysis shows that 58.54% of all donors giving more than £50,000 to the Labour Party receive an honour. This compares to just 0.035% of non-donors. Large Labour Party donors are 1,657 times more likely to receive an honour than a non-donor and 6,969 times more likely to receive a peerage. It is almost impossible to avoid the conclusion that the Labour Party has been selling honours, including places in the House of Lords. An analysis of all donations over £50,000 since 2001 reveals that Honour certainly has its price. We publish below the average amount donated by the recipients of various honours – an “Honours Price List”. Those receiving a Peerage have given £1.07 million on average, and a Knighthood £747,000...
Funding Facts:
- 80% of Labour's election funding came from the covert Loans for Lordship program.
- Every donor who has given the party more than £1 million has been given a knighthood or a peerage.
- Three quarters of those individuals who have given more than £50,000 to the Labour Party since 2001 have received an honour.
124 comments:
What's the betting that the DPP features prominently in the next New Year Honours list?
It's a shame the CPS closed the case (after all that work!) but voters have a feel for what was going on - Blair was ousted early so that is some mitigation.
The law must really be tightened now - that will be the legacy of this charade.
It matters not; the real point is this corruptive practise is unlikely to happen again, that’s an important victory.
Whitewash Corruption Dishonesty and Deceit oh yes but we knew that already its endemic in our political system happily more and more people are seeing it.
None of this surprises me at all. Blair was not known as Teflon Tony for nothing.
I don't blame the police; it is the CPS. The whole thing has been covered up. Anyone with an degree of common sense should be able to work out the connection.
Now we will hear calls for public funding of political parties. Don't expect that money to go down to constituencies - the place where elections are really won. It will be spent on an ever increasing bunch of spotty nosed kids who have no idea what day of the week it is.
Let the "innocent" gather and celebrate with a splif, not indoors though.
Seems to me Yates was wasting his time at No 10 looking for dodgy honours. He should have been in the cabinet room searching out the Drugs stash.
But is there a natural correlation? Are the kind of people who donate large sums to parties the kind of businessmen who get involved in politics, the kind of people to donate to charitable causes, the kind of people who work for the party of government - and naturally as a result the kind of people who a government bestows honours onto, donation or not?
Can we get together and have a civil case?
This news plus the by-election results make it the unhappiest morning for some time - plus torrential rain so cricket may be washed out too
yes they are corrupt.Following such great white washings as Hutton et al did anyone really think that the C.P.S would have the bottle to prosecute this one.
Incidentally in the good old days it was known that if you gave or raised enough for the parties you got a gong its not the deed its the meally mouthed hypcrisy that gets me
Oh dear. All so certain and yet all so completely, absolutely and utterly wrong.
As Mr Kevin Keegan might have said, I would love it, absolutely love it if you threw all your money down the pan and tried to prosecute privately. M'learned friends will be happy to take your cash.
The Pol Roger, cuvee Sir Winston Churchill will be flowing this lunchtime.
Has the government bought the CPS too?
Just waiting now for endless tabloid-speak which will doubtless refer to those involved being 'cleared' - nonsense. Just because in their wisdom (?), the CPS decide that they don't believe that they have a reasonable chance, in law, of a successful prosecution, doesn't mean that no one is guilty of anything.
Oh, come on!
An obscure ScotNut got undeserved publicity. A number of police officers rolled up their trouser legs and were given the equivalent of a year's sweatless gardening leave. Various nonentities got a free run at publicising themselves by systematic leaking. The Daily Mail had the chance for implied antisemitism. And (for bonus points) the House of Lords was exposed for the knocking shop it has historically always been.
Guido - if you are a man accept the flak and allow comments. You called this completely wrong (again). You always seem to rush to the most sensationalist possible outcome rather than the likeliest. You've made a huge mistake - admit it or risk this blog becoming a laughing stock.
Like your forebear it's Fawkes who should be in the dock.
This is so depressing, the thought of the slimeballs smiling and laughing as they crack open the Pol Roger this morning leaves me really down. It also leaves me wondering if there is any point in us identifying corruption in this country when the powers that be just whitewash over it. This decision stinks higher than a grouse that has been hung for a month.
Bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger,bugger. And, oh yes, bugger.
Nobody is surprised at this outcome at all. The victory is that political leaders will not be so overt or blase in offering peerages, The defeat is that our political system is reduced to squalid self interest. If there is nothing to hide and to restore confidence the submission to the CPS should be published, I would rather buy that than Alistair Campbell's tome.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah - oh and I give up
Recently,outside of Rhyl, North Wales, 4 members of a cycling club were killed when they went out on a road run in icy conditions and a car skidded on ice, colliding with them. The matter was thoroughly investigated and the CPS decided there was insufficient evidence to proceed against the driver re the deaths.
Chris Ruane MP (Labour) is currently doing much pontificating about this incident.It made the PMQ's on Wed when the PM promised much investigations into what went wrong
Their comments about the CPS decision should be minutely compared and contrasted to whatever comments they make about this {Cash(none) for Honours (loads)} decision.
Thinks are clearly more rotten in the State of Denmark even than we thought.
There is still hope, however. The idiots are making noises about suing.
Please, dear God, let them be so foolish as to appear before a jury. Juries are rather more difficult to pressure than the employees and would-be pensioners of an overmighty State.
Fifty thou for a title? Pretty cheap if you ask me. I wonder what the Tories will charge if they ever get the chance: The Tatler had a figure back in the Eighties, but with inflation it'll have doubled at least. No question but that Brown knows the market value of every honour down to the least of them, and will squeeze them for far more.
Interesting stats. In a Lib Dem/Grant 1234 Shapps kind of way. The only people who make these kinds of donations are in the rich list. Comparing the donors with the broad population and getting these 7000-1 odds is actually pretty facile. Isn't it?
Of course the honours system is crap. Of course the sets of rich donors, successful people and honours getters overlap wildly. Of course all the main political parties are pushing the envelope to breaking point.
But silly Angus, silly John, silly Guido - this was never going to end in a conviction. Huge waste of everyone's time and money.
It would have been a great help if the three main parties stuck their hands up and admitted that the game was up, that honours, donations, loans, laundering and dodgy donors in general - in some combination or other - had got all of them into moral (but not legal) hot water.
This comment has been brought to you by a "just bloody typical" Labour **** troll.
Anon 8.39 ... you are innocent until proven otherwise. Quite rightly. No-one is guilty, regardless of what you think.
Flimsy case, and a storm in a teacup. In fact a silly and boring story with hindsight. There were far more serious things Blair did - like invading a foreign country.
The lack of prosecutions is yet more proof (as if we needed it) of the UK's new status as a banana republic.
Am I alone in thinking that the CPS may not have felt able to take things further because of the 'trial by media' defence that would have been used throughout the proceedings?
If this is what they claim, then it would look like they have been successfully trounced by those parties who systematically 'leaked' information about the case throughout, with precisely this intention.
Our Standards would make a Banana Republic ashamed
What a level we have now sunk to
and you need no more evidence of the manipulation of news by the scums in power than the release of the news
Does any one think it was a co incidence that the news was released at the close of Polls on by elections they knew they were winning?
disgusting
As is so often true, this case was never about truth as about legally provable truth. Everybody knows that the Labour Party sold honours; the only question was whether it could be proved that they did so.
Talk of a private prosecution is madness; far more sensible is to keep on repeating the truth and dare them to sue for libel.
And finally, yes Guido has been badly weakened by this. He claimed not only that the government were corrupt thieving scumbags (which is true) but that they would be prosecuted for it (which apparently is not). By that claim will he be judged.
Do we have any information on Tory donors during the 80s and 90s and their subsequent beerages, whoops, I mean peerages? Sorry Guido this won't wash, this isn't about suspicion it's about evidence, on which subject you seem to have been living in cloud cuckoo land.You have set yourself up for a huge fall and boy have you fallen..
