Who thinks they should swing for this?
Mar. 24th, 2010 09:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pathology_docDemocracy for sale.
CANBERRA-born British MP Patricia Hewitt looks set to end her career in humiliation after being suspended from the parliamentary Labour Party for offering to sell her political influence to corporate clients for pound stg. 3000 ($4935) a day.
Ms Hewitt, 61, and two other former cabinet ministers were banished yesterday after being caught on camera explaining how they could help to influence government MPs for cash.
Ms Hewitt has taken on lucrative advisory roles to corporate clients since leaving the cabinet in 2007 and in footage broadcast by Channel Four yesterday she appeared to boast of helping one of those clients get a seat on a government inquiry affecting its business prospects.
The two other suspended MPs are former defence secretary Geoff Hoon and former industry secretary Stephen Byers, who are due to retire along with Ms Hewitt at the election expected on May 6.
There was little sympathy for the trio at 10 Downing Street because Ms Hewitt and Mr Hoon attempted to depose Prime Minister Gordon Brown in January, and Mr Byers has long been a critic of the Labour leader and factional sword carrier for former prime minister Tony Blair.
Ms Hewitt, the daughter of Australia's former top public servant Lenox Hewitt, shifted to Britain in the 1970s and has spent 13 years in the House of Commons, including six years as a member of Mr Blair's cabinet.
The sting by Channel Four and the Sunday Times involved a woman pretending to be an employee of a fictitious US communications firm interviewing MPs for jobs as lobbyists.
Ms Hewitt and the other MPs insisted yesterday that former MPs could legally work as lobbyists. Only one Conservative Party MP took part in the faked job interviews after another Tory MP who had been approached became suspicious and warned Conservative Party officials.
Mr Byers faces the most serious allegations because a camera hidden in a bowl of pot pourri showed him saying he could get confidential information from 10 Downing Street. He detailed cases in which he claimed he had used his contacts to influence government policy for companies.
Admitting that "I'm a bit like a sort of cab for hire", Mr Byers said he worked for pound stg. 5000 (pound stg. 8225) a day and had once successfully lobbied the Industry Secretary Peter Mandelson to change food labelling rules on behalf of the Tesco supermarket chain.
Mr Byers boasted that he had convinced Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis to allow the rail firm National Express to withdraw from a loss-making franchise without financial penalty.
The two cabinet secretaries described Mr Byers' claims as lies, with Lord Mandelson saying it was "very sad" that Mr Byers had made his "grubby" claims for money. Lord Adonis described the claims as "pure fantasy."
Tesco and National Express denied paying Mr Byers, and Education Minister Kevin Brennan suggested Mr Byers had simply been "trying to big himself up."
Mr Byers issued a statement saying he had exaggerated his influence on both policy decisions and had never lobbied ministers for corporate clients.
Ms Hewitt, who is married to a judge, was filmed saying she had helped one of her clients, the buyout firm Cinven, to get a seat on a government inquiry that was looking into the psychiatric care industry in which it was involved.
Conservative leader David Cameron said Mr Byers' activities showed Labour "had been in power for too long and lost touch with what it's meant to be doing".
Given that one of them seems to be pulling a Stan Shunpike - i.e. boasting about criminal activities he actually has no part in, in order to fluff himself up - I'll settle for a swift trip to one of HM's prisons and cold gruel for life. The Conservatives, should they win Government, have an obligation to reverse the damage Labor has done to the House of Lords and to British culture. This includes taking Britain out of the EU for good. They should also reverse the ban on fox hunting, which was a stupid decision given how weepy-eyed the Left normally gets about cultures being destroyed (except when that culture is theirs).
CANBERRA-born British MP Patricia Hewitt looks set to end her career in humiliation after being suspended from the parliamentary Labour Party for offering to sell her political influence to corporate clients for pound stg. 3000 ($4935) a day.
Ms Hewitt, 61, and two other former cabinet ministers were banished yesterday after being caught on camera explaining how they could help to influence government MPs for cash.
Ms Hewitt has taken on lucrative advisory roles to corporate clients since leaving the cabinet in 2007 and in footage broadcast by Channel Four yesterday she appeared to boast of helping one of those clients get a seat on a government inquiry affecting its business prospects.
The two other suspended MPs are former defence secretary Geoff Hoon and former industry secretary Stephen Byers, who are due to retire along with Ms Hewitt at the election expected on May 6.
There was little sympathy for the trio at 10 Downing Street because Ms Hewitt and Mr Hoon attempted to depose Prime Minister Gordon Brown in January, and Mr Byers has long been a critic of the Labour leader and factional sword carrier for former prime minister Tony Blair.
Ms Hewitt, the daughter of Australia's former top public servant Lenox Hewitt, shifted to Britain in the 1970s and has spent 13 years in the House of Commons, including six years as a member of Mr Blair's cabinet.
The sting by Channel Four and the Sunday Times involved a woman pretending to be an employee of a fictitious US communications firm interviewing MPs for jobs as lobbyists.
Ms Hewitt and the other MPs insisted yesterday that former MPs could legally work as lobbyists. Only one Conservative Party MP took part in the faked job interviews after another Tory MP who had been approached became suspicious and warned Conservative Party officials.
Mr Byers faces the most serious allegations because a camera hidden in a bowl of pot pourri showed him saying he could get confidential information from 10 Downing Street. He detailed cases in which he claimed he had used his contacts to influence government policy for companies.
Admitting that "I'm a bit like a sort of cab for hire", Mr Byers said he worked for pound stg. 5000 (pound stg. 8225) a day and had once successfully lobbied the Industry Secretary Peter Mandelson to change food labelling rules on behalf of the Tesco supermarket chain.
Mr Byers boasted that he had convinced Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis to allow the rail firm National Express to withdraw from a loss-making franchise without financial penalty.
The two cabinet secretaries described Mr Byers' claims as lies, with Lord Mandelson saying it was "very sad" that Mr Byers had made his "grubby" claims for money. Lord Adonis described the claims as "pure fantasy."
Tesco and National Express denied paying Mr Byers, and Education Minister Kevin Brennan suggested Mr Byers had simply been "trying to big himself up."
Mr Byers issued a statement saying he had exaggerated his influence on both policy decisions and had never lobbied ministers for corporate clients.
Ms Hewitt, who is married to a judge, was filmed saying she had helped one of her clients, the buyout firm Cinven, to get a seat on a government inquiry that was looking into the psychiatric care industry in which it was involved.
Conservative leader David Cameron said Mr Byers' activities showed Labour "had been in power for too long and lost touch with what it's meant to be doing".
Given that one of them seems to be pulling a Stan Shunpike - i.e. boasting about criminal activities he actually has no part in, in order to fluff himself up - I'll settle for a swift trip to one of HM's prisons and cold gruel for life. The Conservatives, should they win Government, have an obligation to reverse the damage Labor has done to the House of Lords and to British culture. This includes taking Britain out of the EU for good. They should also reverse the ban on fox hunting, which was a stupid decision given how weepy-eyed the Left normally gets about cultures being destroyed (except when that culture is theirs).