Total of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan = 415
Apostle of transparency Baroness Warsai forgot to register rent. Tory slide into new sleaze, not yet the deepest but certainly the swiftest. Only the utterly blind and deluded Tory party loyalist can believe that Jeremy Hunt can survive. Step forward Louise Mensch who mysteriously squeals in delight at his prospects. She can see no problems in the evidence of that Tory Minister was heavily lobbied by a lobbyist with secret messages and meetings in 'discreet' places. We all know what they had to hire. What explanation can there be to paint as innocent the incredible 191 calls, 158 emails and 1,056 texts between a News Corp lobbyist and Mr Hunt's office during the time the £8billion takeover was being considered?
Even the Daily Mail has deserted the cause. They said, 'It's bad enough that, as the Leveson Inquiry heard, Jeremy Hunt considered it appropriate to act as the Murdoch empire's Cabinet cheerleader - writing a pleading letter to the Prime Minister urging him to back the hugely contentious BskyB takeover bid.
But doesn't it defy belief that, only a month after this memo was written in 2010, and only days before enjoying a Christmas dinner at the home of a senior Murdoch executive, David Cameron saw no conflict of interest in making the clearly biased Mr Hunt the supposedly quasi-judicial, independent arbiter of whether the deal should be approved?
Disturbingly, it's only part of the emerging picture of a Tory party which, from the Prime Minister down, had grown so sickeningly close to News Corporation that it seemed to lose its marbles. Is Hunt planning a resignation to avoid full exposure. He could take the Liam Fox route of Absolution through Resignation.
Instead of draining the political lobbying sewer as promised, Cameron dived in so deeply all that is visible are the soles of his Gucci shoes.
To measure the deterioration of Tory principles, this is what Cameron said in February 2010.
"It’s an issue that crosses party lines and has tainted our politics for too long...an issue that exposes the far-too-cosy relationship between politics, government, business and money. I’m talking about lobbying – and we all know how it works. The lunches, the hospitality, the quiet word in your ear, the ex-ministers and ex-advisors for hire, helping big business find the right way to get its way. In this party, we believe in competition, not cronyism. We believe in market economics, not crony capitalism. So we must be the party that sorts all this out. Today it is a £2 billion industry that has a huge presence in Parliament. The Hansard Society has estimated that some MPs are approached over one hundred times a week by lobbyists. I believe that secret corporate lobbying, like the expenses scandal, goes to the heart of why people are so fed up with politics. It arouses people’s worst fears and suspicions about how our political system works."
Now they have surrendered to their pals in the lobbying industry.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/anger-at-tories-over-lobbying-whitewash-6292678.html
Comments