In the unlikely event that the case had ever come to court, the entire legislature is now so corrupt and Judges are so utterly beyond contempt in their indentification with criminals that there is no doubt the accused would have got off anyway. It comes as no surprise that the CPS is willing to collude with politicians to protect the guilty.
Well come on why do you think that Brown removed the AG from the loop beforehand, so it did not stink of cover up.
I will contribute to a Civil Case being brought, fortunately (and thankfully) Yates & Co. are Crown Servants just like the Army, personally I would rather we could invite General Musharaff to remove our corrupt Politicians as Democracy in Britain is an illusion (yes I know it always has been but this lot take it to a new level).
Are the various anonymorons posting on here really trying to equate no charges with no guilt? Are there really that many gullible dickheads out there?
Do they really hate this country that much that they can rejoice in the fact that NuLab have managed to lower the ethics bar to a record new low? Incredible!!
Guido
Most of us support all your efforts. Without people like you this would have been hushed up months ago. It isnt right, it stinks to high heaven and just because no prosecutions will follow it will not change the view of the public. We all know what we think and no amount of pol roger will ever change that.
Keep on their case. Revenge is a dish best served cold.
Wrong about Ealing Southall (July 9th). Wrong about Levy charges (July 17th). Is Guido making *any* money at the bookies?
Wrong about Boris, too...
What a surprise! We all know how dodgy politicians are and we all know why people get peerages but anyone who thought that a conviction would ever be obtained was a bit of a fool.
I thought there was a slim chance Levy might get charged but in reality the CPS are correct not to procede. The chances of a conviction were easily less than 50% and under their normal rules of engagement that always leads to no charges being laid.
The obvious point that should be seen is that the system of patronage is always going to be abused. I say end it now. Get rid of the House of Lords. Does it really serve any useful purpose?
I don't know why anyone should be surprised.Charges were never going to be brought, if only because of the old chestnut -"Not in the public interest" get out. It was all so much hype and wishful thinking by certain sections of the media and the Conservative Party.
Let's hope the MET is more robust than the BBC was over Hutton as I suspect that NuLab and their media friends will be out for revenge with Mr Yates first in line to have his reputation "rubbished".
well well guido, no mention of the tory fuck up in ealing then?
plus the fact that your cash for honours hunt has bore no fruit.
what a shame - you total cunt.
Well Guido, you've damaged your reputation on this. You were so sure there would be charges, against all likelihood. This result is convenient for all major parties, so the case was always likely to fail. Looks like you were well and truly spun by your sources.
The impresssion I had from this and other blogs was that a prosecution under the Sale of Honours legislation was pretty unlikely BUT that a prosecution of Levy and/or Ruth Turner would be for perverting the course of justice was much more likely. There was much more evidence of the latter charge so before you sleazy Champagne socialists crack open the Pol Roger perhaps you can tell us why these charges couldn't stick?
As the only known contributer to these right wing blogs who puts his name where his mouth is, let me offer these kindly words of advice to you withering mincing hand wringing Tories.
FUCK YOU!
Gary
Who was it on here calling for Martha Kearney's head when she said on Newsnight that she thought no charges may ever be brought? Eh? Eh?
O.K. you have had this crowd in power for ten years.You have wars and corruption, and spinning, and God knows what else.The folk who vote moan,they always have and always will.But they prefer Gordon and that is a fact.Tory toffs ain't gonna win nuttin'.Blogs where you threaten and abuse those who post a different opinion are going to win you no votes.The people who are more likely to vote are of my generation,old and decrepit.We remember what your lot did last time,you've forgotten it's been so long.Low pensions down to Maggie not Gordon.Wars,once again Maggie was leading the charge.Corruption,that's why your lot are not in power.Police State,remember the miners strike ? More than a few rules bent in that decade.Your man does well in PMQs' and you all fall about with glee,the voters don't even watch that silly event.Gordon picks his nose and you have won the next election.You think Boris is a super guy,he's a bloody fool.You think "the hitch" and "shotgun" are funny,they're not. They are malicious posters, who hope to hurt their given target.They are part of the nasty party, and you and they will be posting about how when Gordon wins the next General Election, that it was a fix,and it won't have been.I would just like to finish by saying, your all very,very silly people and should be supporting Gordon who will be a great P.M. you'll see.
