The Nether-World

No Charges in Cash for Honours Scandal

2007-07-20T02:19:00.000+01:00

The BBC is reporting that there will be no charges made against anyone in the cash for peerages investigation. None. Not even for Lord Levy who was up to his neck in the giving of peerages in return for donations and 'loans' to the Labour party and who has been arrested more than once. I had always suspected that Tony Blair would get away with it but I am surprised that no one else is being charged. I can only repeat what Mr Eugenides said at this point.

Apparently there was no evidence to prosecute, something I'm finding hard to believe after nearly a year and a half of investigating and clear signs of a cover-up. Obviously this is not the end of the matter even if there are to be no prosecutions. There is still to be the Parliamentary inquiry which was put on hold until the police investigation was completed. The Blairites involved in the scandal will, no doubt, be crowing about how they have now been exonerated. I think enough information came out during the investigation to demonstrate sleaze if not corruption. We can also expect a major smear campaign against Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Yates and his team. Eyebrows are going to be raised at the Crown Prosecution Service who made the decision not to prosecute. I'm sure there will be plenty of recriminations over the next few weeks.

Tags: Cash for Honours, Sleaze, Blair, New Labour

Sleaze In America - Sleaze In Britain

2007-03-06T19:16:00.000Z

Two sleaze stories today, one from each side of the Atlantic. First, in the USA Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, has been found guilty of obstruction of justice and perjury. When he is sentenced in June, he faces up to 25 years in prison.

He was accused of lying to the FBI and a grand jury over revelations about CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.

Libby's lawyer said they were "very disappointed" at the verdict, and would ask for a new trial, or would appeal.

Libby was found guilty on four out of five counts. He was acquitted on one count of lying to the FBI.

I haven't blogged much about this case but the BBC has an at-a-glance article about the trial and also other links to the background of this story for those who are unfamiliar with it. In short, it concerns the leaking of the identity of a CIA agent, Valerie Plame whose husband, Joseph Wilson displeased the Bush administration by disputing Bush's claim that Iraq had tried to buy nuclear material from Niger. The trial itself, however, is about the cover-up (isn't it always?). More updates on this can be found at Firedoglake and Iain Dale has a report. too.

Over in Britain, the sleaze story is the on-going saga of the cash for peerages scandal. The story all week has concerned a document (not an e-mail apparently) and an injunction placed on the BBC to prevent them revealing who sent it, who it was for and what it was about. This was a request by the police. The injunction was partially lifted yesterday so it could be revealed who sent it to who but not much else. Today the whole injunction was lifted revealing what most observers suspected anyway, namely that this document was written by Ruth Turner to her boss Jonathan Powell and it concerned Lord Levy whose position is now looking more precarious than ever.

There has been much speculation as to whether it was Downing Street that leaked the details in order to prejudice any trial. This is, of course, vigorously denied. After calling his arrests and the police behaviour "theatrical", Lord Levy is now demonstrating his own skills in theatrics as he denounced the "prejudiced and distorted view" of the cash-for-honours affair presented by leaks to the media and played to the gallery by appalling for public sympathy. It is possible that Ruth Turner was concerned that Lord Levy was asking her to alter her evidence, something Levy denies. If true this opens the way for charges of perverting the cause of justice (again, it's the cover-up rather than the original crime). The Guardian defied the injunction and broke the story which has caused the row as to who is doing the leaking in this case. Lord Levy blames the police, and everyone else seem to be blaming Lord Levy or Downing Street.

Tags: Lord Levy, Lewis Scooter Libby, US Politics, Cash For Peerages, Sleaze, Corruption, New Labour

Cash For Honours - The End Draws Near

2007-02-05T06:51:00.000Z

Tags: Blair, Lord Levy, Cash For Honours, Sleaze

"Greater love than this hath no man, that he lay down his friends for his life" - Jeremy Thorpe speaking of Harold Macmillan's 1962 Night of the Long Knives when he sacked most of the senior members of his cabinet to save his political career.

The Times is reporting that three of the people questioned by the police in the cash for honours scandal are likely to face charges. This must mean that the police investigation is drawing to a close and we'll soon be waiting to hear what the Crown Prosecution Service has to say. It appears that someone questioned by the police has been singing like a canary.

Crown Prosecution Service lawyers have received files from the police indicating that charges should be brought against three people, although the inquiry is continuing.

“I would be very surprised if they are not charged,” a prosecution source told The Times. The same source said that Tony Blair was likely to be interviewed by the police for a third time because he had yet to answer certain questions.

So who are the people who are likely to be charged? It would seem on the face of it that Tony Blair might escape prosecution and it will be his minions that will carry the can for the Right Honourable Gentleman. Obviously Lord Levy is top of the list as he's been arrested twice so far. Naturally he's still protesting his innocence and has once again said that he will not swing for Tony Blair.

Tony Blair's chief fund-raiser Lord Levy is ready to tell the police that the Prime Minister is to blame for the cash-for-peerages scandal.

The Labour peer is furious that he has become the prime suspect.

And he is ready to defend himself by arguing that Mr Blair, not him, should be made to take full responsibility for the affair.

This is at least the second time Lord Levy has stated that he won't be the fall guy for Tony. To be fair to him he does have a point. Only the Prime Minister can bestow honours on people. But it does seem that the noble lord is in it up to his neck, and let's not forget that the second time he was arrested it was in connection to a potential cover-up. Perverting the cause of justice is a far more serious crime.

Ruth Turner, Downing Street's director of government relations is also in the frame following her recent arrest (again on suspicion of perverting the cause of justice). This means that her boss, Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair's chief of staff might also face further questioning and possible arrest. So who has been spilling the beans? Well it seems possible that it might be Tony Blair's director of political operations John McTernan. Back to the Times article:

A CPS source said that the case had been strengthened by the testimony of John McTernan, the Prime Minister’s director of political operations, who gave a different account of discussions about honours from that given by other Downing Street figures questioned.

