Silence is base metal

It was fine display of silky obfuscation delivered in Civil Service speak by a King Mandarin.

I asked the witnesses at today's PASC interrogation, 'Lord Ashcroft promised to live here permanently, pay taxes on his overseas income and become a full time working peer. He did none of these things. Were you deceived?'  

A simple yes or no would have sufficed. Instead we were taken on a giddy merry go round of double speak by Sir Hayden Phillips who said, ' What we know is that, implicit in that agreement was the failure to make explicit the fact that PHSC had clear reservations and I was not asked to convey those reservations explicitly back to the Conservative Party. That is where the system, as it were, did not complete what, with hindsight, people’s expectations were.” It was an 'Im' not an  'Ex.' He repeated the 'im' and the 'ex' in at least further replies later.

Baroness Dean answered in standard English.

“We were continually of the view that Lord Ashcroft would maintain his undertaking to take up permanent residence,” she said. “It looks like the commitments and undertakings given were not carried through.”  

She admitted  that she had been shocked and surprised to hear two weeks ago that he was still not a full UK taxpayer. She had assumed that Lord Ashcroft had fulfilled his undertaking to become a "permanent resident" of the UK.

But the most eloquent testimony came from the two empty chairs where Lord Ashcroft and William Hague should have been sitting. It's unparliamentary behaviour to refuse to defend yourselves. Politicians do this well. Their absence is convincing evidence of guilt.

William Hague did not add to his reputation by dodging our interrogation. He would not have brushed off Gordon Prentice and Tony Wright as easily as he bamboozled Even Davies on the Today's programme today. It's thanks to the persistent questioning of Gordon Prentice that the truth has been revealed.

In a brief unselfish intervention today, Committee Member Kelvin Hopkins paid tribute to Gordon's campaign. No-one really noticed the absence of the three Tory Committee members who had been ordered to stay away by their whips. On the basis of their past feeble performances they would have been outclassed by our main inquisitors, anyway. Charles Walker  and Ian Liddell-Granger have been commendably independent in the past, but forensic questioning is not one of their skills. Charles has been  become a favourite of the Civil Service press because of his unpredictability and directness. Ian has become a bit of a media tart and has played up to sketch writers by repeating their  abuse of committee witnesses. Neither of them are shrinking violets or parliamentary cowards. MPs talk their way out of trouble. They do not run off and hide their heads under pillows. The three of them should have been in their seats yesterday fighting their corner.

This is the last meeting of PASC. Tony Wright is standing down at the election. It's a great pity  that the brilliant work of this courageous independent committee should end with an act of base political spite by the Tory Whips. Tony has won every accolade for his chairmanship and reforming originality.

His reputation will live on, long after the stink of petty malice has evaporated.

Pensions con

Always accentuating the negative,  The Mail attacks the Government on pensions. They have long ignored the many above inflation increases for pensioners introduced by Labour.

Not a word from them when Labour trebled the value of cold weather payments last year. They ignore the  new Labour benefits of Pensions' Credit and Savings Credit  enjoyed by nearly 3 million pensioners. They silent on the  popular Winter Fuel Allowance, introduced by Labour and increased from £50 to £250.

The current boost in the basic pension enjoyed by all pensioners is a real increase of 3.9% above inflation. From £62 in 1997 it has risen to nearly £98. This is a fair deal at time of financial crisis. Pensioners remember that the Tories severed the pensions link and delivered 17 years of below real inflation changes in basic pensions.

The Tories cheated the pensioners. Labour is not perfect but it has done a creditable job with several valuable new entitlements.

Comments

[Richard T]

I hope in the coming days that some fire will be directed at William Hague. His self evident lack of judgement and integrity in the Ashcroft case has been long visible - the ennoblement of Conrad Black, the ringing endorsement of Lord Archer, the cynical 2001 election campaign and his creative efforts to find the Tories' their new friends on the wilder shores of politics in Eastern Europe.

The man is not fit for any office let alone the prospective Foreign Secretary should Heaven help us the Tories win the election.

Generalising from a particular, it does seem to me that part of the reason for the Tory slippage in the opinion polls is that folk have begun see who might be in the prospective Tory government and are underwhelmed.

[Tony]

What mackes me wonder is that you have

a) Ashcroft - own goal for the Tories
b) cuts , cuts and more cuts for a concerned electorate - turkeys don't vote for Christmas
c) A PM who seems to have a problem with figures on defense spending - Labour
d) a Budget deficit the same size as the one (proportionately) that we had to fight a World War to accrue - Labour
e) a structural deficit because of over spending - Labour
f) income inequality up - Labour
g) economy skewed towards financial services - both your Houses ..

What kind of choice is this I have in May ? Its looking a lot like two puppets on the hands of the same pupper master ..

[HuwOS]

"What kind of choice is this I have in May ? Its looking a lot like two puppets on the hands of the same pupper master" - Tony

There's more than 2 choices Tony, although it certainly suits New ToryLabour for you to not think that way.

[Paul Flynn]

Thanks Tony and HuwOS, Cannot disagree with all what you say. It would be far worse if the Tories had been in power. The contest goes in two weeks times from a national to a constituency focus. in Newport it will definitely be a two horse race. Voting for third parties could ensure that the Tory slips through. It should not be encouraged - except for those third parties who take Tory votes.

[Darren Midgley]

you forgot :-

h) An Ex-PM that has profitted hugely from the Iraq War, and tried to hide his profiteering - though I suspect that if it was a Tory PM, he/she would have done the same.

[valleylad]

Sorry Paul - zanulabour get 1/10 on pensions. Ignore any means tested benefits and show that the state pension has had a significant part of the decline with respect to wages restored (after factoring in council tax) and I'll have some sympathy.

As it is, I'm with HowOS - one far right authoritarian party fighting a slightly nastier one. The main message I hope MP's get from the next election is the complete contempt the majority of the population have for them.

[Kay Tie]

"turkeys don't vote for Christmas"

But Christmas still comes whether they vote for it or not.

The nation is a borrower, and has to appease the lenders or not get their money. If the nation doesn't change its ways by cutting its overspend and live within its means then it won't get lent any money, and then it will simply have to cut its overspend instantly to zero. This is as inevitable as Christmas coming.