Here's some consolation, Guido.
When Hutton officially cleared Downing Street there were trebles all round. Then, after 24 hours, the message sunk in. Nobody believed it. Everyone knew that they had sexed up the evidence, Alastair Campbell had already done a runner and Hutton's verdict was treated as a risible irrelevance.
Much the same will happen here. The CPS will officially clear Downing Street, nobody will believe it, and the CPS decision will be treated as just another whitewash.
It could have been a good day on the blog today.Shame you have spoiled it by enabling comment moderation.You really are a gutless fellow to be sure.Bit like your posters all talk but no action.
It has always seemed unlikey to me that this would ever be brought to trial. The only witnesses are Lord Levy and the honours recipients themselves. Can you imagine an honours recipient claiming "Oh yes, I bought mine for 50grand!" or Lord Levy proudly producing a price list?
It simply became common knowledge that if you coughed up some cash then you might reasonably expect an honour. Nothing in writing, no record whatsoever. Not even a half remembered conversation that might indicate something untoward was going on. That's the way this kind of thing would be done.
The next question is "was there a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice?". My guess is that an attempt was made to make sure nothing came into the open, but with precious little evidence of a crime ever having been committed in the first place the CPS would be on a sticky wicket. How could the CPS prove a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice without at least prima facie evidence of a crime having been committed in the first place?
In any case, Blair is gone now and there is no reason to believe that the public would associate dodgy dealings during the Blair years with the Gorgon the Bogeyman. We all know what Blair was like.
I think Guido should take care what he says about the case. You have to be able to prove what you put into writing or you are guilty of libel. How would Guido be able to prove allegations related to cash for honours if the police can't?
How much did you lose betting on charges, Guido?
So the "no charges" was suspiciously leaked yesterday to ensure my concern for all involved caused me no more insonmia - I really have worried about our poor politicians you know?
Oddly I woke up very tired this morning after more sleeplessness.
Mmm and then I find out some people do not matter in the great scheme of things.
Well, that is us told then. But my political friends - onyer go!
But others do not matter seemingly? Can I quote you?
Guido, I hope you will still complete your book on the affair. After all, Jonathan Mantle wrote a great book on Archer and had to wait a decade for the satisfaction of seeing what he knew to be true acknowledged by the Courts.
Dear Lord poor old Guido he is only a bloggist,a purveyor of gossip if you are going to judge him on the strength of wrong predictions everyone from the weather men to the treasury to journalists must be so judged. I rather think that thos who are getting on their high horses about Guido left their sense of proportion at the door.
No, I don't believe there is no connection Guido, any more than I ever believed Lord Hutton when he told us no-one in the government was to blame for the death of Dr Kelly.
When will the establishment understand that it is exactly these sorts of whitewashes, the feeling that the ruling elite can do wtf they like and get away with it, that is destroying public trust in politics?
A private prosecution will never succeed - let's face it, sleaze and whitewash has triumphed again. What might succeed is a real investigation into this and all the other suspect activities of the government. Set up a foundation with a small team - an investigative journalist, a good lawyer, perhaps a forensic accountant, an administrator or two to manage the materials collected, and a couple of general purpose researchers. Have it funded by donations from the public, and be totally transparent as to where the money comes from.
And then start digging! Dig and dig and dig, use the FoI Act while it lasts, dig and dig and dig, interview the people around and next to the seats of power, dig and dig and dig. Do not be intimidated by threats from the nomenklatura but go on until we find out where the money comes from, how state power is being bent and twisted, where the lies are, where the hypocrisy is.
What shall we call the foundation? How about naming it in honour of Dr. David Kelly?
Well Guido me boy..,
Told ya no charges.
I claim my tenner.
So much for your Sith efforts, it'll go the same way. Complainants might even be done over for time-wasting!!
Time for you to catch shingles.
A Peugeot for Antibes? shurely shome misshtake, Renault Grand Espace please.
I'm with Paul Linford.