Oh dear, perhaps it was this that has re ignited what was beginning to look like a moribund inquiry. The Government has in recent days pulled out all the stops in trying to deflect attention from this investigation and create the impression that it was going nowhere after 11 months. We've had MPs and Cabinet Ministers as well as peers either coming out against the investigation or insisting that Blair should stay on as Prime Minister and friendly 'journalists' also saying to the police in effect "shit or get off the pot". We've had anonymous leaks in the case of the alleged plot in Birmingham which some police suspect may be politically motivated. If all this sounds like desperation, it probably is. Tony Blair is not out of the woods yet. There is already speculation that he might be questioned for a third time by police, perhaps under caution. Even if he himself is not charged, he will be very badly damaged if his closest members of staff are charged. This might mean that he will be visited by the dreaded men in grey suits.

It is starting to look like Blair won't be able to hang on until the summer as he intends to. The irony is that it will be a scandal which is relatively trivial in comparison with the far more serious crimes committed in Iraq which forces him out. But then Al Capone was caught out on tax evasion rather than his violence and racketeering.

The Blair Crime Family Expands Its Gambling Operation

2007-01-30T15:09:00.000Z

Tags: Blair, Gambling, Sleaze, Cash For Peerages, UK Politics

Not content with its usual rackets of selling honours, halting or tampering with police investigations, arms dealing, bribery and assassination, the Blair crime organisation (also known to be operating under the name of NuLabour) has expanded its operation into gambling. Britain's biggest criminal organisation, dominated by its boss 'Teflon' Tony is about to open the country's largest and swankiest gambling joint in the city of Manchester.

There was some confusion as to where the location for this new venue was going to be. Some thought it would be in Blackpool which has aspirations to be another Atlantic City. Others thought the location would be in London in a spot famed for a failed diamond heist by an unaffiliated local gang. However this might have attracted too much heat after the negotiations with an American billionaire conducted by the under boss John 'Cowboy' Prescott were exposed.

The move into gambling is happening under the leadership of capo regime Tessa 'Under-Bus' Jowell who has been urging the family to stake a claim in the lucrative gambling racket for some time. She is known to have links with the famous Don Berlusconi in Italy who is currently awaiting trial for corruption and perverting the cause of justice along with her husband.

This audacious move is happening as the police get ever closer to busting the family for its peerages racket. It is thought that even 'Teflon' Tony might not escape justice this time and he is said to be handing control of the family business over to his associate Gordon 'One Eye' Brown. The crime syndicate is so worried about police attention after the recent arrests of other senior members including consiglieri Michael 'Cash Point' Levy a.k.a. Sleazy, that it is thought that even 'Machine Gun' Blunkett can't save them.

A Roundup of This Week's Political Corruption, Sleaze and Hypocrisy

2007-01-20T04:23:00.000Z

Tags: Blair, Sleaze, Corruption, Nulabour, Cash for Honours, BAE, Peter Hain, Ruth Turner

As the Middle East situation goes from bad to worse, the British Government has a few problems closer to home to deal with. These problems reflect Tony Blair's loss of authority and the decline of New Labour as we enter the last months of his Premiership. Let's start with the continuing BAE scandal. If Blair thought that by halting the SFO investigation into BAE's corrupt dealings with the Saudi government over the Al Yamamah arms deal the problem would go away, he was sorely mistaken. Now instead of the original corruption being investigated, the focus is firmly on Blair's misguided decision. As pressure on Blair mounted to reverse his decision from 130 campaign groups, the Prime Minister reverted to the defence we've seen so often:

"The Attorney General set out the reasons for the decision on that and I have nothing further to add,"

Lord Goldsmith's reason for dropping the inquiry was, we were told, national security and he told Parliament on December 14 that the security services agreed with his assessment. Unfortunately the newly knighted John Scarlett. head of MI6 was reading from a different script.

Whitehall sources have told the Guardian that the statement to the Lords was incorrect. MI6 and MI5 possessed no intelligence that the Saudis intended to sever security links. The intelligence agencies had been merely asked whether it would be damaging to UK national security if such a breach did happen. They replied that naturally it would.

Later the Foreign Office issued a statement which stated that:

"Contrary to the Guardian article, SIS (MI6) shared the concerns of others within government over the possible consequences for the public interest of the SFO investigation."

Obviously furious at having their investigation halted, the SFO leaked the names of top BAE officials involved in more corruption in South Africa.

BAE's chief executive, Mike Turner, is named along with the former chairman, Sir Dick Evans, and two other executives, in a document dated June 26 last year.
The document is a request for mutual legal assistance sent from the SFO in London to authorities in South Africa, where a £1.5bn aircraft deal with Britain is under investigation. The SFO's dossier says: "There is reasonable cause to believe that all the above-named persons and company have committed offences of corruption." It was leaked to the Mail & Guardian, a Johannesburg newspaper.

The closing of the Al Yamamah inquiry is now being investigated by The Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which has condemned the closure and says Britain may have reneged on its promise to combat corruption in the developing world. It isn't just Saudi Arabia and South Africa involved in corruption with Blair and BAE Systems. There's another scandal, this time in Tanzania. Tony Blair personally backed a plan to sell Tanzania a military air traffic control system which was ten times more expensive than anything that country actually needed. Tanzania, one of the world's poorest countries which had just had its debt written off, has only eight military aircraft. In order to push through this sale, Blair, with the support of Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon went against Gordon Brown, Clare Short and the World Bank which condemned the deal as a complete waste of Money. Now it turns out that BAE used a $12, million bribe to get the deal.

The UK's biggest arms supplier secretly paid a $12m commission into a Swiss account in a deal which led to Tanzania, one of the world's poorest countries, buying a controversial military radar system.
A Tanzanian middleman, who has a long-standing relationship with military and government figures, has admitted that the sum was covertly moved to a Swiss account by BAE Systems, which is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

The SFO are now investigating this case and are going through BAE's Swiss bank transactions with Tanzania. It remains to be seen whether or not Blair will decide that this investigation too is a threat to national security and close it down as well.

