political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
I gather Gordon Brown is urgently trying to buy one of those cheap last-minute flights from BA...
"...No, really, just any-bloody-where, so long as it's this evening... Ed, have we fixed an international conference I can speak at tomorrow morning yet? Well why the hell not? Idiot..."
I predicted on these pages some time ago that a neat combination of Blair's interests and the handy anti-semitic "throwing of the Jew to the wolves" would happily co-incide with Lord Levy being made the Patsy. So far, so good. I hope though that Levy cuts a deal and brings down the castle with him!
Bye bye pro-American lie, Gave a bevvy to Lord Levy - his arrest it was nigh, And Gae old Gordy he was slapping his thigh, Singing this'll be the day you all die!
Nope. He's been arrested for *conspiracy* to pervert the course of justice. Can't conspire on your own. To bring that charge they've got others lined up too.
I hear that, due to the shortage of prison places, some criminals may have to be locked in cages at London zoo. I hope for Levy's sake they don't lock him up in the zebra enclosure. If he keeps those pyjamas on, he wont get a lot of sleep if it's the mating season.
This is proundly serious. The Government attempts to overturn 2000 years of Christian sexual morality with a "20 month transitional period", while at the same time its Jewish principal fundraiser is re-arrested on charges of perverting the course of justice. Dear God.
When will the penny drop with the political parties? Ending political honours is the only way to lift this suspicion, which applies to the Tories and LibDems as well
Taking the longer view, I think it's very good news that senior politicians are being prosecuted for what in the past has been regarded as mere venality and not very bad venality at that. We need a general lifting of standards - why not start at the top? I also think there needs to be a police investigation of the eagerness with which our elected officials are pursuing the concept of more casinos, something which can only be bad as it preys on vulnerable people.
Levy looks bang to rights now. Yes, who are the other "conspirators"?
Turner and Powell? Maybe McTernan?
I doubt Bliar will be directly implicated but I could be wrong. Even so, the prospect of Bliar called as a witness by any of the defendants and squirming under oath will be most amusing - he could even end up in clink himself a la Archer. It goes to say that Bliar's position in the immediate term would be untenable once charges are brought against any of his closest aides. Watch for Gordon's mob descending on No 10 to tell him it is time, unless of course the cops do decide to charge him! I will be stockpiling the champagne as of tomorrow!
Well iv'e been calling the BBC for weeks now but tonight they have done well ,they even beat Guido, even Iain beat Guido , just to much for me I now have a headache
Let us at this juncture recall the words of that giant in the political sphere, Frank Field, and his recent words in the Guardian in relation to 'Cash for Honours' - Labour had, as he put it, been 'sailing close to the wind'...
The horizontal stripes are too stylish these days, he might actually like it.
No, far better to put him in the 'full guantanamo jumpsuit'; worse still for him than being thought a fugitive from justice, he might be mistaken for somebody who works in B&Q which he really would detest...
Kingbongo, I'm sure you are technically right, but what on earth is to stop Blair asking John Reid to phone the Commissioner and order him not to arrest the PM? There is nothing in the British "constitutional arrangements" to prevent this. Points a huge finger at why we need a US-style written constitution. I also seem to recall that a similar arrangement to cancel a prosecution can simply be ordered in secret in Privy Council.
Anonymous 9:28 - Someone with more legal knowledge than I will write in, I'm sure, but I don't believe the police service is answerable to any government. I think our forebears were well capable of seeing the consequences of such a route.
Blair and his cohorts have no authority to order the police to do anything, nor to stop them from doing anything. (That's my understanding.) Certainly, we need a written Constitution. Their Constitution has served the Americans very well.
Verity - you are right, but the state of our police is parlous right now, I'm sure there's not many ACPO members that wouldn't be ready to assist Tone. I think it is only becasue of our ghastly, but free press, that any of our freedoms really remain. Scary or what?
Gordon's cronies may be working behind the scenes tipping off the Met and egging them on but it'll only bring sorrow on Brown's head when Mandy and Campbell nail him once and for all.