This isn't over. The drip drip drip will continue, the cops will leak the stories out, and the general public will regard this as a whitewash.
In a years' time Brown will wish there had been a prosecution.
Not sure about your stats. How did you arrive at the number of non-donors used in your calculations? Surely non-donors are the population of the country eligible for honours (60m) minus the donors (a few 1000). Wouldn't that inevitably result in a small % of them awarded honours?
P.S. I'm as pissed off about this as you.
Frankly apart from the politicos, hardly anyone gives a toss.
Politicians are the lowest of the low and we KNOW that no judge or policeman is ever going to convict any of the top politicians co they are appointed and paid by them.
Does not stop the sytem being corrupt,... but tell me one that is not and tell me the Conservatives did not do the same.
All just proves we - the general public - are correct in our thinking. Politicians ARE worse than estate agents.
I don't agree with Paul Linford.
As opposed to never really disagreeing with anything he usually does say, I have to add.
Each and every one of the allegations made against Labour Ministers has had a malicious intent put with it.
The death Of Dr. Kelly and the finger pointed at Tony Blair was nothing but shocking.
Tony Blair either took cash for peerages or he did not. Simple.
There is no proof, so therefore he did not. Simple.
A right wing extremist nutter made an allegation against a Democrat and everyone fell for it. Simple.
If you know different, then say so, but please prove it because I'm a very tired Labour supporter whom always gets cleared in the end.
Gary
Yes this is a sorry sight, but it was always going to be difficult to obtain independent evidence of offences, and mysterious fires that "unfortunately" destroyed computers no doubt played a part in this. However this is only part of the whole story and we still do not know how the money raised was spent, and who knew and controlled the distribution of these funds.
Blair has gone but it stretches credulity to think Brown and other senior figures in the Labour Party did not know what was going on.
And this is an issue that is not going to disappear - one day, somehow, the whole sordid truth will come out.
Lets hope the Sith investigation will fare better, but looks like the sleazy socialists are good with the whitewash and so don't be suprised if the Charity Commission finds Cyclops's mates have no case to answer. The C.C. will merely confirm that the Sith's Labour/Brown supporting and polling activity is ok for a Charity.Charities who actually do, er, charitable work are obviously a thing of the past in lovely Nulab utopia.
Down with the whole damn lot - What a shower!
On another subject - the Metronet Rail disaster. Do any of your knowledgeable readers know the following details.
1.How much money was Metronet paid over the years?
2.How much of this did they actually spend on railway works/maintenence?
3. If sum "1" exceeds sum "2", what happened to the "surplus" funds?
I've got two words for you: "private prosecution"
Labour get the whitewash they want, and their moronic tribal supporters gloat orgasmically?
Well good for them - "their side" has pulled off a surprise victory (due to match fixing), but the country has sunk further towards a third-rate banana republic.
Enjoy, cretins.
I wonder where and when the 'Granita' style deal was done that allowed early departure in exchange for no prosecutions?
The jury system has been circumvented AGAIN!! Mr. Yates must be splitting blood!! Lets hope the bandits out east give the "men" their "JUST" deserts real Soon!
Another thought: Yates has promised to lay all his information before the Parliamentary Committee. And he will.
More fun.
lies, damn lies and now statistics guido?
No, I don't believe there is no connection --- is clearly the answer to Guido's question.
There's more to come in particular the CPS reasons for no charges.
Last night & today the MSM are being spun by whosoever - likely differing interested parties & then relaying/interpreting this spin.
Net result appears to be anti police - I suggest a wait & watch policy is still most appropriate at this stage.
where are your sources now?
Is there a connection between cash and honours? Not sure. What I am sure about is that there has always been a connection between evidence and charges. Without one you don't get the other.
No surprise ....they are above the law.
As reported on the BBC a few days ago:
"The former prime minister told a Labour Party fundraising event........
Stopping when traffic lights were on red was also a new experience - as PM his driver used to go straight through."
