Levy Sweats it Out
Just got back from popping in on Sleazy Levy's book launch for A Question of Honour. Guido doesn't usually do the London political scene cocktail circuit, however for Levy, well, Guido thought he would make an exception. The venue (Daunts in Marylebone) was not air-conditioned and the sweat was dripping off the guests. Guido didn't waste much time hanging about.The place was filled to gills with hacks and Guido had to push a few out of the way to make it to the drinks (sorry Emily). Admittedly Guido left early and the only MP Guido spotted was Charles Clarke. Perhaps the PM or the Blairs will drop in later, or perhaps not...
30 comments:
I don't get out much these days, so can someone versed in the ways of the Quality tell me if it is now the custom to include a life peer's first name in his title? Calling him Lord Michael Levy makes him sound like the younger son of a Duke, which I suspect he is not. Alternatively, since he is being puffed as an "author", shouldn't they just call him Michael Levy?
Don't worry Guido, I'm sure you didn't miss much (apart from the free Bar). Levy's Tome is not exactly a rivetting read and most of us knew that Gordo was aware of the 'Cash for Honours' issue way before this earth-shattering revelation came our way courtesy of Lord Cashpoint. Nothing to see here - move along please....
OT - but.....
http://www.labourhome.org/story/2008/5/12/81258/0129
First elected in 1997 - Maj. 13,219
Re-elected in 2001 - Maj. 8,157
Re-elected in 2005 - Maj. 4,377
Can't imagine why he's going...
Methinks you do protest too much.
Face it. When you report back how much you were really reluctant to attend this event many are going to suspect your motives and that vanity didn't play a part.
You were hobnobbing. A glass of wine or two separates you from brown-nosing.
He's either Lord Levy or Michael Levy. The "having it both ways" exposes him as the usual NuLab Blairite wanker shoved into the Upper House without either the honour or skill to warrant his presence there in spite of his book title. His book will spare him any lingering interest when he is dead.
Ghastly little turd.
Levy on 'Honour'. Brown on 'Courage'. A pattern emerges. At least Prescott didn't call his book 'Courtesy'.
Ot but sky just showed the Telegraphs front page and what do we see?.The housing market is the worst for 30yrs! wonder who was in power then hhmm 1978 thats a hard one.
Groundhog day.
Sleazy Levy, Prescott and Cherie Blair are now cashing in on Dishing the Dirt on Gordon Brown, knifing a man when he is down. However,they are not people that are admired or liked.
I think the public are genuinely sick of Cherie and what she will do for money. I don’t think she is about ability, as her portrait, painted in her youth, suggests. Further, does Cherie give an explanation or even mention in her book, her daughter’s suicide attempt at the age of 16 or is the British press still holding back on this? The sudden rush to publish, keeping Gordon Brown in negative headlines, could it be that press own the publishing houses too? Gordon and Sarah Brown still have their dignity intact; something one can’t say about Cherie Blair.
There is a justifiable storm over the 10p tax, but this does not equate to Blair’s Iraqi War. The truth of the matter is that the Blair’s fouled in the number 10 nest and the Browns have to make the best of it.
Say what you like about Blair, the guy's a genius. Here he is in the 1980s, lacking certain qualities which the world seems to value, viz. a work ethic, principles, convictions of any sort. He is not very good at lawyering, by all accounts, and ponders various avenues of self advancement. Question: where is the motherlode? What is the position in British life which is the fount of all patronage? How, by virtue of the judicious dispensation of said patronage, can all wealth be persuaded to flow in the opposite direction (that is to say, towards myself)?
In short: how can I, lacking talent, principles or drive, enrich myself to the maximum while expending the minimum effort? [Addendum: this should ideally be done within the framework of the law. If not, I should be able to escape prosecution.]
Hmmm.
Perceiving the Conservatives to be invincibly led, at the time, by Margaret Thatcher, his attention is drawn to the other party, a ragbag of crypto and not-so-crypto Marxists and sundry bruvvers, many sporting flat caps and dwelling in barbaric and little-known parts of the UK such as Wales and the North. They are mostly cretins who can be led hither and thither by the nose. He observes that the party is in disarray and has no chance of winning a general election in its present form.
In other words, it is an ideal candidate for infiltration and subversion. It can with a few swift moves be converted into a second conservative party, and as such will prove an ideal vehicle for his rapid ascension to the throne of omnipotence.
