Look Mum - I'm A Published Author

<----THE BIG RED BOOK OF NEW LABOUR SLEAZE---- >

Goldsmith Goes

I am delighted at the news that Lord Goldsmith is to step down next week. I hope that he had no involvement in the "cash for peerages" investigation, but thanks nonetheless to those who signed this 10 Downing Street petition. In my opinion, he should have left a long time ago, but his compromised position stems from institutional weaknesses that still need to be tackled.

The notion that investigations or prosecutions can be stopped "in the public interest" is questionable, (I support the idea that rule of law should operate without fear or favour) but this power certainly shouldn't be concentrated in an individual who sits at the Cabinet table.

Oppose Censorship In Venezuala

To prevent another anti-democratic move, I am backing this campaign to protect the freedom of the press in Venezuela. By inciting violence against the media in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez has already undermined the workings of the press and caused self-censorship. The growing coalition backing this campaign includes the European Parliament, the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (including Senators Lugar, Dodd, Clinton, Obama, Kennedy, and McCain) and organizations as diverse as Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International.

Disgusting Hypocrites

Meanwhile, certain so-called democrats from the British Labour Party and the "liberal elite" stand side-by-side with Chavez. First this from Labour MP Colin Burgon in the Guardian and then this letter in the same rag.

For all of Cruddas' blather of democracy as he pitches for the Deputy Leadership, don't forget that he is strongly in favour of ID cards - 3 million Venezuelans are discriminated against for signing a petition in 2004. It is deeply worrying that Cruddas and others on this list are influential within the UK's governing party. Turns out that both MPs on this list have previous with Chavez. Still unsure? More on Chavez here. And don't forget the price that Chavez put on the cheap oil that he supplies to London's Mayor - Ken Livingstone. Genetic scanning and fingerprinting and cctv technologies. Source.

Rather puts the grammar schools debate into perspective. Well it ought to.

Lord Goldsmith's Predecessor Backs Campaign For Goldsmith To Stand Aside

There is an excellent article by Tom Harper in the Telegraph today about Attorney General Lord Goldsmith's role in the "loans for lordships" cases.

When I submitted my 10 Downing Street petition for approval a week ago (it took four days to get the nod), the potential conflicts of interest were already clear. Sir Ken Macdonald, the director of Public Prosecutions, had stood aside from this case because he was a member of the same chambers as the prime minister's wife. However, Lord Goldsmith had already clarified his intention to stay in post for constitutional reasons.

Lord Goldsmith's main line of argument for staying in post has been blown out of the water with the revelation that a law passed in 1997 allows the former Labour donor to delegate his powers to the Solicitor General.

In today's Telegraph, the Attorney General's predecessor, former Tory law chief, Lord Lyell of Markyate agrees that Peter Goldsmith should not personally take the decision over prosecutions in the cash-for-honours scandal.

As legal professionals have pointed out a judge would remove himself entirely from a case even if it only appeared that he had a conflict of interest. During the week, further potential conflicts have been uncoverred. Norman Baker Lib Dem MP for Lewes has revealed that Goldsmith has visited Israel at the expense of an organisation close to Lord Levy. Further, it appears more than likely that Blair will be required to appear as a witness. Goldsmith is a good friend of Blair, a fellow Cabinet member and was appointed as a Labour party peer in 1999 by Blair.

Do you agree he should stand aside? Then please sign and publicise the 10 Downing Street petition.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/seentobedone/

"Stand Aside Goldsmith" Petition Is Live

Do you feel strongly about having an independent judiciary?

Make your voice heard here and tell your friends.

My First 10 Downing Street Petition

When the police passed their files to the CPS on Friday containing allegations thought to relate to the 1925 Honours Act and perverting the course of justice, sensible commentators called for Lord Goldsmith to stand aside due to his numerous conflicts of interest. Blogged here and here. Over the weekend, Lord Goldsmith made it clear he has no intention to do so.



I have presented the above petition (click to enlarge) to the number 10 team for approval and will let you know if/when this goes live. It will be called the seentobedone petition as justice must be seen to be done. Other ideas to force the government's hand are of course welcomed. Go to comments box with your suggestions.