No surprise there no prosecutions , they probably thought oh well Blairs gone , F**k it ? I dont think anybodys convinced though
Of course they sold honours. You Zanu trolls can stop pretending otherwise. Just cos I wasn't convicted of some of the crimes I've commited doesn't mean I didn't do them, although in the eyes of the law I didn't. Same applies to them.
Whils nulab will say, "Cleared", the CPS say, "Not enough evidence to gain a prosecution". Nulab smoke and mirrors worked on the Law as well as the electorate.
As regards libel etc
Nobody will get sued for libel because that would mean evidence being produced in a court of law; the very place that the politicians and those involved dont want this investigation to lead. The greatest con-trick used by todays politicians is to have exempted themselves from the rule of law; what do you expect from a bunch of lawyers. The judges are the last bastion of truth in this country and until we get some of these politicians into court, where the truth WILL come out, we have no chance of arresting this decline in standards of government.
I for one would love to see these politicians try and get away with the answers tolerated by that total fraud Mr Speaker!
That horrible scabby shit-eating cunt McShane was interesting on NewsWark last night. Now that nobody has done any wrong, he dribbled, the public will be glad to pay for my electoral expenses in order that I may continue to shit all over them, piss in their faces and send their kids -but definitely not mine or Jacqui Schmidt's - off to be killed, blinded or have their heads cut off, while I sit in subsidised (smoking) bars getting pissed out of my feeble brain. And then coming on telly with you wankers and talking utter fucking bollocks about sectarianism when I mean partisanship. See me, Jimmy ? I'm a cunt, I am.
Sometimes I find the television quite distressing.
The man who gets out of everything!
http://moneymad.org/Blairdini.jpg
Fact is that the weakest link in the entire investigation process was ALWAYS going to be the Attorney General's control of the CPS, and I just bet Yates and Co knew it. By carrying out a very public investigation they clearly and unequivocably lay the blame for the quashing of the corruption investigation into Blair upon Goldsmith and his successors.
As the joke that's already making the rounds goes ..
q: What's Alice De Rothschild and the British public got in common?
a: They've both been f*cked over by Goldsmiths
A.N. Other asks L.S. Where:
When are you going to apologise for all of the libellous bile that you have poured on these entirely innocent characters?
If he libelled them, let them sue. The dam of lies and cover-up will burst one day and Guido will be fully vindicated.
Denvalley - the Sith thing is as boring and useless as hell. Nothing will come of it. It's far more dull than the old Cash for Hons debacle.
Yesterday's news for yesterday's people.
The last Tory government didn't go down over one bit of sleaze but a growing body of evidence - this time it is Labour. Cash for Peerages is not over by a long chalk.
will guido be honouring this promise?
Friday, January 12, 2007
Fancy a Bet Fraser?
In this week's Speccie Fraser Nelson has a breathless piece on the Tory fundraising bonanza which includes, as an aside, the news that
"the once-formidable Blair-Levy double-act has been closed by the Metropolitan Police's investigation, soon to be handed to the Crown Prosecution Service. It will not, I understand, end in charges for Tony Blair or any of his senior lieutenants."
Fancy a bet Fraser? Loser buys lunch and a decent bottle of wine. Suspect the toast will be to the boys in blue...
Incidentally, the Observer's Mark Townsend, still hasn't paid up, but promises "soon". It has been three months...
UPDATE : Fraser Nelson has been in touch and the bet is on. He warns "I have an expensive taste in wine!" Excellent, so he won't mind Guido's choice...
These f*****s are above the law - as events in early 2003 proved (and I don't mean the war).
To sum up all the trolls: 'The CPS has been stitched up, and it's the best news ever! The guilty go free!!! YAAAAAAYYY!!!'
You must all be so proud to be members or apologists for such a corrupt government. Shame on you.
Surely this result is the biggest none-surprise since Paris Hilton was let out of jail early.
Amazing how after 18 months investigation, all that evidence going missing, they find nothing. I wonder who pays for all this wasted police time ...
Time for Yates to do as he promised. Get the information to the Parliamentary committee, and if necessary put it into the public domain.
I am sure an American publishing house would snap it up.
