Beyond Hypocrisy

The Labour MP Graham Allen attacks John Major:

"During his tenure donations were not all declared and foreign donations were commonplace. It took a Labour government to end those scandals and introduce legislation to bring greater transparency to party funding."

You what? Ending scandals like Cash for Peerages? Greater transparency like in the Donorgate scandal?

Doublethink, pure and simple.

Lord Levy Calls For Cap On Party Donations

No, really. See here for details.

I am speechless. Absolutely speechless. Lord Levy. Offering advice on political donations.

Staggering.

The Double Standard

Via DK I see UKIP have got themselves into more than a spot of bother with The Electoral Commission. In fact, they could be crippled owing to a technicality relating to donations. Of course, it is tempting to say that if they have earned themselves a major financial penalty through not following the rules then that is their own fault – even if it is a draconian punishment completely out of proportion with the alleged wrongdoing/crime.

Then you see the white-washing of the Liberal Democrats in spite of their acceptance of funds from a man who is a now convicted crook, and it all jars. I have tried to look at this from a number of different angles but from every perspective this sticks in the back of my throat. This does seem to be one rule for the main parties, and another for the smaller ones. I can’t help but feel that part of the reasoning behind this choice is that the Lib Dems – by sheer weight of numbers – can make more noise than UKIP.

UKIP have had their fair share of woes and have taken on people that they really, really shouldn’t have done in senior party positions. But it is the burden of small parties to be left wide open to hi-jacking by nakedly populist or high-profile figures. The fringe elements of a small party will seem to be shouting louder than the fringe elements of larger parties, but this is also inevitable given the sheer weight of numbers. So I support UKIP in their woes with the Electoral Commission, because I think they are being unfairly treated because of their public perception and because of their small size relative to the major parties in this country.

UKIP may yet come to play a major part in the political scene in the UK. I think they will only do so if they become the Independence Party and when they dump the Poundstretcher symbol as their logo. But I am sure of one thing – if they are strangled at birth by the Electoral Commission (who will simply dump the money with the Treasury*) then they will never achieve anything long-lasting in the national political scene. Which, given the utterly anodyne and spineless parties currently leading this country, could be a real tragedy.

*h/t: Mr E

Please Stop Mr Policeman

According to Hazel Blears, Nu Labour's cross between a chipmunk and a shrill harpy, the cash-for-peerages saga is having a "corrosive effect" by "going on for months and months" (link). At first it might look like Blears has realised that her boss clinging to power in the face of a criminal investigation is bad for the country. But no - if you study her comments a bit more you get to the crucial phrase:

"I want the investigation to be brought to a conclusion as quickly as possible."

In other words, please stop investigating us you nasty policemen. My Tony has done nothing wrong, I know because he said so and he would never ever lie.

Of course the investigation could end very soon. Although perhaps not in the way Nu Labour would like...

Lord Levy Arrested. Again.

See here for details.

Charges are coming, a trial looms. As far as I can see Blair is now in deep shit. And you know what? It couldn't have happened to a more deserving person.

Things Can Only Get Worse

This is a really rather wonderful deconstruction of our incumbent government and their issues. Not sure things can only get better for Blair - as this (via Mr Eugenides) rather wonderful picture shows. Wouldn't it be great if Blair ends up in court? Especially if he is positioned in the dock.

Oh, and the Devil's Kitchen highlights a great petition that everyone should sign up for.

Via the eagle eyes of the Moai, I note that Tony Blair has been interviewed by the police as part of the cash for peerages investigation.

Just to re-iterate - a sitting Prime Minister, questioned by the police, over a corruption scandal. Not under caution and not with his lawyer admittedly, but here's hoping this scandal hastens the wonderful day when Blair finally leaves number 10. Preferably with him ceasing to be Her Majesty's Prime Minister and instead becoming a guest at Her Majesty's Pleasure. From No. 10 to being bum raped in Brixton prison. Still a long away off, but here's hoping...

Polonium 210

What with all the excitement over Cameron embracing the dark side last week, I completely forgot to comment on the illness and death of Litvinenko. His death is obviously a tragedy for his friends and family, but there is something more unnerving about the whole affair than just being another murder.

I have always seen the world of espionage as being a seedy, unpleasant world of petty brutality and constant paranoia. Like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy or Harry Palmer. Markov being murdered with a poisoned umbrella is as imaginative as my perception of the real world of espionage gets. But the way Litvinenko died is worthy of a James Bond film - to murder someone with a radioactive element would not be out of place in The World Is Not Enough. And with other people being tested for exposure to radiation, the use of polonium 210 could yet prove to be lethal to more than just Litvinenko. It is the very opposite of a drab, domestic killing.

But it is not just the fantastical elements to the murder that interest and horrify me. I believe that the simplest explanation is more often that not the correct one. Consequently I believe Lee Harvey Oswald murdered JFK, that Sirhan Sirhan murdered RFK. John Hinckley acted alone when he turned his weapon on Ronald Reagan, and there was no Jewish or CIA conspiracy behind 9/11 - a group of sick bastard terrorists backed by bin Laden hijacked those planes and committed mass murder. It may be a lack of imagination, it may be a surplus of realism/cynicism, but most of the conspiracy theories I have heard are complete and total toss. Those murders were the work of random loners, not global conspiracies. They were not state sponsored murder.

With Litvinenko's murder, though, there is no way that it can be the work of a random nutter. This is not the work of a Barry George - rather, it has to be backed by a state or at least a *security* organisation. They murdered him with a substance that comes from a nuclear power station. The long, slow, painful of death seems to suggest two things - first of all, whoever killed Litvinenko really wanted him to suffer. And also, whoever wanted to murder him almost seemed to want the publicity, the outcry, the global media attention.

Put simply, they wanted to make an example of Litvinenko.

It is still early days in the murder investigation, and who knows what that will turn up in the future. But the immediate conclusion is that Putin - or someone senior in Putin's administration - ordered the murder of Litvinenko. And they wanted it done in a public, painful way. They wanted to show their strength, to set up the dissident as an example for others. It is an unpleasant and unnerving thought - that if you make the wrong enemies, they will find you, and get you, no matter what.