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Cash for Peerages; several
nominees for life peerages (nominated by Tony Blair), were rejected
by the House of Lords Appointments Commission. It was later revealed
they had loaned large amounts of money to the Labour Party, apparently
at the suggestion of fundraiser Lord Levy. It was reported that
the peerages were a quid pro quo for the loans, and the incident
was referred to the Police. Loans are not subject to reporting
requirements to the Electoral Commission in the same way that
donations are. However, party Treasurer Jack Dromey, stated publicly
that neither he nor Labour's National Executive Committee chairman
had knowledge of the loans and had only become aware when he
read about it in the newspapers. Dromey announced his own investigation
and called on the Electoral Commission to investigate the issue
of political parties taking out loans from non-commercial sources.
Dromey had intended to reveal his inquiry later last week, but
having heard that Tony Blair intended to announce an inquiry
the following day, toured television studios announcing his inquiry,
fearing a Downing Street smear. Blair responded in panic, saying
that he wanted to shake up the honours system and improve the
rules covering party funding.
It all began to look
a little shaky for Blair, rapidly diving in the polls. Feverish
reports in the press suggested that he seemed to be about to
sing his swan song. I can't honestly remember why I used Waterhouse's
image of Tennyson's Lady of Shalott, but I think it was something
to do with a pervasive feeling of Blair being up "Shitte
Creeke" without ye paddle and of someone drifting off to
death because of succumbing to temptation (money in Blair's case).
An opportunistic knight in rusty armour, Gordon Brown, looks
on from the bank, rather pleased.
The Guardian; Monday
20/3/06 |