Anonymous 10:15. Don't worry about Lord Levy. He won't be carrying the can for anyone. He has already made that clear, which made Tony's intestines turn to water.
Deep down, Blair's a very stupid man. Deep down, Levy is very intelligent and very ruthless.
Emma F, having read your profile, I think you're the perfect woman for me. Brown hair, sense of humour, easy-going, what more could one ask for? I knew it right there, I didn't even need to read the blog, honest. Will you marry me? :)
If "they" were covering something up, then there must be something to hide. Maybe not something earth-shatteringly corrupt, but something a little iffy. Perhaps something "they" would have got away with if it hadn't been for a cover-up. Hah!
This land of such dear souls, this dear, dear land, Dear for her reputation through the world, Is now leas'd out,—I die pronouncing it,— Like to a tenement or pelting farm: England, bound in with the triumphant sea, Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame, With inky blots, and rotten parchment bonds: That England, that was wont to conquer others, Hath made a shameful conquest of itself.
Come the next election Labour may well have scraped together enough from the Unions to fight a perfunctory campaign. But with the Conservatives reputedly building up an enormous warchest it is inconceivable they would be even close to matching the Tories' spending. Labour are probably onto a hiding in 2009 or 2010 anyway, but the scale of any defeat will probably bankrupt the party.
Then they will have no alternative. With business and private contributions probably a thing of the past (and they will be when the Tories win... no-one likes backing a loser and in opposition you are classed as having totally lost) Labour will be forced to go cap in hand to the trade unions once more.
Perhaps we are seeing the death knell of New Labour.
what on earth is to stop Blair asking John Reid to phone the Commissioner and order him not to arrest the PM? There is nothing in the British "constitutional arrangements" to prevent this.
Since July 2000, under the Greater London Authority Act 1999, the Met Commissioner is technically no longer answerable to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, but to the Metropolitan Police Authority. And they certainly can't intervene in any operational matters.
Right Is Right: Even though one hears, rather than sees, a death knell, your thought is perfectly beguiling. Dead NuLabour. I see a rainbow. I hear bluebirds singing. I hear a heavenly choir.
60 comments:
He could be in luck - there will be no prison places left even if he is prosecuted and found guilty.
Convenient office fires always make plod suspicious.
What was that term used for leaving a lit candle on a tray of paraffin?
A type of lighting?
Couldn't have happened to a nicer person.
Shame on the BBC for breaking the story and now showing some inane shit about boxing.
He may be arrested until he's charged and goes to court it does not mean anything
I gather Gordon Brown is urgently trying to buy one of those cheap last-minute flights from BA...
"...No, really, just any-bloody-where, so long as it's this evening... Ed, have we fixed an international conference I can speak at tomorrow morning yet? Well why the hell not? Idiot..."
Shame on the BBC for breaking the story
Er, would you prefer that it hadn't?
In the words of Richard Mottram "We are all f----- now". Includes Blair. Pole and Ruthie have been singing.
Great pic, wonder who did it!!!
*wild clapping*
According to the BBC it is "conspiring to pervert the course of justice". Is this a one-man conspiracy, or is there more to come?
He is arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. Before it was under specific acts relating to honours.
Perverting the course of justice to me means typically porkies, leaning on/influencing others or destroying evidence.
I love it how they did it when he pitched up for bail.
annoymous 6.01
for a second I thought this was Tone, leaving Chequers and driving through Oxfordshire:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/6312673.stm
I have an erection over this
Brave putting up a picture like that. Let's hope he's charged and convicted for your sake!
I predicted on these pages some time ago that a neat combination of Blair's interests and the handy anti-semitic "throwing of the Jew to the wolves" would happily co-incide with Lord Levy being made the Patsy. So far, so good. I hope though that Levy cuts a deal and brings down the castle with him!