Stand Aside Lord Goldsmith

One aspect of government that all its citizens are subject to are the laws of the land enforced by the criminal justice system. If there is a lack of public confidence in the fairness of this system, respect for the bodies supposed to be managing law and order is lost and law and order itself may be undermined.

A conflict of interest is when someone in a position of trust has competing professional and/or personal interests. In the case of the legal system, where it is the public's confidence that is at risk, a perceived conflict of interest is just as important as an actual conflict of interest. This underlies the maxim that not only must justice be done but it must be seen to be done. This principle applies at all levels of the legal system. It is why the juror who mentions any connection with the defendant will probably be asked to stand down at a criminal trial.

This is all pretty standard stuff, so WHY THE HELL DOES IT NEED SPELLING OUT TO ATTORNEY GENERAL LORD GOLDSMITH THAT HE SHOULD STAND ASIDE?

Please feel free to add to this list of his conflicts of interest on the "Loans for Peerages" case passed to the CPS.

1. Goldsmith was appointed by Tony Blair who has been questioned in respect of this case.
2. Goldsmith has donated to the Labour Party. The case passed to the CPS is likely to have significant financial ramifications on that organisation.
3. The case passed to the CPS relates to entrance to an elite club of which Goldsmith is a member (The House Of Lords).
4. Said lordship was handed to Goldsmith by Tony Blair.
5. The Grauniad reported that Blair has influenced Goldsmith in the past.

Convinced yet? Some might say that his personal indiscretions and professional prevarications make Goldsmith generally unsuitable for his current role. Hat tip Iain Dale.

Note - the US Attorney Genera, Alberto Gonzales is coming under far greater pressure to go.

Blogging At The Taxpayer's Expense

MPs have just voted for a £10,000 communications allowance each to add to their already exorbitant expenses. This bung is expected to be used on blogs and websites. Need I say that this adds insult to injury. Sensible commentators have been up in arms about the abuse of public money on Labour Environment Minister Miliband's blog. The government's response - a £6.5m freebie to sitting MPs to allow them to do the same thing.

It was good to see the Conservatives oppose this sleazy and unfair measure and I want them to commit to reverse it. Mr Straw who supported the measure said websites funded by the extra £10,000 must not promote a party or politician. The other one's got bells on it. Here's a safe prediction - most of that £6.5m will be misspent - not only does this measure help incumbent MPs, but it is an open invitation to corruption. I know I bang on about Labour sleaze, but are there any depths left for them to plumb?

18 Doughty Street Pyrotechnics

Last night's 18 Doughty Street Blogger TV was fun. It has been uploaded despite the strong language. Listen to how many namechecks I get. Alex Hilton of Recess Monkey seems to be struggling with reality. He reckons

- half of the abuse he gets on his site is from me.
- he doesn't mind people abusing him and doesn't delete comments or ban people who abuse him
- he's going to ban me.

Nice logic. Fact is that apart from wishing him good luck for last night and pointing out a clumsy doppleganging attempt, I've put seven words on his site since his Maggie Thatcher debacle from over two weeks ago. The words were "hitch the post lies preferred I by". Considering that Alex is understandably one of the most abused political bloggers on the Internet, I'm pretty happy to be making such an impact on him with so little effort. Watch the show. Alex's demeanour was an insight into the bunker mentality that has begun to overcome the ruling party.

Guest Poster - Danny Dewsbury

Dear Praguetory,

I am so grateful for you and your friends' help. I think the Labour Party
would have just ignored me otherwise, but you guys made them listen.

I know winning these awards will help me in the future and possibly highlight the documentary to people who might not have watched it. If anything I hope it's a comfort for people to know that incidents like these will never go unheard as long as there are people like yourself to highlight and question the things the party wants to hide.

For this reason alone I owe a lot to you.

All the best,

Daniel

Danny Dewsbury Wins Film Award

Danny Dewsbury is a talented film-maker. I got to know him a little after a cross-party group of bloggers banded together to try to get the Labour Party to honour their obligations towards him.


On Saturday Danny Dewbury won Best Documentary and the Grand Jury Award (given to the best film) at the National Student Film Festival for his film Slave Labour - which is about Danny's time working for the Labour Party.