It should be said here that Blair is by nature's gift a confidence trickster: plausible, personable, charming, all things to all men. When you speak to him you believe that you alone exist in his world; that he hears and absorbs all you say and will act upon it forthwith. Never mind that his mind is elsewhere at the time, focused like the sun's burning rays on the question of himself!
As you will know, to your bitter cost, all as prophesied by St Tony came to pass. He remade the Party in his own image, and saw that it was good. Kinnock, the St John who came before and prepared the way (we gloss over Smith, an irrelevance) sidelined the Derek Hatton tendency for him. Tony's remaining task was trivial by comparison. He needed merely to pull the wool over the eyes of the bruvvers. He gave them their own idol to worship, Prescott, and with this they seemed, despite a few low grumblings, satisfied. Tony had not underestimated them.
By now the Tories were self destructing. He could hardly believe his luck. If fooling the bruvvers had been easy, hoodwinking the middle classes was a piece of cake.
How natural it was that Michael Levy and Tony Blair should be mutually attracted. One a small-time impresario, the other a small-time actor; the first already rubbing shoulders with, and a member of, the nouveaux riches of north-west London, and the second eager for the trappings of wealth and ease. Imagine -- tennis with the man behind Alvin Stardust. You can't get much further from t'pit than that.
This, then, is the structure of the New Labour project. A swindle. Basically, no more than a swindle, with no object other than the advancement of its chief architect. While it was running, nothing was too precious to sacrifice. British sovereignty, the integrity of our borders, the entire heritage and economy: all these were expended like so much barbecue fuel at one of Levy's Sunday-morning gatherings.
Sooner or later, it had to come to an end. Given his conduct, that end would inevitably be ruinous. So he handed control beforetimes to his surly Scottish henchman and made an elegant escape.
Levy, dropped now of course, cannot really be blamed for scraping a few quid from the bottom of the barrel. Like Blair's wife, he made sure his memoirs were published in the most profitable period, before the whole Labour Party imploded and there was no one left to embarrass.
I wonder what Brown's memoirs will say, and whether anyone will want to publish or even read them.
Push Emily Maitlis. How dare you!!
That's the title ?
I think the words CASH and FOR are missing between the of and honour in that title.
+ Did I hear this right? the 10p tax problem was... wait for it .. Alistair Darling's fault!
From Ed Balls today after his attack on FF.
"Alistair Darling, he suggested, failed to focus on family finances and if the credit crunch's impact had been anticipated "different decisions would have been taken". This, Team Brown believes, is why people are unhappy."
I may be wrong, but in March 2007 wasn't he the minister for destroying the post offices and not the Chancellor of the exchequer?
Yes I'm sure that's right..
Oh wait.. here's a black and white photo of the Labour leaders in fur coats and hats waving to a parade of tanks and troops in Trafalgar square.
Nope, I was wrong.. quite clearly Darling is the chancellor.. Brown stands next to him holding a stop the war placard. Blair, he appears not to be in the photo at all just a Blair shaped space where he would have been standing..
There's a caption on the back.
"Minister for goodness and green issues Gordon Brown brings troops back from Basra , while minister for poverty CHaNceLlor Darling looks on." March 2007
A trolley-dolly friend who's been with British Airways for some 25 years said Levy was the rudest passenger she has ever encountered. Perhaps not the rudest of all, but certainly the rudest among those who "ought to know better".
On one flight, travelling first class of course, he refused to put his hand baggage in the overhead locker. She pleaded with him that it could slice someone's head off but he refused, launching into the old "don't you know who I am?" routine.
She then pointed out that the pilot was required by law not to take off with loose luggage in the passenger area. He then tried to intimidate her with the names of all the important people he was going to see. He also demanded her own name and said he'd report her.
I have known this woman since childhood. She is as diplomatic, good humoured and experienced as they come. To her, Levy is still the most repulsive little shit she has ever had the pleasure of gobbing into a passenger's scrambled egg.
Damn sound chap that Dennis (21.59) barks the Colonel
Dennis, a brilliant precis of the ten years beore rwn. You should have a blog all of your own!
Dennis writes:
How natural it was that Michael Levy and Tony Blair should be mutually attracted. One a small-time impresario, the other a small-time actor; the first already rubbing shoulders with, and a member of, the nouveaux riches of north-west London, and the second eager for the trappings of wealth and ease...
