Oh dear. Jack Straw and Malcolm Rifkind have both been caught out in a sting operation staged by the Daily Telegraph and Channel 4’s
Dispatches. The former Foreign Secretaries revealed that they were willing to
sell their services to a fictitious Chinese company, with Straw providing the
bargain-basement option, only asking for £5,000 – “So normally, if I’m doing a
speech or something, it’s £5,000 a day, that’s what I charge.” Rifkind, by
contrast, who could arrange “useful access” to any UK ambassador, stated that
his services could be purchased for the region of £5,000-£8,000 per half day.
Why was Rifkind doing this? Well, despite being an MP, with the perfectly
respectable associated salary and perks, he stated: “I am self-employed – so nobody
pays me a salary. I have to earn my income.”
“Self-employed”? Since when has an MP been “self-employed”?
In Rifkind’s case, it would seem to be just a slight matter of confusing
tenses, for I am sure that should he continue and stand in the next General
Election, that voters will grant his wish for him to be “self-employed”, as he
will no longer be MP for Kensington. Straw on the other hand, will be standing down in May. The Labour Party will doubtless be relieved.
This evening's Dispatches will make for interesting viewing.
This evening's Dispatches will make for interesting viewing.
More revelations about potentially corruptible politicians. Quelle surprise! Is there any other kind of politician?
ReplyDeletePerhaps that could be the subject of the next news scoop: honest and upstanding politician discovered working in Westminster.
DeleteNo surprse ths has happened really. Both of them hold safe seats wth Jac Straw beng the MP for seat of Blacburn (majorty 9000 odd over the Tores and 21.7% (therefore the Tores would need to have a 'swng' of 10.6% to remove hm) and Malcom Rfnd beng the MP for ensgnton n the West End of London whch covers some of not just Brtan's but the world's most expensve real estate. Blllonare's Row (ensngton Palace Gardens) s n hs seat as s Harrods. Hs majorty s nearly 9000 and the percentage majorty s 24.5% over Labour.
ReplyDeleteBascally both a Labour canddate n Blacburn and a Tory canddate n ensgnton get a 'seat for lfe' so there s your reason for why thngs le ths happen.
am very sorry for my numerous spellng mstaes. The reason why s that several eys don't wor on my computer.
Barry
You've got a bad keyboard problem there Barry. What happened to it?
DeleteWell, what with Straw standing down and Rifkind having the party whip withdrawn, it looks as if neither may be standing in May. Rifkind intends to of course, but will the Conservative Party allow him to? You make a good point about Rifkind's seat though. Come to think of it, given the composition of a substantial slice of his electors, they might well look upon his actions as an example of 'good business practice.'
sure have! thn some small crumbs of food etc have got nto t. t sn't a very well desgned eyboard anyway to be fran. ts a Dell. Yes as a consderable part of the electorate there are made-up of the nternatonal super-rch they probably wll thn that. t just goes to show though that once elected to a safe seat MPs can get up to pretty much anythng and unless ther consttuency party dsapproves of ther actons they won't be removed from offce. The electors barely have a chance n places le Blaburn or ensngton. We need PR and recall of MPs!
ReplyDeleteBarry
Thanks for reminding me about the PR issue. I'll have to write something on it one day.
Delete