What the Labour fundraising scandal reveals
‘Get me a Bishop. Get me a f—ing Bishop!’ Peter Mandelson, then Labour’s political strategist, yelled these words across the floor of Labour campaign headquarters at a rare moment of crisis before the 1997 general election. Inquiries were made, soundings taken in ecclesiastical and other circles. With surprising speed, lo and behold! there emerged out of pontifical obscurity the austere figure of Richard Harries, Bishop of Oxford. The ecclesiastical potentate obligingly anathemised John Major and his works.
Ever since then the Rt Revd Harries has been reliably on hand with spiritual solace for Labour party politicians in times of trouble. When Michael Howard accused Tony Blair of bad faith over Iraq, Richard Harries confirmed his burgeoning reputation as the Lord Hutton of the Bishops’ Bench by placing the spiritual weight of the established Church behind the Prime Minister’s personal integrity.
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Tony Marsh
November 29th, 2007 1:07pm Report this commentIf the Labour Party is shown to have accepted anonymous donations , how have they coplied with money laundering regulations ? Worth including in any investigation ?
Ausin Barry
November 29th, 2007 4:10pm Report this commentA hopeless government in disarray, a bolshy military, an increasingly resentful public watching despairingly as the country descends into a dystopian nightmare...coup d'etat anyone?
Margaret, London
November 30th, 2007 12:51am Report this comment"Peter Abrahams, a property developer of doubtful credentials..."
David?
Alec in France
November 30th, 2007 9:35am Report this commentYet - although UKIP cash was confiscated on a technicality, these donations can simply be repaid. Just like Blunkett's "erroneous" expenses claim. Scum!
Alan Myers
November 30th, 2007 11:08am Report this commentThe Garden Girls? Is the suggestion that Clunking Fist's treatment of these admirable Crichtons will be as harmful as the graft at the heart of The Project really serious?
alan maddox
December 1st, 2007 3:41pm Report this commentThe Labour Party has it's roots in the wish of the working class to have their say and be represented and that is perfectly in order. The rot started when the loyalty and naivety of the labour voters and officials in local parties were used by the Trades Unions and plum,safe Labour seats were "kidnapped" by specific Unions so that one of their members would then have a voice in the House of Commons. Hence morons like John Prescott appeared.He had never set foot in Hull and probably didn't even know where the place was when he was told to go there by his Union and present himself to the local party,who were leaned on by the top dogs at Labour Party H.Q.,much as were local Tory parties lent on by Central Office when they wanted a seat for their man. The poor die hard Labour supporters in Hull had Prescott plonked upon them and this happened in many seats,e.g. Dennis Skinner. The Blair/Brown new wave quite rightly disliked this and hated relying on the Unions and ,in particular,the Labour Party HQ in England. They realised they could rid themselves of these traditional Labour shackles by putting up for bidding the resources of the state as the author says in his article,and let's throw in a bit of patronage,for good measure. Despite the lack of violence what is the difference beween the current so called "New" Labour party and the regime led by Mr Robert Mugabe?
steve
December 5th, 2007 10:00am Report this commentAlan it may not be as serious, but if Brown is treating his most junior members of staff with this sort of contemptous, nasty, bullying, then it says much about the moral fibre of the man and certainly makes him shrink in my eyes
Dave Burns
December 8th, 2007 2:29pm Report this commentBrown and Darling are bullies. The lost CDs were blamed on a Junior Civil Servant rather than accept the systemic failures in their own leadership. The bullying of the Garden Girls is a flaw in Brown's makeup. Rather than analyse the problem and come up with a solution he blames the most junior person possible.
jkmccarthy
February 15th, 2008 3:42pm Report this commentCould Mr Oborne please give the provenance of Lord Butler's declamation as given above in par.2. Further, can he provide with information as to where I can find his statement in written form? Many thanks
Christopher Davison
April 8th, 2008 10:28am Report this commentThe elephant in the room is wearing a burka and Labour is going out of office for decades due to mass immigration, many reserved British people will not admit that this is the reason.
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