I've seen the 25 minute film and it is excellent. The Prescott speech at the end was my favourite bit. Danny's not a political animal, but his film raises many important political issues. Danny has accepted my offer to do a guest post here. I don't know what he'll decide to cover, but I am delighted to observe his well-deserved and continuing success. Congratulations.

We Don't Need Another Hero

The State Of Play

Guido offers a splendid summary of the state of play on "loans for lordships". Everyone (except the most blinkered Labour acolytes) agrees that Labour's funding of their 2005 general election campaign deserved scrutiny. This funding was by way of secret loan arrangements from questionable sources such as David Garrard - a man for whom the Conservatives had erected a plaque in his honour as recently as 2003 and former Capita boss Rod Aldridge. The saga reveals a breakdown in the traditional checks and balances we expect from British democracy and undermines the assumption that Britain has a free press.

Heroes

Angus MacNeil, the charismatic SNP politician who formally lodged the complaint with the Met in March 2006 will deserve his place in history no matter what happens now - Inspector Yates too will never have to buy a drink again should he secure convictions. And of course Guido and Iain. But, that's it chaps. There are no more prizes on offer. We're in the final straight and it is time to let justice take its course. The job's done.

And?

If anyone is writing a book on cash for peerages and needs a proof-reader, I'd be happy to cast my eye over it, but other than ridiculing Labour holdouts my days of commenting on this cash for peerages investigation are (fingers crossed) largely behind me. Now we need to turn to examine the likes of Mittal, Ronnie Cohen and state funding for political parties.

Slave Labour

The best documentary I have seen lately is a film called Slave Labour by Danny Dewsbury. It's a short film by and about Danny. Like many others, he's trying to break into the media industry. In August 2006, he was offered a job by the Labour Party to do some work experience in the lead up to the Labour Party National Conference... The film features John Hutton (and his special advisor John Woodcock), Hazel Blears (and her assistant Emmet Regan), Hillary Armstrong, Allan Johnson, Tessa Jowell and ends with a John Prescott cameo.

Danny is a talented director and won an award for best documentary at the 2006 National Student Film Festival. This year, Danny's Slave Labour film will be showing next week at the same festival at University of West England in Bristol. His film is also showing in Oxford/Milton Keynes on 19th March at the Oxdox festival. The film is definitely good enough for a bigger audience and I hope that Danny achieves that. I won't spoil the story, suffice to say that it is an incredibly powerful critique of New Labour.

Eric Joyce - A Disgrace

Before becoming the Labour MP for Falkirk, Eric Joyce was in the military. I know the MOD is famed for its wastefulness, but these figures are a disgrace.

Eric's Expenses (never outside the top 2 for travel)



Eric racked up the highest travel expenses of any MP in the 2005/6 financial year. His travel expenses are well over £5,000 higher than any other MP.

This ongoing exorbitant waste of taxpayers money is a matter of public interest. I want to hear from Eric whether these travel expenses include transport for domestic staff. His au pair used to travel very regularly up to Scotland with Eric and his family and the Joyces would pay for her to return to fly in style back to Slovakia several times a year. Can someone who knows more about what MPs can and can't claim for give me some clarity around this issue? Eric's generosity was legendary, but was it at the taxpayer's expense? By the way, even if this spending is all legitimate, it shows a level of incompetence that makes him unfit to be an MP.

Labour's Attitude To Democracy

Open primaries are a great way of enhancing the democracy and an eye-witness blog entry describes how she believes that the evening helped enthuse the public. Therefore, it is with concern that a well-connected Labour blogger who is running the Hillary Benn for Deputy on-line campaign would openly boast about fraudulent activity at the selection. The fact that Labour supporters would call Alex Hilton of Recess Monkey to crow about their behaviour tells you all you need to know about his attitude towards democracy. Labour's counter-attacks against popular Downing Street petitions, their concerted attacks on bloggers and this latest co-ordinated interference in a selection process are just some of the many symptoms of the deeply sick patient which is the Labour Party.

Des Let Off

Des Smith is a London headmaster with Labour links who was caught on undercover film saying that educational donations would secure donors an honours. The police thought they had enough on this minor player, but the BBC report that he is not to be charged. Within this article, I note this revealing quote from the CPS.

