Quentin Letts' review of the Little Red Book of New Labour Sleaze in today's Daily Mail. Paul Linford has pointed out that they list the editors as Iain Dale and Guido Hawkes. I was going to say that Guido has never been so insulted... but I know he has...This pocket-sized volume, the opposite of a Greatest Hits compilation, lists the top 100 New Labour Sleaze scandals. I counted only 99, but the rest of it seems accurate enough. It is what we newspaper hacks would call a 'cuttings job' - and no worse for that. Cuttings jobs collate forgotten details, reminding you of the numerous vignettes of corruption which moulded your suspicion that the current crowd in Downing Street are the seediest, most contemptible crew since Del Boy and Rodney set up business in their Reliant Robin three-wheeler. Derek Draper's astounding arrogance as a New Labour henchman, Tony Blair's £2 million entanglement withindustrialistt Lakshmi Mittal, John Prescott's chipolata, and the £50,000 'insider betting' scandal when Michael Martin became Commons Speaker: this book is a wedding buffet of dodginess. Cherie Blair/Booth makes numerous appearances, as does Stephen Byers. These two have been the Edrich and Compton, the Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, the Ant and Dec of Blairite sleaze.
There is nothing new in the shor essays which have been written by various members of the blogging world. The prose is unexceptional with only thoccasionalal flare of anger and wit. The editors, who worked quickly, did not waste time excising minor duplications.
It is striking (though not surprising) how many Labour scandals have involved Scottish Labour. I could have read more about the links between big money and Blair's No 10. there is surprisingly little on the PFI projects, on Capita, and on the way the BBC and some other parts of the media have been persecuted and harried and beaten into submission. The editors will argue that there simply wasn't room. Still, at the rate Cherie and Co are moving there shoiuld be plenty of material for a second volume of sleaze before Christmas.
The list for the second edition must be full by now surely?
ReplyDeleteAlso a review today in Lib Dem News by Mr Clader.
ReplyDeleteNot quite the Daily Mail, but still...
Surely at Christmas we would want the 2007 Big Red Calendar of Labour Sleaze - realise some months would have more sleaze stories than others but that could be an interesting seasonal point of interest.
ReplyDeleteThe calendar is a great idea.
ReplyDelete