Rescuing Democracy in the United Kingdom from our current Elected Dictatorship
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Spin,
not face-to-face confrontations with the voters, is the Government's
chosen method of communication. Ordinary people are dangerous. Ordinary
people might ask a question which throws a politician 'off message';
the Cabinet member might reveal himself or herself to be a human being
like us, and not a programmed android. Worse still, he or she might
tell the truth.
Ann Leslie - Daily Mail, September 16, 2004
Blair wants to leave his
mark on history - looks more like a stain to me.
Peter Thorndyke, Diss,
Norfolk - Daily Mail, May 23, 2005
I know I'm me - why do I
need an ID card?
"Sorry, officers, I
don't have an ID card. I never applied for one. It seemed a bit steep
at 300 quid. I do have my free passport, my driving licence and my
London freedom travel pass, each with my photograph. I have my NHS
medical card, with its lengthy number, given me at birth, my RAF
service book with my Armed Forces number, and a chit authorising me to
wear a few gongs -including a General Service Medal with Malaya bar,
for fighting communist terrorists on behalf of my country, or so they
told me.
"I've also got various credit
cards and store cards, all with my signature on the back, generally
good for buying the everyday requrements for life as well as the odd
luxury. If you decide to arrest me, I suppose I'll have to be
photographed and given another number, besides my PINs.
"I'm afraid I haven't got a
pension book; it was taken away."
"By thieves, sir?"
"No ... well, not exactly. By the
Government. By the way, may I see your warrant cards please, gentlemen?"
Oh dear, they've disappeared. E.
Harry Gumer, Romford, ESSEX - Daily Mail, June 1, 2005
NO means NO
When does NO mean MAYBE?
When it's not the answer the EU wants. With the courageous French
NON resounding in their ears, shabby, undemocratic self-interested
leaders of Europe propose ignoring the part of their precious
constitution that requires ratification by all members and
continuing without one of the biggest founder members to
prevent derailing the gravy train.
As in Ireland,
they refuse to accept any NO votes, ignoring the will of the people,
and re-stage votes until they can engineer the 'correct' answer. Sadly,
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw dances to their tune like a puppet on a
string. With tactics such as these, how can anyone really believe the
EU has our interests at heart. Letter from Steve Penny, Kingsnorth, Kent - Daily
Mail, June1, 2005
Surely
the French result makes the £1million the EU recently spent on a
treaty signing ceremony seem a trifle premature and extravagant. Letter from Keith Wiseman, Bury, Lancs. - Daily Mail,
June1, 2005
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Britain has
traditionally been one of the biggest net contributors to the EU
because we do not get as much money back from Brussels in farm and
regional subsidies as our rivals.
According to
Treasury figures, between 1995-2002, Britain's average contribution
taking the rebate into account, was £2.6billion, or £43.55
per head of population.
The French -
the biggest recipient of farm subsidies - contributed £1billion a
year or £16.08 per head of their population.