Bye bye pro-American lie,
Gave a bevvy to Lord Levy - his arrest it was nigh,
And Gae old Gordy he was slapping his thigh,
Singing this'll be the day you all die!
corrected web address
http://
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/6312673.stm
Something about a ship... and not being afloat... what's that saying again?
it's the final countdown de de der der de de etc...
All of you prats celebrating are utterly missing the point. If the buck stops at Levy, Blair and his dodgy mates have won.
The stripes suit the arrogant sod...
anon 6:52 -
Nope.
He's been arrested for *conspiracy* to pervert the course of justice. Can't conspire on your own.
To bring that charge they've got others lined up too.
I hear that, due to the shortage of prison places, some criminals may have to be locked in cages at London zoo. I hope for Levy's sake they don't lock him up in the zebra enclosure. If he keeps those pyjamas on, he wont get a lot of sleep if it's the mating season.
turner was arrested on suspicion of perverting. No conspiracy there.
So one utterly plausible prosecution case is that Levy told Turner to delete the emails, and Turner deleted them.
You read it here first.
This is proundly serious. The Government attempts to overturn 2000 years of Christian sexual morality with a "20 month transitional period", while at the same time its Jewish principal fundraiser is re-arrested on charges of perverting the course of justice. Dear God.
Hurrah - of course there is more.
When will the penny drop with the political parties? Ending political honours is the only way to lift this suspicion, which applies to the Tories and LibDems as well
"... never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut".
Just thinkin this lot has been pumping out loads of things this week mon that law ,today casino's ,tomorrow ? ,do you think they are trying a spin
Taking the longer view, I think it's very good news that senior politicians are being prosecuted for what in the past has been regarded as mere venality and not very bad venality at that. We need a general lifting of standards - why not start at the top? I also think there needs to be a police investigation of the eagerness with which our elected officials are pursuing the concept of more casinos, something which can only be bad as it preys on vulnerable people.
Ha ha!
Levy looks bang to rights now. Yes, who are the other "conspirators"?
Turner and Powell? Maybe McTernan?
I doubt Bliar will be directly implicated but I could be wrong. Even so, the prospect of Bliar called as a witness by any of the defendants and squirming under oath will be most amusing - he could even end up in clink himself a la Archer. It goes to say that Bliar's position in the immediate term would be untenable once charges are brought against any of his closest aides. Watch for Gordon's mob descending on No 10 to tell him it is time, unless of course the cops do decide to charge him! I will be stockpiling the champagne as of tomorrow!
does anyone know whether its legally possible to arrest (and what about charge?) blair while still in office?
Rest in Peace new labour scum!
Well iv'e been calling the BBC for weeks now but tonight they have done well ,they even beat Guido,
even Iain beat Guido , just to much for me I now have a headache
It's all very well for you sods to be so triumphalist. You never give a thought, do you, to those of us who wish to buy a peerage?
Let us at this juncture recall the words of that giant in the political sphere, Frank Field, and his recent words in the Guardian in relation to 'Cash for Honours' - Labour had, as he put it, been 'sailing close to the wind'...
Marvellous - Trebles all round !!
The horizontal stripes are too stylish these days, he might actually like it.
No, far better to put him in the 'full guantanamo jumpsuit'; worse still for him than being thought a fugitive from justice, he might be mistaken for somebody who works in B&Q which he really would detest...
Iain, what makes you think Levy is a Newcastle United supporter ?
This government should be thrown out.
Kingbongo, I'm sure you are technically right, but what on earth is to stop Blair asking John Reid to phone the Commissioner and order him not to arrest the PM? There is nothing in the British "constitutional arrangements" to prevent this. Points a huge finger at why we need a US-style written constitution. I also seem to recall that a similar arrangement to cancel a prosecution can simply be ordered in secret in Privy Council.
Turner dropped Levy in it so will Levy drop Blair in it? He's made it clear he's not going to be the scapegoat.
Powell, meanwhile, is prepared to drop them all in it to save his own skin.