The disaster that is Iraq has caused some Government Ministers to try to distance themselves from the foreign policy they previously supported and Blair's close relationship with George Bush. Hilary Benn, James Purnell, and Yvette Cooper are all now criticising the decisions that were made. Most interesting of all though, was Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain's outburst in The New Statesman:

"The neo-con mission has failed ... It's not only failed to provide a coherent international policy, it's failed wherever it's been tried, and it's failed with the American electorate, who kicked it into touch last November. The problem for us as a government ... was actually to maintain a working relationship with what was the most rightwing American administration, if not ever, then in living memory."

Peter Hain, who voted strongly for the Iraq War and strongly against investigating the Iraq war, is of course launching his bid to become Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. If you thought Ruth Kelly was a hypocrite, take a look at this and this and this:

There is vigorous public debate about Britain's support for UN sanctions on Iraq. I have no intention of ducking this debate, because I am convinced Britain's policy is right.

This week also saw another development in the cash for honours scandal. A fourth arrest has been made in the investigation and this time it is a senior Downing Street political adviser. Ruth Turner was arrested 6:30am on Friday, she is first salaried government official to be arrested. She was later released without charge. What is interesting is that she was questioned not only about cash for honours but also about perverting the cause of justice which suggests that the police suspect that attempts at a cover-up have been made. As you'd expect, Ruth Turner denies any wrongdoing and is expressing her willingness to co-operate fully with the police.

“I have already given the police two lengthy interviews and made it clear to them that I was happy to speak to them again at any stage. I have been completely open with the police throughout and will continue to co-operate with them fully . . . I absolutely refute any allegations of wrongdoing of any nature whatsoever.”

So far, Blair is still supporting her. That might well change if she decides to spill the beans.

"Ruth is a person of the highest integrity for whom I have great regard and I continue to have complete confidence in her," said the prime minister.

There is more than a hint of nervousness at Downing Street now and the previously cordial relations between the police and Downing Street have cooled significantly. I was amused by a statement by Lord Puttnam who was himself ennobled by Tony Blair after donating money to the Labour Party:

"What about turning up at 9 o'clock, or what about phoning and saying: 'I wonder if you'd mind coming into the police station, we'd like to talk to you'? Why do you send four policemen at 6.30 in the morning to arrest a perfectly nice woman? It's ludicrous. I think they're into theatrics.

Hmmm, theatrics. That sounds familiar. My guess is that the police will now want to interview her boss Jonathan Powell again... possibly under caution this time. And I suspect Lord Levy might well be contemplating another trip to the Middle East. As for Blair, well we'll have to wait and see but I doubt he's sleeping that easily.

Anyway that concludes this week's roundup of sleaze and corruption. I wonder what next week will bring.

A Shameful Day For Blair And Britain

2006-12-15T02:27:00.000Z

There was no shortage of interesting news stories in Britain today, from the on-going horror of the Ipswich murders to the official release of Lord Stevens inquiry into the death of Princess Diana ("tragic accident"), to the news that the Government intends to close 2,500 post offices. So this would be the perfect day to slip out two other stories that the Government would rather not draw too much attention to. It didn't work; the stories are so big that they were obviously going to top the headlines.

Both these stories demonstrate the depths to which this government (and also the country) has sunk to. Firstly we have Tony Blair being the first sitting Prime Minister to be questioned by the police in connection with a criminal investigation. This is of course the cash for honours scandal in which we knew that the Prime Minister would eventually be questioned. What is surprising is that he was not questioned under caution, which implies that he is being treated as a witness rather than a suspect. This is very odd; the buck stops with the Prime Minister and Blair himself said as much when the story first broke early this year. One can only speculate that our honourable leader is leaving his friends to take the rap for him. Right in the frame is Blair's fundraiser in chief and Middle East envoy, Lord Levy who has already been arrested, bailed and questioned under caution. I suppose it's not so surprising that 'Teflon Tony' once again escapes the consequences of his actions, however his reputation is now further tarnished with sleaze. No doubt there will be further revelations as the investigation nears its conclusion. We've already heard that Gordon Brown, despite previous denials of having anything to to with the scandal, is in fact deeply involved. Iain Dale has some more on Blair's defence and like Iain, I'm not convinced.

Worse than this piece of common sleaze however, is an even more disgraceful revelation which came out today, and this is the one that turned my usual disgust with New Labour into a fit of anger.

The Serious Fraud Office has ended its corruption inquiry into a £6bn fighter planes deal with Saudi Arabia.
Attorney General Lord Goldsmith said the SFO was "discontinuing" its investigation into Britain's biggest defence company, BAE Systems.
The probe had related to the Al Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia. BAE has denied any wrongdoing.
Lord Goldsmith told the Lords he thought that a prosecution "could not be brought".
He said the decision had been made in the wider public interest, which had to be balanced against the rule of law.
Lord Goldsmith also told peers that Prime Minister Tony Blair had agreed that the continuation of the investigation would cause "serious damage" to relations between the UK and Saudi Arabia.
Source

This is appalling! The Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, under pressure from the Saudi government BAE Systems and, of course, Tony Blair, decides that a small matter like the law shouldn't get in the way of huge British arms deals with Saudi Arabia and relations between the two countries. What does that say about the rule of law and British justice? Maybe I was being naive but I didn't think that even New Labour would stoop so low as to halt an on-going corruption investigation by the Serious Fraud Office because of threats from a foreign government and fear of losing lucrative contracts. This is not so much sleaze as pure corruption. Just as galling are the reasons given for this extraordinary decision; "national security" and nothing at all to do with commercial considerations... Bullshit! Newsnight has good analysis of the story which you can see here (for a short while).

The decision to abandon the investigation makes a mockery of Labour's own anti-corruption legislation which is part of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001

108 Bribery and corruption: foreign officers etc.

(1) For the purposes of any common law offence of bribery it is immaterial if the functions of the person who receives or is offered a reward have no connection with the United Kingdom and are carried out in a country or territory outside the United Kingdom.