As for Yates, no doubt the Party have some horrible ending to his career in mind, so he best hurry.
We the public must support Yates in every way possible.
Yeah, yeah, but where's the caption contest?
Take courage, Guido.
The fall, when it comes, will be all the more precipitous.
Levy is notoriously loose-tongued. Just need to get someone with a wire close to him. Can't be that hard.
What was this all about then? Who won the Deputy Labour leadership election?
I don't know why it is that you people have a problem with our decision - you are worse than a bunch of overpaid, over-sexed, prissy prima donna premier league footballers with pathetically pussy-stroked egos who have just had a goal unfairly disallowed by the traditionally incompetent referee, but won't accept it like real gentlemen.
Our judgement is final and made strictly in accordance with the departmental code of practice, which is drawn up by the Director of Public Prosecutions - currently Ken MacDonald, who was appointed by Tony Blair on the recommendation of Cherie Booth, Mr MacDonald's former business partner. Our Director has flawless form and first class record - previously a defence barrister, he received a knighthood from the Queen (2007), never failed to prosecute a single case before his appointment, was convicted of supplying cannabis whilst a student at Oxford, and in his spare time makes small pizzas out of bagels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Macdonald
Guido,
This, as the Scots might say, may be more "Not Proven" than "Innocent".
The battle to stop State theft of our money to pay for political parties to tell us stuff we do not agree with is about to commence.
Typcial Sociofascists - intentionally break and destroy something so they can "fix it" to our disadvanage.
I'm not sure why people are so amazed that people who contribute to a party are more likely to be given honours by that same party. If, like the honest and upright Lord Ashcroft, you believe in what the Tories stand for, you give them money and they want you to be part of their gang, so move heaven and earth to get you a peerage. Where's the scandal there?
Surely Lord Levy should have advertised these peerages under European Law? They surely cross the threshold. Which means the ECJ could review them.
David said...
No surprise ....they are above the law.
As reported on the BBC a few days ago:
"The former prime minister told a Labour Party fundraising event........
Stopping when traffic lights were on red was also a new experience - as PM his driver used to go straight through."
11:34 AM, July 20, 2007
That is the point of police motorcycle escorts for Prime Ministers.
It was always going to be difficult to prove without someone admitting it. The statistics, powerful as they are, just suggest the possibility of a wrong doing, to progress a prosecution needs a high level of proof/evidence.
It is very like Hutton, we all heard the evidence, we all know something dodgy went on, but those who have the final say either decided not enough good evidence available, or are corrupt themselves.
I know what I think.
As for (apparently) Guido getting this wrong, many of us thought the same, and if there were no grounds to believe there could be a prosecution, why did it take 16 months of police investigation?
"the real point is this corruptive practise is unlikely to happen again"
Bullshit. I'm sorry, it would be great if true, but -- Bullshit. We are governed by scum and the chances of it not happening again are zero.
Yes, yes, 'innocent' until proven guilty. Of course if no one is allowed to try and prove the guilt the legitimacy of the innocent claim is a bit moot.
Surely better for all to have a prosecution? The new PM shows that he's for accountability, that it really is a new regime. Most likely they get off anyway. Now their just the same sleazy buggers they've always been.
And for all you gleeful idiots, because other leaders and parties have done it does NOT make it acceptable behaviour. Hold yourself and your party to a higher standard, not simply 'everyone does it, so do we'. The bottom of the barrel is already close enough.
Of course the PM doesn't stop at red lights. He doesn't need to, because roads are closed off for him. If they weren't, they'd present an unimaginable safety risk - all that would be required would be for a potential assassin to stop their car in front of the PM, and he'd be boxed in.
Think of what happened to Princess Anne.
Lamentably it seems Tony's sofa style government mean't there wasn't enough of a paper trail to nail the Sleazemeister.
So, no charges. Well, who would actually want to live in a society where to be accused is to be guilty?
However, the filtering of justice, for that is what it is, by the CPS must be tempered by the need for justice to be tested. Whether the evidence (from the Latin "that which is seen") can stand a public test we cannot now know - we are unlikely to see it. By the way what does "insufficient" mean in this context?