Anonymous 9:28 - Someone with more legal knowledge than I will write in, I'm sure, but I don't believe the police service is answerable to any government. I think our forebears were well capable of seeing the consequences of such a route.
Blair and his cohorts have no authority to order the police to do anything, nor to stop them from doing anything. (That's my understanding.) Certainly, we need a written Constitution. Their Constitution has served the Americans very well.
Anonymous @ 6:01 PM
Actually Gordo is at an international conference tomorrow. Some place foreign to him - Scotland
Verity - you are right, but the state of our police is parlous right now, I'm sure there's not many ACPO members that wouldn't be ready to assist Tone. I think it is only becasue of our ghastly, but free press, that any of our freedoms really remain. Scary or what?
The police can do what the fuck they like. It's Lord Goldsmith and the CPS that make the final call.
Much as I dislike the slimy Levy I hope he doesn't have to carry the can for the bastards.
Gordon's cronies may be working behind the scenes tipping off the Met and egging them on but it'll only bring sorrow on Brown's head when Mandy and Campbell nail him once and for all.
Anonymous 10:15. Don't worry about Lord Levy. He won't be carrying the can for anyone. He has already made that clear, which made Tony's intestines turn to water.
Deep down, Blair's a very stupid man. Deep down, Levy is very intelligent and very ruthless.
Emma F, having read your profile, I think you're the perfect woman for me. Brown hair, sense of humour, easy-going, what more could one ask for? I knew it right there, I didn't even need to read the blog, honest. Will you marry me? :)
anonymous 9.28
The Home Secretary no longer "controls" the Met - this was passed on to the Mayor of London and a Police committee.
Yet another example of this shower being hoist by their...
Follow this link to Theo Spark's forecast of the future for LL and TB
http://bp3.blogger.com/_3QqO8EXd-II/Rb-iOr0IA6I/AAAAAAAABN0/NNqp7RSM5W8/s1600-h/Blair+downfall+FEB.jpg
If "they" were covering something up, then there must be something to hide. Maybe not something earth-shatteringly corrupt, but something a little iffy. Perhaps something "they" would have got away with if it hadn't been for a cover-up. Hah!
As Shakespeare said:
This land of such dear souls, this dear, dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world,
Is now leas'd out,—I die pronouncing it,—
Like to a tenement or pelting farm:
England, bound in with the triumphant sea,
Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege
Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame,
With inky blots, and rotten parchment bonds:
That England, that was wont to conquer others,
Hath made a shameful conquest of itself.
tone made me...- You mean the 'Met' now charging around after Mr Tony is under the control of Mr Livingstone?
My, my, what goes around...
Ironic, although one suspects that Ken and Tony are probably quite chummy now..
"Whiter than white"
What a bloody joke that was!
Come the next election Labour may well have scraped together enough from the Unions to fight a perfunctory campaign. But with the Conservatives reputedly building up an enormous warchest it is inconceivable they would be even close to matching the Tories' spending. Labour are probably onto a hiding in 2009 or 2010 anyway, but the scale of any defeat will probably bankrupt the party.
Then they will have no alternative. With business and private contributions probably a thing of the past (and they will be when the Tories win... no-one likes backing a loser and in opposition you are classed as having totally lost) Labour will be forced to go cap in hand to the trade unions once more.
Perhaps we are seeing the death knell of New Labour.
tom tyler, behave yourself. Be a proper gent and emma to marry you for her money.
I see Brown is getting his excuses in early.
Anon @ 2128
what on earth is to stop Blair asking John Reid to phone the Commissioner and order him not to arrest the PM? There is nothing in the British "constitutional arrangements" to prevent this.
Since July 2000, under the Greater London Authority Act 1999, the Met Commissioner is technically no longer answerable to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, but to the Metropolitan Police Authority. And they certainly can't intervene in any operational matters.
Right Is Right: Even though one hears, rather than sees, a death knell, your thought is perfectly beguiling. Dead NuLabour. I see a rainbow. I hear bluebirds singing. I hear a heavenly choir.
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