(2) In section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 (c. 34) (corrupt transactions with agents) insert this subsection after subsection (3)-

"(4) For the purposes of this Act it is immaterial if-

(a) the principal's affairs or business have no connection with the United Kingdom and are conducted in a country or territory outside the United Kingdom;

(b) the agent's functions have no connection with the United Kingdom and are carried out in a country or territory outside the United Kingdom."

Once again I find myself agreeing with Iain Dale on this matter. Some of the comments on the hurried post I wrote on Blairwatch when the story broke are also worth reading. Also, check out Chicken Yoghurt and A Big Stick And A Small Carrot to get an idea of the sense of outrage over this.

Tags: Blair, NuLabour, Cash For Honours, Sleaze

Knacker of the Yard is making "considerable progress"

2006-11-16T21:26:00.000Z

Scotland Yard's Assistant Commissioner John Yates, the policeman investigating the cash for honours inquiry, has written to MPs on the public administration select committee and reported that "considerable progress continues to be made". So far 90 people have been interviewed, 35 from the Labour Party, 29 Conservatives, four Liberal Democrats, and 22 non-party. The investigation is said to have uncovered "significant and valuable material".

This might explain why Tony Blair has been so worried and angry lately, and also why lawyers for Downing Street have launched a pre-emptive strike against the police by challenging any prosecution using the excuse that the investigation has been compromised by unauthorised leaks. This incidentally, is the same defence used by Abu Hamza and Gary Glitter. The accusation that the police are guilty of leaking information about the case is ridiculous of course. Why would the police jeopardise their own investigation? Yates doesn't strike me as being that stupid. As Iain Dale points out, if anyone is trying to influence the proceedings it is the the Labour leadership who have consistently encouraged journalists to report that the Police have found nothing and the inquiry is going nowhere. Mr Yates seems to be replying to these accusations by saying that "the major developments" in the inquiry remained confidential and that, security surrounding the investigation "remains very tight" despite what has been reported.

You can read the full text of the letter sent by Yates to MPs here. Needless to say, Guido got there first.

Tags: Blair, Nu Labour, Cash For Honours

A Week of Changes?

2006-11-09T09:14:00.000Z

Well what a week it's been, and it's only Thursday. We have the neo-con wipe out at the American midterm elections where the Democrats took the House of Representatives and seem likely now to take the Senate too as news comes in that Virginia has gone Democrat with Jim Webb narrowly beating Republican incumbent Sen. George Allen, who may concede very soon. And this despite Bush using the suspiciously timely sentencing to death of Saddam Hussein to try and boost his chances. We also have the fall-out of that election starting early with the 'resignation' of Donald Rumsfeld, a move which seems to have widespread approval, quite understandably. His replacement, Robert Gates however doesn't look like being a vast improvement although he might have a more sensible attitude regarding Iran. And that is possibly the best news about this election, hopefully, plans to attack Iran have been shelved (provided, of course, that the Democrats don't decide to pursue that reckless policy).

Just how much things will change with the Democrats in control of both Houses of congress remains to be seen. We know that they originally supported the Iraq war and are unlikely to pull the plug on Bush's pet project straight away. They can be just as hawkish about Iran, and we know also that whoever is in power in the USA will support Israel but there is a chance they will work harder to find a solution. However despite the failings of the democrats there is an undeniable change in the air which is a cause for celebration.

One aspect of the Democrat victory which promises to be interesting is the possibility of a series of inquiries into such things as the Iraq war and Guantanamo etc. We've already seen here in the UK, our leaders decide that an inquiry into the Iraq war wouldn't be in ~~our~~ their best interests, but what will happen if a full inquiry is called across the pond? There is no way that Blair's role in this fiasco could be ignored and information that Blair wants to remain hidden would inevitably come into the public arena and make the case for an inquiry here in the UK all the stronger. And let's not forget Blair's denials and non-answers over issues like extraordinary rendition, torture etc. If the Democrats start digging, I expect Blair will become increasingly nervous. Another wobble for Blair's nerves will be the possibility that as Bush becomes more unpopular in the Unites States, so will Blair. Who knows maybe they won't want to buy his memoirs or pay top dollar to listen to him and his wife talk when they join the usually lucrative lecture circuit.

Not that our Prime Minister's nerves were that tranquil before the midterm elections. This week has produced some interesting nuggets of news over here too. I'm referring of course to the cash for honours investigation which seems to have gone onto over-drive and is progressing steadily towards Number Ten Downing Street. This week it was revealed that Gordon Brown and John Prescott had been contacted by the police and was asked to tell them what they knew about the scandal. Later it turned out the whole cabinet have been asked to supply information. This makes the eventual questioning of Tony Blair a near certainty. There is still a possibility that Blair will escape any criminal charges, at least until he has left office, but that is not a given. We have heard rumours of a 'killer e-mail' which spells bad news for Blair and Lord Levy. Jonathan Powell, Blair's chief of staff has been interviewed and may face further questions under caution. We were also treated to the spectacle of Blair's best hope, the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith (a close friend of the Prime Minister who had donated money to Labour and who had been ennobled by Blair) being in a position to decide if a prosecution should go ahead, evaporate.

So two stories of comeuppance, one on each side of the Atlantic, in the same week. Perhaps there really is a change happening and some cause for optimism. But if that is the case, it is only a beginning. Iraq is still a disaster and will remain so whatever happens here or in America. Bush and Blair are still in power although both are badly damaged lame ducks limping towards their exit from the world stage. Still it's a start.

Tags: Bush, Blair, Sleaze, UK Politics, US Politics

Sleazy Levy keeps shtum

2006-07-24T03:04:00.000+01:00

When Lord Levy was arrested a couple of weeks ago for his involvement in the ‘cash for peerages’ scandal, he described the arrest as unnecessary and "entirely theatrical". His lawyer, Neil O'May went out of his way to convince us how co-operative his client was being with the police investigation.

"Lord Levy has always been ready and willing to co-operate and to meet the police at any time of their choosing.