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Tony
Blair should know that respect comes by example - from the
top. If a country's leader has no respect for the rule of
international law and no respect for the truth, how can
he expect anyone to have respect. Letter
from P.J.Atkinson, Ashford, Kent - Daily Mail, January 12,
2006
The
Chancellor's single greatest act of vandalism in almost
nine years in office has been his wanton destruction of
Britain's private retirement industry. By slapping a massive
tax on pension funds, now worth
£7.3billion a year, he has helped to turn
the best private retirement industry in Europe into a basket-case
in perpetual crisis. Together with the adoption of European
accounting rules - which make it much riskier to operate
a company pension scheme - hundreds of firms have shut their
final salary plans to new employees and slashed benefits
to existing staff. From
Allister Heath: "I've seen the future and its grey"
in THE SPECTATOR - April 15, 2006
Nine
years ago the British people were sold a fantasy of clean
and competent government of principle and honesty. Its shiny
wrappings stripped away, the product now reveals its true
nature: Personal greed, arrogance, incompetence, shamelessness,
rash warmongering and an inability to accept - as is clear
to almost everyone else - that it is time to go. Editorial
- The Mail on Sunday, May 28, 2006
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June
29, 2006 (1146 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 2529 US - 113 UK - >60,000? civilians - 25 media
July
8, 2006 (1155 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 2543 US - 113 UK - >60,000? civilians - 25 media
Arrest
takes the tide of sleaze to door of No 10
JAMES
KIRKUP - POLITICAL EDITOR - THE SCOTSMAN - JULY 13, 2006
Key
quote "It is inconceivable, given the closeness of the relationship
between Lord Levy and the Prime Minister, that Tony Blair was
not aware of his fundraiser's activities. It is only a matter
of time before the Prime Minister is asked serious questions about
his role in this sorry mess." - Alex Salmond, SNP leader
Story
in full
THE
tide of sleaze allegations threatening the Labour government came
ever closer to Tony Blair yesterday as the Prime Minister's personal
fundraiser, Lord Levy, was arrested by police investigating claims
of cash for peerages.
Lord
Levy was questioned at a London police station and later released
on bail. He is believed to have handed over documents relating
to millions of pounds loaned to Labour last year. He has not been
charged and denies all wrongdoing. The arrest left even senior
members of the government shocked and Mr Blair's opponents predicting
the affair might yet spell the end of his premiership.
"Forget
the monkey. Put the organ grinder in the dock"
comments Max Hastings
- Daily Mail, July 14, 2006
We
can have no idea how the police investigation into the
sale of peerages will end. We should concede that all
political parties in modern times have ennobled some shoddy
people for partisan advantage.
Most
of us cannot forget, however, that an eternity ago in
2997, Tony promised to make it all different. He has made
it different, all right. He has taken every conceivable
form of political chicanery and corruption into territory
no predecessor dared to visit.
A
few weeks ago, I suggested that it is monstrous to court-martial
British soldiers for alleged offences in Iraq, for almost
all of which the Prime Minister and his acolytes properly
bear responsibility.
Likewise,
I do not want to see Lord Levy sewing mailbags or even
in a dock. I want to see the organ-grinder there.
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At
the Prime Minister's instigation, Lord Levy oversaw a fundraising
drive that saw 12 wealthy men lend Labour almost £14 million
in the run up to last year's general election. Four were later
nominated for seats in the House of Lords, but these were blocked
by the independent Lords Appointments Commission on becoming aware
of the loans. The loans were such a secret that even Jack Dromey,
the Labour Party treasurer, has said he knew nothing of them.
But Mr Blair said at a Downing Street press conference in March
that he had known about the loans and approved of them.
Lord
Levy's arrest follows the latest twist in the saga, after it was
reported the fundraiser told one of the men nominated for a peerage,
Sir Gulam Noon, to withhold information about his loan from the
appointments commission. Reports on Monday said Sir Gulam rewrote
his nomination paper to omit his £250,000 loan, at the urging
of Lord Levy.
The
police inquiry into the "loans for peerages" affair
was triggered by Angus MacNeil, the Scottish National Party MP
for the Western Isles, who asked Scotland Yard to examine whether
the Labour Party had broken a 1925 law that prohibits the sale
of peerages and political honours.
But
in a significant escalation of the political stakes, Scotland
Yard last night disclosed that Lord Levy is also suspected of
breaking the Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act 2000.
Labour passed that law, which obliges parties to declare publicly
major financial donations. However, a loophole means that commercial
loans do not need to be declared.
While
Labour has insisted that the secret loans were all made on commercial
terms, the opposition has questioned that. Should it be proven
the loans carried interest rates lower than the market rate, that
would constitute a financial donation and keeping them secret
would break Labour's own transparency law.
Neither
Downing Street nor the Labour Party would comment on Lord Levy's
arrest last night, but senior figures were privately in despair.
