- 87,629
- Rule 12
- GTP_Famine
Back in 1997, the Labour Party in the UK was elected to power on a promise of being the antidote to the sleaze-filled Conservatives - at that point in time, the Tories had been in power for 18 years and had seen sex scandal after sex scandal after sex scandal... (and in fact it still continues to this day)
The Labour Party promised sleaze-free government. So... let's see how they've done in the last 9 years...
David Blunkett - famously blind, resigned after an affair with a married woman, having fathered one of her two children (who was brought up by the woman and her husband in ignorance) abusing his position as Home Secretary to speed up a visa application for her nanny and abusing his position as Home Secretary to secure an MP's wives' rail ticket for her.
Peter Mandelson - seen by many as the svengali behind New Labour - resigned after accepting a loan from party Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson in order to buy a house and not declaring it to either the register of members' interests OR his mortgage company (a criminal offence).
Geoffrey Robinson - ex-Paymaster General, as above. It's worth a note that Robinson's department was under investigation for fraud by Mandelson's department at the time of the loan...
Jo Moore - not an elected member of government, but a press adviser to Stephen Byers (more on him later). If you're American, you'll love this chick. Five minutes after the second strike on the World Trade Center in 2001, she circulated an e-mail to colleagues to say that "It's now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury. Councillors' expenses?" - an indication that news that would normally attract poor press could be happily sent out into the papers because 9/11 would keep everything else out of the way. She appeared on TV to give an apology - which if you ever get the chance to watch, take it.
Astonishingly she wasn't even fired for this, eventually resigning when she tried something similar on the day of Princess Margaret's funeral (apparently the funeral of a spoiled German princess is a far worse thing to intrude upon than the deaths of thousands of people just going to work).
Stephen Byers - (told you) One of British politics' most shady of characters, managing to destroy nearly everything he gets his hands on. Though he's never actually done anything illegal, his morals are perpetually questioned along with his ability. His resignation came after years of brinksmanship incompetance.
David Blunkett, again - Not content with resigning once, he returned as minister for work and pensions (less than 6 months after his previous resignation). Six months' later he was gone again after failing to declare an interest (shares and directorship) of a company given contracts for governmental work - for his department (amusingly, given his previous affair and fatherhood, in the Child Support Agency).
Keith Vaz - implicated in trying to secure citizenship for foreign donors to the Labour Party, as can be seen next below...
Peter Mandelson, again - Yep. Apparently ministers who resign in disgrace are the in-thing when Tony reshuffles... This time Mandelson went after, it is alleged, calling the Home Office on behalf of a man seeking British citizenship, who also sponsored a large part of the Millennium Dome, Mandelson's pet project.
Tony Blair - Yep, the high chief, His Lord Tonyness, President of the United Kingdom. His unimpeachable, sleaze-free character is difficult to sum up.
Not content with all of this, we now have the latest skit from sleazeless New Labour...
John Prescott - the Deputy Prime Minister. Not content with lecturing people on using public transport while being chaffeur driven 300 yards in a Jaguar XJ8, not even content with having the taxpayer pay the Council Tax on the government flat he occupies at Admiralty House (taxpayers' money being used to pay tax? Whu?), Prezza admits this morning to, being the old-school politician that he is, having had a two year affair with his secretary...
Whoever you vote for, the Government always gets in...
The Labour Party promised sleaze-free government. So... let's see how they've done in the last 9 years...
David Blunkett - famously blind, resigned after an affair with a married woman, having fathered one of her two children (who was brought up by the woman and her husband in ignorance) abusing his position as Home Secretary to speed up a visa application for her nanny and abusing his position as Home Secretary to secure an MP's wives' rail ticket for her.
Peter Mandelson - seen by many as the svengali behind New Labour - resigned after accepting a loan from party Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson in order to buy a house and not declaring it to either the register of members' interests OR his mortgage company (a criminal offence).
Geoffrey Robinson - ex-Paymaster General, as above. It's worth a note that Robinson's department was under investigation for fraud by Mandelson's department at the time of the loan...
Jo Moore - not an elected member of government, but a press adviser to Stephen Byers (more on him later). If you're American, you'll love this chick. Five minutes after the second strike on the World Trade Center in 2001, she circulated an e-mail to colleagues to say that "It's now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury. Councillors' expenses?" - an indication that news that would normally attract poor press could be happily sent out into the papers because 9/11 would keep everything else out of the way. She appeared on TV to give an apology - which if you ever get the chance to watch, take it.
Astonishingly she wasn't even fired for this, eventually resigning when she tried something similar on the day of Princess Margaret's funeral (apparently the funeral of a spoiled German princess is a far worse thing to intrude upon than the deaths of thousands of people just going to work).
Stephen Byers - (told you) One of British politics' most shady of characters, managing to destroy nearly everything he gets his hands on. Though he's never actually done anything illegal, his morals are perpetually questioned along with his ability. His resignation came after years of brinksmanship incompetance.
David Blunkett, again - Not content with resigning once, he returned as minister for work and pensions (less than 6 months after his previous resignation). Six months' later he was gone again after failing to declare an interest (shares and directorship) of a company given contracts for governmental work - for his department (amusingly, given his previous affair and fatherhood, in the Child Support Agency).
Keith Vaz - implicated in trying to secure citizenship for foreign donors to the Labour Party, as can be seen next below...
Peter Mandelson, again - Yep. Apparently ministers who resign in disgrace are the in-thing when Tony reshuffles... This time Mandelson went after, it is alleged, calling the Home Office on behalf of a man seeking British citizenship, who also sponsored a large part of the Millennium Dome, Mandelson's pet project.
Tony Blair - Yep, the high chief, His Lord Tonyness, President of the United Kingdom. His unimpeachable, sleaze-free character is difficult to sum up.
- Allegedly received £2 million (to the party) from Lakshmi Mittal, then wrote to Romanian Prime Minister to favour Mittal's tender for a steel contract.
- Denied any correspondence with the Hindujas (see Mandelson part 2 and Vaz above), despite having sent five letters, signed "Yours ever, Tony".
- Alleged to have received £1 million (to the party) from Bernie Eccleston, then mysteriously exempted Formula One from a ban on tobacco advertising and then gave the money back when it was revealed in the press.
- Under threat of potential criminal prosecution (and presumably impeachment) for alleged involvement in "cash for honours" - placing people on the Queen's Honours list, for positions in the upper house (House of Lords), for "significant donations"
Not content with all of this, we now have the latest skit from sleazeless New Labour...
John Prescott - the Deputy Prime Minister. Not content with lecturing people on using public transport while being chaffeur driven 300 yards in a Jaguar XJ8, not even content with having the taxpayer pay the Council Tax on the government flat he occupies at Admiralty House (taxpayers' money being used to pay tax? Whu?), Prezza admits this morning to, being the old-school politician that he is, having had a two year affair with his secretary...
Whoever you vote for, the Government always gets in...