Excellent analysis, but Bliar isn't the only one who's done very nicely by the New Labour con. Levy got the UK into Iraq and the nouveaux riches of north-west London are considerably richer thanks to PFI, corrupt planning permissions, etc. These two were at the heart of cash for honours:
Deputy PM’s £500m deal for Labour’s secret lenders
John Prescott gave the go-ahead for a firm of developers to build an enormous shopping centre months after the owners of the company secretly gave Labour a £3.3 million loan. Sir David Garrard and Andrew Rosenfeld, the “Minerva Two”, won the backing of the Deputy Prime Minister, to build a £500 million retail centre in Croydon, south London, which will become one of the country’s 10 biggest shopping malls...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1513993/Deputy-PM's-andpound500m-deal-for-Labour's-secret-lenders.html
Dennis - bang on. I always reckoned Miranda (aka Bliar) was the best charismatic rep. I've ever seen. He'd sold a shed load of double glazing. A shallow crowd pleasing self promoting shit. He conned a nation, well most of it.
Just seen a clip on Newsnight with the book launch, did you try to avoid the BBC tv cameras Guido?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7396899.stm
BROWN BRINGS DOWN A PLANE
More evidence of the Jonah curse! "It wasn't the PM, honest".
"Push Emily Maitlis. How dare you!!"
Well, if he pushed het tits?
Who the hell buys and reads these books by Levy,Prescott and Mrs Blair?Do they really sell at all?Or is it just another nulabour con.Any fool contemplating purchasing one should consider buying a Thomas the Tank Engine book instead.Much more true to life and a far better read.
bogeyman (10.25pm) ... he should have known better than to upset anyone who would have access to his food, shows what an arrogant, but ignorant, prick he is :-)
I keep hearing Levy's "Brown & Dromey - J'accuse" line, but have yet to hear an interviewer try and nail him on a couple of points.
One is - if he knew/though that a donor/lender might assume that there was preferment waiting for their generosity, why didn't he warn them otherwise?.
Te other is - if he knew very well who the Party Treasurer and Election Leader were, why didn't he refer the potential donor/lender to them?.
Of course, we've yet to hear from Bliar, so perhaps the Wide-Mouthed Frog's book (and further book?) are doing is selling his story without having to spot the gaps.
Arseholes the lot of them.
"Damn sound chap that Dennis (21.59) barks the Colonel"
Terrific stuff. Dennis should go far.
( not Dennis ).
I was in Malaysia a couple of years back when Cherie Blair swanned in via private jet to seek permission to fight a case for a rich client.
In Federal Court she seated herself at the defence table and was promptly ordered by the very miffed judge to remove herself to the public gallery. A mistake of protocal that probably contributed to all 5 high court judges unaminmously dismissing her application to practise in Malaysia.
Later, after Cherie boasted of seven other high profile commerical cases, a local lawyer replied; "hardly an outstanding achievement for a barrister of 30 years’ standing and a QC of 11 years’ standing".
Quite.
Criminals who write their autobiography lose the proceeds of any royalties to the benefit of their victims. I wonder if perhaps we should bring in the same ruling for politicians and their 'fixers'
Cherie Blair :-
Daughter of a man who tells porkies,
Married to a man who tells
porkies,
Has now decided to go solo and
tell porkies.
Lord Levy - A question of honour.
Shurely shome mishtake. Shouldn't it read:
Lord Levy - NO question of honour.
Cunts, all. Double tap - the only answer.
"Criminals who write their autobiography lose the proceeds of any royalties to the benefit of their victims."
Partly, you pre-empted my question.
It isn't criminals per se; it is people who breach their fiduciary duties. The example that immediately springs to mind is AG v Blake, although Blake was a traitor. However, a question for the lawbores; aren't all these biographies (not especially sleazy levy's) such as Blair's, Prescott's, and that failed blind home secretary's, aren't they borne out of a breach of fiduciary duty? As such, shouldn't the profits result to the electorate? Irrespective of whether or not there is any criminality involved?
Anyone?
I sincerely hope the Emily you rudely shoved aside on your too-hasty progress to the bar was not the much admired blonde bumshell who exposes her brain on Newsnight? If so, I will come and duff you over.
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