"This could be the end," said a former minister loyal
to Mr Blair, claiming the loans system had been a panic reaction
to the threat of being outspent by the Conservatives at the election.
"The
risks were never thought out properly: Tony panicked before the
last election, told Michael to get the money by whatever means
necessary and this is where we end up. It's a genuine disaster."
In
a sign of how Mr Blair's enemies will exploit any further development
in the scandal, Bob Marshall-Andrews, a veteran Labour rebel,
last night said the Prime Minister was likely to be implicated
in everything Lord Levy had done. "All this must go very
close to the top of the Labour Party," he said.
Alex
Salmond, the SNP leader, said: "The water is lapping up around
the ankles of the Prime Minister. It is inconceivable, given the
closeness of the relationship between Lord Levy and the Prime
Minister, that Tony Blair was not aware of his fundraiser's activities.
It is only a matter of time before the Prime Minister is asked
serious questions."
David
Davis, the Conservative shadow home secretary, also predicted
Mr Blair would be drawn into the investigation: "I'm quite
sure Scotland Yard will have to question Tony Blair because he
is at the top of the honours process."
A
spokesman for Lord Levy last night issued a statement protesting
his innocence and criticising the police. "Lord Levy has
made it clear that he is ready at all times to co-operate with
the police investigation," the statement said. "He
therefore complied with a request to attend today at a police
station where the police used their arrest powers, totally unnecessarily,
apparently in order to gain access to documents that Lord Levy
would quite willingly have provided without this device. He has
not been charged and does not expect to be, as he has committed
no offence. He vigorously denies any wrongdoing."
The
House of Commons public administration committee, which is carrying
out an inquiry into honours and propriety, has suspended public
evidence sessions at the request of police. But its Labour chairman,
Tony Wright, said last night Lord Levy and others associated with
the matter had asked if they could give public evidence to the
committee.
Yesterday's
dramatic development came ahead of the release of a report by
MPs calling for a major overhaul of the honours system. Nominees
for honours should be required to disclose all financial support
for political parties or government programmes, the public administration
committee says in a report published today.
The
MPs also want a new check that would curb Mr Blair's ability to
give close allies seats in the House of Lords when he finally
leaves office with new guidelines on so-called resignation honours,
the awards a retiring prime minister is traditionally allowed
to hand out.
Blair could easily see career sink in these dangerous new waters
British
politics is entering uncharted waters. Never before in modern
times has a political scandal threatened to become a full-blown
criminal case. And should the "loans-for-peerages" affair
make that leap, the consequences for Tony Blair's career will
be fatal.
Michael
Levy is not an anonymous functionary or junior aide whose actions
can be written off as unsanctioned freelancing. He is the Prime
Minister's personal appointee, the man Mr Blair has relied on
to wean the Labour Party off its financial dependence on the trade
unions.
"As
leader of the Labour Party I take responsibility for all that
is done in its name," Mr Blair said of Lord Levy's actions
in March. That
admission was forced by Jack Dromey, the Labour treasurer, who
broke cover to reveal that he knew nothing of the loans Lord Levy
had overseen.
In
another sign of how dangerous this affair is, just hours after
Mr Dromey spoke, friends of Gordon Brown made clear that the Chancellor
had also been in the dark. Mr Brown's ability to sense trouble
coming is matched only by his ability to distance himself from
a crisis. The prime minister-in-waiting does not want to be in
the same postcode as this affair, much less be seen to be standing
in solidarity with his erstwhile friend Mr Blair.
Yet
the Brown camp is still worried about the scandal, realising it
has the capacity to taint the party, just as the whiff of sleaze
hung over the Conservatives for more than a decade.
Some
caveats must be entered here. Arresting a man is one thing, charging
him quite another. Lord Levy is not the first person in this saga
to be arrested. The other, Des Smith, has not since been charged.
Some Labour insiders are still comforting themselves with the
thought that the police inquiry, arrests and all, is largely a
cosmetic exercise, meant to prove that Scotland Yard is taking
the matter seriously but never intends that the case will ever
see the inside of a courtroom.