"He has always been only too willing, also, to provide the police with any documents that they might have needed, and he continues to do so."
Source

He also said Lord Levy hoped the police would "concentrate" on their investigation and "bring it to a swift conclusion". After he was bailed, Levy told reporters "I have been helping the police with their inquiries”. So it is surprising to read that this was not exactly the case.

POLICE are expected to postpone plans to interview the Prime Minister over “cash for honours” allegations because Lord Levy has refused to answer their questions.

Detectives, who had hoped to interview Tony Blair by the end of September, could stall their plans because Lord Levy has read them a written statement and said “no comment” when they probed further.

As a result, Whitehall sources claimed yesterday that plans to interview Mr Blair by the end of September could be put on hold, forcing the cost of the inquiry to spiral.

The disclosure will prompt speculation that Downing Street or the Labour Party may be behind the stalling tactic, hoping that the police inquiry will shudder to a halt.
Source

This strikes me as a strange way to co-operate with the police in order to get the ‘swift conclusion’ he said he wanted. Does this mean that once again Teflon Tony is off the hook? He has already said that he will not be the “fall guy” for Tony Blair over the scandal, so who is he protecting, himself, the Prime Minister or both of them? If Lord Levy is trying to give the impression that he is entirely innocent in these matters then he is going the wrong way about it.

Of course this could just be a delaying tactic to avoid embarrasment at the Labour Party conference in September when there is a possibility that Blair may announce that he is stepping down and wouldn't want to give the impression that the Police investigation influenced his decision. Perish the thought.

Tags: Sleaze, Lord Levy, Cash For Honours, Blair

Cash for Honours investigation picks up pace

2006-07-14T09:17:00.000+01:00

Image by Beau Bo D'Or

Since the arrest of Lord Levy, which he angrily described as theatrical, the police investigation seems to have gained momentum. Lord Levy has returned to the police station to answer more questions, and Lord Sainsbury, the Science Minister and biggest Labour donor has become the first Government minister to be interviewed by the police, and news is coming through that ex party chairman Ian McCartney has also been quizzed.

Despite the, frankly, bizarre criticisms of the police being theatrical and heavy-handed (this after the botched Forest Gate raid and the execution of Jean Charles De Menezes) the police do seem to think they have a case and are saying that they are confident charges will be brought.

Scotland Yard indicated to MPs yesterday that it was well on its way to securing enough evidence for a prosecution in the cash for peerages inquiry, even though three of Labour's big lenders had so far refused to talk to the police.

John Yates, the officer in charge of the investigation, disclosed that he had submitted two files to the Crown Prosecution Service and expected to hand over a full report by the autumn.
Source

And it could be that rather than just being charges of selling honours or failing to disclose information, there could also be more serious charges of conspiracy.

The likelihood of prosecutions being brought in the cash for honours inquiry was raised yesterday when the detective in charge of the investigation revealed that his team was looking into whether conspiracy charges could be brought against potential suspects.
Source

Tony Blair’s appointment with Knacker of the Yard is getting closer now too. It is believed he will be interviewed this summer, after his holiday and before the Party conference in September.

TONY BLAIR will fly off on his summer holiday knowing that on his return he will be the first serving British prime minister to be interviewed by police in a corruption investigation.
Source

So it looks like Blair’s legacy and place in history (which he is so obsessed with) is assured. As the pressure mounts the remaining donors whose loans were blocked will start spilling the beans. No one is saying that the Prime Minister is going to be arrested, but the media is starting to speculate about the possibility. Fingers crossed.

Tags: Cash for Honours, Sleaze, Blair, New Labour

Sleazy Levy has been nicked

2006-07-12T19:28:00.000+01:00

Just as Guido Fawkes predicted back in March (and several times since), Tony Blair’s chief fundraiser and Middle-East envoy, Lord ~~Cashpoint~~ Levy, has been arrested for his involvement with the ‘cash for honours’ scandal. He has not yet been charged with an offence and has been bailed.

Lord Levy, 61, denies any wrongdoing and accused the police of using their arrest powers "totally unnecessarily".

[…]

Asked if he had any reaction to the news of Lord Levy's arrest, the prime minister's official spokesman said: "I cannot comment on that, it is a party matter."

He confirmed the peer was still the prime minister's Middle East envoy.

[…]

Lord Levy's arrest comes two days after allegations that he told a businessman he did not have to tell a Lords vetting committee about his loan to the party.

BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson says Lord Levy and Tony Blair are close friends and said the fate of Lord Levy and Mr Blair was "intertwined".

"This could not be more serious for Tony Blair personally," he said.
Source

So it would seem that Sir Gulam Noon has been singing like a canary now that there is little chance of him or his fellow donors getting their peerages. It seems that there are fears that the police have been recovering incriminating emails from computers which could lead to more arrests.

Iain Dale has been on the case here, and here.

Let’s see if Blair’s preference for "speedy, simple summary justice" still holds as the investigation gets closer to him. I wonder if Lord Sleazy will do a Dame Shirley Porter and disappear to Israel.

*UPDATE*
Guido has helpfully put all his posts on the Levy saga into one chronologically ordered post in order to assist those journalists expressing surpirse at Sleazy's arrest. For those playing catch-up its well worth a read.

Tags: Sleaze, UK Politics, Blair

Vultures Circling over Nu Labour

2006-04-30T07:21:00.000+01:00

There is a sense that things are coming to a head in the Labour Party. Two out of the three cabinet ministers caught up in last week’s ‘triple whammy’ are just about hanging on to their jobs and are at the mercy of events. Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott is waiting to see what the reaction is going to be to whatever revelations emerge from his mistress’ kiss-and-tell story in the Mail on Sunday. He may well be able to weather more sordid details of his affair with his secretary, Tracy Temple, but if stories about abuse of his position get more attention, or other sex scandals become public, he may have to quit in order to save the Government from further embarrassment.