Although it is clear that Mr Smith made some indiscreet comments to an undercover journalist, his conversations did not provide evidence that he was trying to obtain funding for City Academies in exchange for honours

To me, this implies very strongly that there is evidence that others were trying to obtain funding for the Labour Party other organisations in exchange for honours. Looks like the News Of The World may have hit the nail on the head. Your thoughts?

Is Nick Robinson A Simpleton?

Gongs & Confetti

Allegations that Lord Levy offered Labour donors Peerages and Knighthoods in return for their generosity are not exactly under wraps. It's well documented that Levy has applied the screws to wealthy businessmen (such as his rude approach to Charles Dunstone). Almost every Labour donor has been thrown a gong - Loudmouth David Puttnam got his after £25,000 in Labour donations, Ruth Rendell after £15,000, Melvyn Bragg £32,500, Lord Waheed Alli - free films (I must tell Danny)... I could go on.

Tony Blair

Blair said in December that the peerages awarded were "party peerages" (as few of the donors actually did any party work it would appear he has no defence against the cash for honours charge) and now there's talk of incriminating handwritten notes from Tone. Hardly the actions of innocent parties, 10 Downing Street have utterly failed to co-operate with the police during this investigation. Blair and his head of government relations have been interviewed twice, his chief fundraiser arrested twice, latterly on the more serious charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice - and that's before we start on Ruth Turner.

Banana Republic

As Ross Cowling astutely observes, the UK resembles a banana republic. Where are the men in grey suits?

Nick Robinson - Sleuth Or Simpleton

Meanwhile, the BBC's chief political correspondent, Nick Robinson (pictured - who has yet to accept a comment from me on his blog and is knocking out articles on Peter Lilley (!)) is trying to put the pieces of the jigsaw together. As Donal Blaney would say, GET A GRIP.

Lords Questionnaire - The Answers

Did anyone have a go at the Lords Questionnaire?

Q1. Lord Lucan (pictured left) is famous for going missing, but Lord Levy has managed 121 foreign trips as Blair's special envoy to the Middle East and Kazakhstan.

Q2. Lord Levy was reported by the Daily Mail for his using a call girl. Although, I'm sure they meant Lord Lambton (pictured right)

Q3. "They work for you" is a website monitoring the political records of the UK's politicians. As Lord Levy's record shows, "They do not work for you" would be a better name in his case. Lord Levy gave his maiden speech in 1997 - he has never contributed to a Parliamentary debate.


Q4. Lord Levy is subject to a police investigation. Lord Lucan was at one time, but was never arrested in connection with the matter.

Q5. This picture is a touching reminder of the close relationship Lord Levy enjoys with Tony Blair.

How did you do in the quiz?

Levy Standing In The Hot Spot For A Gold Run

Anyone for a spot of quizzage?

Fill the gaps with the following Lords - Lampton Lucan Levy

< INSERT LORD > is famous for going missing
< INSERT LORD > was reported by the Mail for his adultery and use of call-girls
< INSERT LORD > has never spoken in a Parliamentary debate
< INSERT LORD > has been subject to a police investigation and arrested more than once in connection with that investigation.
< INSERT LORD > is a close friend of the current PM.

Getting embarassing yet, Mr Blair?

Of course, I have updated my sleazewatch sidebar. More here from Labour's media arm Pic hat-tip Beau Bo D'Or.

A Return To Quality Theatre

Hat Tip Thunderdragon

Police Hack 10 Downing Street

As reported in the Telegraph today, the police needed to hack into 10 Downing Street IT systems due to the lack of Labour Party co-operation with the "cash for peerages" investigation. It hardly needs to be said that this development pours petrol on the raging inferno.

Front Row Seats

Under the heading SLEAZEWATCH I've given prominence on my sidebar to links where you can keep abreast of the biggest story of the year. Google news and Blogger Search searches on Ruth Turner now exceed 500 in both cases, so Guido Fawkes and Iain Dale should be your first ports of call.

You'll find nothing at Labour Home or its mainstream media arm. When you think of the pronouncements of Jowell (who then back-pedalled) and Blunkett, you get the impression of favours being called in. But Blair's power appears to be evaporating fast.

In the comments please advise me of any further information sources and for general amusement please feel free to point at any remaining Labour holdouts.