There
are even suspicions that the inquiry is itself a political move
by Sir Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, whose job
is on the line over the shooting of an innocent Brazilian man
last year. The theory goes that Sir Ian is keeping the Labour
inquiry alive and calculating that the Prime Minister could not
be seen to sack the policeman investigating his allies.
In
such ways do those close to this ticking bomb reassure themselves.
But whatever comfort they take, it does not change the fact that
this affair does indeed have the capacity to explode, with the
Prime Minister taking the full force of the blast.
Dedicated to Blair, not the party
LORD
Levy is Labour's chief fundraiser and a friend of Tony Blair.
Popularly known as "Lord Cashpoint", Baron Levy of Mill
Hill has been a tennis partner and a close friend of the Prime
Minister for more than ten years. Michael
Abraham Levy, who celebrated his 62nd birthday on Tuesday, was
born in Hackney, east London, but thanks to a career as a pop
impresario, he now lives in an impressive mansion in Totteridge,
north London.
He
took on the role of president of the Specialist Schools and Academies
Trust, spearheading programmes such as the city academies project
when it was a source of controversy. It was also Lord Levy who
persuaded Formula One magnate Bernie Ecclestone to give £1
million to Labour. Lord Levy's dedication to Tony Blair, rather
than New Labour itself, is demonstrated by his decision to cease
fundraising for the party when Mr Blair quits No 10.
Drive to match Tory funds that culminated in police inquiry
HAMISH
MACDONELL
THE
trail to Lord Levy's arrest started during the campaign for last
year's general election. Tony Blair, worried that Labour was struggling
to match the £20 million the Conservatives had to spend,
authorised an urgent fundraising drive, headed by Lord Levy. But
crucially, the Prime Minister allowed his staff to accept loans
for the first time in the party's history.
That
fundraising initiative was successful in securing millions of
pounds in loans, much of it from new supporters.
Then,
in January this year, Des Smith, a senior adviser to Tony Blair's
flagship city academy programme, told an undercover reporter that
wealthy donors could obtain honours, like knighthoods and peerages,
by giving money to the scheme.
This
was followed, just two months later, by an admission from Dr Chai
Patel, the founder of the Priory, the London detox clinic, that
he had loaned the Labour Party £1.5 million just weeks before
he was nominated for a peerage. Sir David Garrard, a property
millionaire, later confirmed that he too had lent an unspecified
amount of money to the Labour Party before the general election
and had been nominated for a peerage.
In
March, Jack Dromey, the Labour Party Treasurer, was stunned by
these admissions and launched an internal investigation, insisting
that he had not been told about the loans.
The
following day, Angus MacNeil, the SNP MP for the Western Isles,
wrote to the police urging them to investigate whether a 1925
law forbidding the offering of money for political honours had
been broken.
Most
observers thought Mr MacNeil's move was no more than a political
stunt but, a week later, Scotland Yard announced it had started
an investigation. Labour then published a full list of the lenders,
who had given the party almost £14 million.
On
13 April this year, the Metropolitan Police made their first public
move, arresting and questioning Mr Smith, the adviser who had
prompted the first allegations about "cash for honours"
with his remarks to an undercover reporter.
Downing
Street and the Labour Party were quick to distance themselves
from Mr Smith, insisting that he had not been speaking with the
authority of the party or the Prime Minister and it was assumed
by many in Westminster that Tony Blair would be able to isolate
Mr Smith and prevent the Labour Party from suffering any further
damage.
But
the crisis deepened last weekend when the Times reported that
Sir Gulam Noon, a curry entrepreneur and one of the Labour lenders,
had been told not to tell the Lords Appointments Commission about
his £250,000 loan to the party. The
BBC followed this up by claiming it had been Lord Levy who had
warned Sir Gulam not to mention his loan and yesterday Lord Levy
was arrested.
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