It could be worse, you know: not every MP is a Moran

Britain’s most popular political leader has been involved in a dodgy property deal with a fraudster.

Britain’s most popular political leader has been involved in a dodgy property deal with a fraudster. On the same day that the politician bought his new home for £165,000 under the asking price, a regular campaign contributor purchased (via his wife) the adjacent plot of land from the same seller for the listed price of £350,000. The donor, a property developer who had a significant amount of business with the government, had been alerted by the politician to the availability of the land and to his intention to buy the house next door. The two men had even walked through the property together. Six months later, the politician was sold a slice of this land for £61,000. The politician was Barack Obama, the property developer Tony Rezko, who has now been convicted of fraud, money laundering and corrupt solicitation.

If Obama was a British politician in the current climate, this case would end his career. The worst possible interpretation would be read into what had happened. The public would not listen to Obama’s protestations that while his actions were ‘boneheaded’, they were not corrupt. The media would splash on how Obama had admitted that he could not have afforded to pay the asking price for the house. They would dismiss out of hand the idea that the seller had not treated the two sales as one.

But this was America and the perception was that Obama was a good guy. Here, the perception is that all MPs are crooks. Every MP who is implicated in this expenses scandal is being treated as if they are guilty. So, David Cameron is ordering shadow Cabinet members to pay back those claims that have been queried, regardless of whether they are justified or not.