Charles Clarke’s position as Home Secretary hangs in the balance as more news about the foreign ex-prisoners re offending comes to light. As the police frantically try to round these people up, journalists are frantically looking for evidence of further violent crimes committed by them since their release, and they seem to be having more success than the police. The Prime Minister seems to be washing his hands of the affair as the baying for blood gets louder.

The context for all this drama is, of course, next week's local elections when Labour is expected to get a serious drubbing. Because of this, attention is finally starting to focus on the ringmaster of the New Labour circus. The loudest calls so far for Tony Blair to announce the time of his departure are ringing out around Westminster with threats of a leadership challenge if he doesn’t. We are hearing that there will be a cabinet reshuffle after the elections which the Government hopes will calm things down. Having the reshuffle before the election will, the Government argues, add to the sense of crisis. And there is the problem. Tony Blair is still in denial that there is a real problem with his New Labour project. A purely cosmetic reshuffle after the election will not reverse his fortunes. To use a tired old cliché, it will seem like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Tony Blair does not want to quit, at least not while things are going so badly; in Iraq, in the NHS, with the cash for honours scandal, and in just about every other department in his Government. He has not yet made the connection that the longer he hangs on, the worse things get. Like a hopeless gambling addict he appears to be thinking that ‘one last flutter’ will change his fortunes. Blair seems to fear that Gordon Brown will not continue his ‘reforms’ and playing for more time will allow another candidate more enthusiastic about his policies to emerge. Gordon Brown seems to playing the ‘give him enough rope and he’ll hang himself’ game. He is keeping a relatively low profile while letting his supporters stir up trouble from the sidelines. The tactic may be sound but Brown too is running out of time and he is in danger of inheriting an irreparably damaged party faced by an overwhelmingly hostile electorate. At the moment the Tories are failing to capitalise on the mess, but as the exasperation with New Labour continues that may change.

Needless to say, while all this is going on normal government (if there is such a thing) seems to be suspended. The reshuffle will be another battle between ‘Blairites’ and ‘Brownites’ and will be viewed as an indicator as to the direction New Labour will take and fuel more discussion as to when Blair will stand down. One of Blair’s problems here is that he is fast running out of credible allies to fill vacant seats in his cabinet. If Blair continues to put in place people whose only qualifications are undying loyalty to him, then he is storing up further problems of incompetence in the future. The support of these Blairites are all that is keeping him safe for the moment because they realise that they will lose their jobs once Brown gets into number 10 (if he does get in).

So what to do? I think it is safe to assume that there will be little change before next week’s vote, unless, of course, events overwhelm Charles Clarke and/or John Prescott. Labour are desperate to stress that the local elections are just that; elections about local issues. With the chaos happening nationally and internationally you can see why they would stress this. However, local elections have always been used as a chance for the electorate to give the Government a kick in the teeth when it’s needed, and on this occasion a kicking is more than necessary. If the vote goes particularly badly for Labour as is expected, it may well give backbenchers the courage to initiate a leadership challenge.

That would be a starting point for things to improve. The party leadership recognises this hence all the scare stories of the BNP doing so well. It probably will do better than usual, as will many of the smaller parties like the Green Party, UKIP, Respect etc. as well as independents. This might actually be a good thing for democracy in Britain. If people are so disenchanted with Labour that they will actually go out and vote for a bunch of racist, fascist thugs like the BNP then that is the most damning indictment for Labour than anything else I can think of. And it is a problem of Labour’s own making. All the same, Labour can be severely punished without giving racist morons any credibility and I would like to see the BNP consigned to history’s dustbin.

Voters will have the chance next week to do what backbenchers should have done ages ago by pronouncing their verdict on Blair’s leadership without actually removing the governing party. Whoever wins in local elections, garbage will still be collected and council tax will continue to rise. But sweeping Blair from power would make a real difference. I for one cannot bear the thought of Blair crowing that the election results vindicates him and proves his policies are correct if Labour does do well (and we all know that he will do that). Until we get the electoral reforms we so desperately need in Britain so that peoples' views are more fairly reflected in government, tactical voting in elections (even local elections) is the only way for us to make a point.

The stories we have been hearing in recent weeks, whether its cash for peerages or Departments of Health and Education and Home Office incompetence, or the removal of civil liberties, are all symptoms of a greater rot that has set in a government that has been in power far too long with the same leader. Yes, Charles Clarke obviously has to go, but the buck stops with the Prime Minister whose bad judgement put Clarke and his ilk in positions they are patently not suited for.

*UPDATE*
There is so much more coming out in relation to these events and, of course, different aspects are being covered by other bloggers. Rachel and Blairwatch are on the case with some excellent posts, and many others no doubt. I'll post more links as I come across them.
Bryan Gould on Austin Mitchell's weblog (via Blairwatch) expresses his feelings about New Labour.

Tags: Britain, Nu Labour

Has Lord Levy been burning the evidence?

2006-04-21T18:11:00.000+01:00

Guido Fawkes suspects something fishy is going on with regard to a mysterious fire at the offices of Lord Levy last November. The news comes fom an article by Peter Osborne in The Spectator.

Secondly, it emerges that the Marylebone offices of the New Labour treasurer, Lord Levy, have been devastated by a mysterious fire. This took place last November, well before the police investigation began and around the time the House of Lords Appointments Commission raised the first queries concerning Tony Blair’s list. When I rang Downing Street for a reassurance that no papers relevant to the police investigation had been destroyed, I was informed that ‘that is a matter for Lord Levy’.

Full Article here (free subscription required)

This is old news, the fire happening as it did in November, but with the cash for honours scandal continuing, the story becomes more interesting. There is more on the fire here.

"One room, used by his secretary, was devastated.
We do not know the cause of the fire but we are not treating it as suspicious."

Many of Levy's personal documents were destroyed but happily, I am told, his correspondence with the PM and other political mementoes remain intact in his offices the Lords and the Foreign Office. The police are investigating.

Well this looks a bit suspicious to me too. Maybe he couldn't find a paper shredder big enough.