It is now the duty (something that you have to do because it is part of your job, or something that you feel is the right thing to do) of the CPS to state clearly why the evidence could not be tested. The usual defence of "not in the public interest" will not do. Neither will the defence of pre-determination - we know they done it, so let's bang 'em up without any need for proof. Locking people up without due process of law is something of a government monopoly.
This investigation was into the corruption of the legislature by the governing poltical party - an alleged fraud perpetrated against the public by the government. Therefore, the CPS should have prosecuted even if they believed the chances of conviction were poor. As we now stand the CPS is portrayed as an adjunct to corruption and not as part of an independent judiciary (again - BAE).
As it is the suspects will remain tainted with the whiff of corruption with their names forever associated with Loans for Lordships; presumed guilty for life in the eyes of many. If, however the evidence was tested before a jury (a group of people who have been chosen to listen to all the facts in a trial in a law court and to decide whether a person is guilty or not guilty, or whether a claim has been proved) we would know. It seems, however, that we are doomed to live in a society where only the government can resist the temptation of pre-determination and where the CPS should be renamed the Government Prosecution Agency.
Bastards all!
The Smith Institute appears to be a far stronger case.
Ok,Ok, I admit you had me there for a minute. This "British Justice", it's just like Russian Justice isn't it. Ho Ho
Proving conspiracy between two parties is always tricky, of course, and all the accused parties have to do is to issue stout denials, and ensure an absence of documentary proof. Admittedly, one Leaping Lord did say that he'd given, er, sorry, lent money on the 'understanding' (but not on the express condition) that he was to be made a K or a P, but that's hearsay, and Lord L denied having said it, and it was an unrecorded statement, natch.
Nor was there likely to be any written or recorded proof: these days no one says anything dodgy in an e-mail or even a phone call. And those pesky fires will keep breaking out and destroying any important files, oh dear, oh dear!..
But Labour were quite clearly evading the rules on election donations, and for Baroness Morgan to say (as she did on the World At One on BBC Radio 4) that 'it was the middle of an election' shows that these remedial NuLab infant politicians still haven't grasped the point of the electoral legislation, which is er, precisely intended to cover elections, m'lady. Helmut Kohl was done over for precisely the same thing, illegal donations under a different guise - no one suggested Kohl was personally enriching himself, but what he did was illegal, and he was prosecuted and convicted under German laws Britain then adopted. Kohl had left a financial paper trail, however, and NuLab have not.
What about a private prosecution, just for laughs? Is there scope under the law?
Rich: agreed, Smith Inst is a much stronger case, open and shut, but as any fule no, if attacked, GB would just tit-for tat and sock other charities (particularly conservative-ethos ones such public schools etc) with restrictive legislation. Before we pee all over him, let's check the wind direction first.
Anon 11:53. The perfect comment. Congrats.
cassander said...
Set up a foundation with a small team - an investigative journalist, a good lawyer, perhaps a forensic accountant, an administrator or two to manage the materials collected, and a couple of general purpose researchers.
Yep that'll do it.Pity we didn't go down that path first time,saved us a few bob.The voters can't wait for your little team to report,another vote winner.Will you be making monthly reports on this blog or sharing your findings with the wider world ? Perhaps you could enlist "the hitch" or "shotgun" to assist in compiling a dodgy dossier.Get the good posters over at Iains to join in,they like you live in a fantasy land,so it should make for a laugh.Best of luck keep us all posted as we rejoin the real world.
anonymous 12:09pm
Denvalley - the Sith thing is as boring and useless as hell. Nothing will come of it. It's far more dull than the old Cash for Hons debacle.
Yesterday's news for yesterday's people.
Agreed, it's as dull as dishwater - but there's no hiding the fact that it's 100% pure unadulterated dishwater. Can't wait to see the plug pulled and watch the lot of them gurgle down the drain.
Peter said...
I'm with Paul Linford.
This isn't over.
Oh yes it is, for the ordinary voter it is well and truly over,in fact they are bored silly by it.
WhiteCrowUK