Tags: Blair, Britain, Cash for Honours

How Labour Spends its 'Loans'

2006-04-21T02:47:00.000+01:00

As the Cash for Peerages scandal gathers pace, information is emerging on how New Labour spends the vast sums it receives in loans and donations. Obviously most of it is spent on advertising; poster and television campaigns, which accounted for 29 percent of the £17.9 million that the 2005 election cost the party. Rallies accounted for 16 percent, and 15 percent on junk mail direct mail leaflets. A further 12 percent of the money was spent on an interesting category called "overheads and general administration" which apparently also covers Cherie Blair's hairdressing bills.

Obviously unable to afford such expenses herself on her meager wages as a Q.C., the Prime Minister's wife presented the Labour Party with a £7,700 bill for the services of her personal hair stylist, André Suard, who she employed for the month long campaign in April last year, at a cost of £275 a day.

As Labour struggled with outgoings so large that it had to resort to secret loans from millionaires to stay afloat, Mrs Blair made the party pay £275 a day for a month to keep her hair in shape. The invoice from André Suard, her hairdresser, is declared by Labour as an election expense in its annual statement of accounts for 2005 submitted to the Electoral Commission last month.

Labour Party members are said to be furious at the disclosure, especially as the party are now campaigning for the local elections in May and have the Cash for Peerages scandal with a police investigation hanging over them.

Mr Kilfoyle [MP for Liverpool, Walton] said: “This is a real problem. We are almost accepting by stealth a First Lady. We don’t have a First Lady in our constitution, whether the Labour Party constitution or the unwritten British constitution; £7,000 could have been spent on political campaigning. We spent about £3,500 on our election [in Liverpool Walton]. It would be a very healthy contribution in many seats.”
Full Times Article

One MP refferred to the revelation as a "cash for coiffeurs" scandal. By wasting money in such an extravagant way it is no surprise that the Labour Party is in such financial trouble and is having to sell its Wesminster headquarters. It might also explain why the Blairs seem to be in a bit of a monetary rut as well. So it comes as no surprise that the Government is also accused of wasting money and "sloppy" procurement in the NHS.

For an amusing take on New Labour's latest negative campaign, check out Tim Ireland's latest video.

Tags: Britain, New Labour

Round-up of the Loans for Honours Scandal

2006-04-19T00:20:00.000+01:00

There have been some interesting developments in the on-going investigation into the loans for honours scandal. Last week head teacher and ex-Government advisor to the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT), the quango set up to find rich donors for the government’s City Academies programme, Des Smith, was arrested. In January this year he had revealed to an undercover Sunday Times reporter the extent of the tariff system in which the more money one gave, the better the gong given for "services to education", from OBEs to knighthoods to peerages. Des Smith has denied any wrong doing and is promising to defend himself vigorously.

Tony Blair's close friend and ex-flat mate Lord Falconer is shortly to appear before MPs to answer questions over the cash for honours system and the damage it is doing to British politics. The Lord Chancellor will be the first witness in the inquiry into the future of party funding. He is also likely to play a part in any reforms that are to be made into the honours system.
There was another very interesting development when another recruiter of rich donors to the Labour Party, Dr Nick Bowes, Head of Labour's Business Liaison Unit, accidentally set his private blog (published anonymously as "Tales of the Northern Monkey'') to be public and revealed many more murky details in the cash for honours scandal and in the blog said that the "Prime Minister was in it up to his neck, and was personally involved." He also said:

"The whole peerages thing is corrupt. It is one of the biggest forms of patronage still in the hands of the Prime Minister. I just wonder whether the PM really believes in sorting out the House of Lords, as it may just rob him of his one first-class way of rewarding big donors and sponsors of city academies."

Of course the blog has been taken off-line now but conservative blogger, Iain Dale, has a copy of it and a very interesting read it is too. Blairwatch has more on this.

Clearly No 10 were running a party within a party - Blair, Lord levy, Matt Carter (General Secretary) and Ian McCartney were all complicit in the scam, and I knew absolutely nothing about the loans.

Iain Dale also has a list of very pertinent questions on his blog which are worth looking at.

"It seems to me that Mr Bowes could have some very useful information for Inspector John Yates of the Metropolitan Police."

Its looking like Inspector John Yates is going to be a very busy man as his investigation delves deeper and deeper into the scandal and his list of people to interview gets longer.

Dr Nick Bowes in one section of his diary says in reference to the drawing up of the list of donors to receive honours that Lord Levy was responsible:

"It's got the grimy hands of Lord Levy all over it... most on the list have given substantial money to New Labour. Some of the elevations I think would be quite good... unlike fly-by-nights like Sir Gulam Noon - who frankly is the supporter of whomever is in Government and therefore most likely to make him a lord - and Barry Townsley, who I have always suspected of being a Tory."

Inspector Yates is very likely to want to ask Lord Levy a few questions. He is Labour's chief fundraier known in the party and among journalists as Lord Cashpoint. He is believed to be most closely linked to the current sleaze scandal and was also responsible for securing the £1m donation to Labour from Formula One millionaire Bernie Ecclestone. Lord Levy is now saying that he will not be the fall guy for Tony Blair and that the loans for peerages scam was all the Prime Minister's idea as the pressure builds on him and on others to come clean.

Sources close to Lord Levy said he would tell police that he was against getting wealthy backers to offer secret loans instead of publicly declared donations - but was urged to do so by Mr Blair to save the party from bankruptcy.
Full Article

But whatever he says, it does seem that he is very involved in the scandal. And the scandal may even go deeper than just handing out gongs for cash. Lord Levy is also deeply involved in Labour Friends of Israel (LFI), a powerful lobby group for Israeli interests in the UK. From Sourcewatch and Spinwatch:

While Labour originally carried a reputation for having more voices sympathetic to the Palestinians – especially during the Thatcher years – the New Labour government of Tony Blair has reversed this orientation. Although one of Tony Blair’s first acts after becoming an MP in 1983 was joining LFI, the relationship truly developed in the early 90s, when as shadow Home Secretary, Tony Blair met Michael Levy at a private meeting at the latter’s house. Michael Abraham Levy is a former chairman of the Jewish Care Community Foundation, a member of the Jewish Agency World Board of Governors, and a trustee of the Holocaust Educational Trust. According to Andrew Porter of The Business, Levy expressed his willingness “to raise large sums of money for the party” which led to a “tacit understanding that Labour would never again, while Blair was leader, be anti-Israel” .

In other words in return for large amounts of cash, Tony Blair, the leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister, changed his foreign policy to favour a foreign government. It is also no coincidence that Michael Levy was made a Lord when Blair came to power and also a "special envoy" to the Middle-East. This is a serious conflict of interest and goes much further than the necessary task of combating anti-Semitism in the UK.

The partnership proceeded as Levy started inviting potential donors for tennis at his palatial home where Tony Blair would join them for a set or two. Levy would then proceed to ask the guests for donations after Blair had left. The genius of Levy’s fundraising strategy ensured that most of Labour's election funds came from private sources, rather than its traditional source – the trade unions, thereby weakening their say over policy. Levy’s investment eventually paid off, with Blair’s accession to power. The reward was not long in coming as Levy was ennobled and subsequently retained as a “special envoy” to the Middle-East, leading predictably to the development of a strong pro-Israel line. Given the fact that Levy has both a business and a house in Israel and his son Daniel used to work for Yossi Beilin – the former Justice Minister of Israel – speaks of a serious conflict of interest, especially when he is the man assigned by Blair to negotiate impartially with Palestinians and Israelis. The fact that Levy acted as a fundraiser for former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak casts further doubt on his capacity for impartiality. According to Neil Sammonds of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in 2002, Four of the previous five ministers with Responsibility for the Middle East had been active members of LFI.

Hopefully these issues will be investigated but somehow I doubt it. Tony Blair has been very lucky in his Premiership, with no opposition to speak of and a large majority for most of his tenure. He has been able to force through bad legislation with little scrutiny and select his own judges when investigated leading to inevitable whitewashes and "narrowing the scope of the investigation". He has also been fairly successful in limiting the power of the House of Lords to challenge his centralising of power. But after giving so much power to the police, maybe Inspector Yates' investigation will be thorough enough to find the needed evidence. Perhaps Blair's greed will be his undoing.

Tags: Blair, Britain, Cash for Honours

Ex Government advisor arrested over loans for honours scandal

2006-04-13T13:44:00.000+01:00

The police have arrested a man in connection to the Government's loans for honours scandal. It has just been revealed that the 60 year old man arrested is ex Government advisor, Des Smith, a council member of the trust that helps recruit sponsors for the Government's city academies.

Earlier this year, he was interviewed by The Sunday Times in an undercover investigation:

PRIVATE donors to Tony Blair’s controversial city academies can obtain honours and peerages by sponsoring the schools, a senior adviser to the programme has revealed.

Des Smith, a council member of the trust that helps recruit sponsors for academies, disclosed that if a donor gave sufficient money, he could be nominated for an OBE, CBE or even a knighthood.

He described what appeared to be a tariff system, in which a benefactor who gave to “one or two” academies might receive such an honour while a donor who gave to five would be “a certainty” for a peerage.

Full Sunday Times article here
There is more to this story from Guido Fawkes (via Blairwatch)
Tags: Blair, New Labour, Loans for Peerages

New Labour Sleaze Spreads

2006-03-26T05:25:00.000+01:00

New Labour’s loans scandal shows no signs of diminishing. It is now known that Tony Blair knew about the loans before picking the lenders out for peerages despite having been warned by the Appointments Commission after the election.

The prime minister selected Chai Patel, Sir David Garrard, Barry Townsley and Sir Gulam Noon from a list of more than 40 candidates drawn up by aides last summer.

The disclosure shows for the first time Blair’s hands-on role in the loans for honours scandal. He is thought to be the only person involved in choosing nominees who was aware of the identities of the financial supporters.

He had previously accepted responsibility only for a loans scheme without admitting he was fully informed of who the lenders were. However, the insider said: “When Blair selected his shortlist of peers he was aware of which ones had given loans. He was given a long list of names to choose from and personally selected which ones to put forward. The prime minister knew exactly what was going on with the loans from the very beginning.”

Full Story

The same article states that Lord Levy’s friends are saying that he was against the loan scheme and that it was “all Tony’s idea”.

The corruption scandal has now engulfed John Prescott, the deputy prime minister as it has been revealed that he favoured plans from property developers who had also given secret loans to the party.

The deputy prime minister gave his backing to a controversial £600m scheme proposed by Andrew Rosenfeld, chairman of the Minerva property company, only months after Rosenfeld had secretly loaned Labour £1m last year.

Full Story

Meanwhile more questions are being asked about Rod Aldridge and Capita, and its relationship with the Government. Stewart Jackson, the MP for Peterborough has asked the Prime Minister to "List meetings his Adviser on Government Relations has had with (a) Capita, (b) organisations acting on behalf of Capita and (c) Mr Rod Aldridge in the last 18 months; what the purpose of the meeting was in each case; and if he will make a statement."

Jackson said: "I asked that question because I am concerned if civil servants were being instructed to procure money for the Labour Party in their office time and using their office resources. If that's true, it is political dynamite."

Full Story

The civil servant who advises on government relations is Ruth Turner.

The police investigation into the affair looks like it may well be a thorough one. John Yates has already selected his team and asked for sensitive documents and Lord Levy seems to be an early target of the investigation.

The pressure is also increasing on the Tory Party to disclose the people who loaned them money, and it is possible the police investigation will spread to them too. In order to deflect attention from the Labour Party, Downing Street has been accusing the Tories of “buying seats” at the last election. It also appears that foriegn-born businessmen have been bankrolling the Tory Party.

It looks like these sleaze allegations will continue for some time yet, and will more than likely instigate some real change in the way political parties are funded. The close examination of the two biggest parties will also demonstrate how close together they are in terms of sleaze as well as policy.

Tags: Blair Sleaze Politics