George Galloway - a flawed hero

He has been responsible for two of the more toe-curling cringeworthy events on t.v. in the last decade. Nonetheless he is still something special. In an age when politicians do not say what they mean and do not mean what they say, he shines out as beacon of clarity. His values are good and his assessment of what is wrong with our governance is usually spot on. He is also consistent, being a strong supporter of the Palestinians and anti-war. 

It comes to something when the official labour candidate at the Bradford West By-election would not appear on the same platform as him for fear of being shown up. 

His assessment that the astonishing result was a vote against all three main parties resonated with this voter. Recent events amplify his case.

The Tories? Where to begin?

Cash for Cameron with its its ‘Inquiry’ to be run by Conservative Lord Gold? You could not make it up. 

“Don’t Panic! Break out the Jerry cans?” Mancis Fraud has not had a good week. Good. He is an egregious bastard who should have been slung out years ago. The poor woman in York setting fire to herself will not have gone down well with the twinset and pearls brigade.

Pastygate? Osborne being briefed by Treasury Officials that a pasty was rather like a bigger version of boeff en croute...Or avoiding Sun journalists dressed as Marie Antoinette trying to give him pasties.

How about the NHS bill? The Tory party have had over 300 donations linked to private health care companies totalling £8.3 m over the last 11 years; and there are 141 Tory members of the House of Lords and 13 Tory MPs who have a financial interest in private health care. How dare you suggest they influenced policy?

The Labour Party? Who opened the door on privatising the NHS? Who also admitted they would have had a programme of severe cuts? Who were involved with ‘Cash for Honours?” And who entertain their wealthy backers at private dinners...?

Or the LibDems? With their craven acceptance of, and collusion with, the worst Tory excesses? Or their ‘little difficulty’ with Michael Brown the convicted fraudster and party donor?

All in it together? You bet they are. 

It would be terrific for our failing democracy if George’s message was taken up and a couple of hundred reforming radicals were elected at the next General Election throwing out the expenses cheats, the corrupt and the incompetent. They could then work to bring our governance into the 21st century. 

It will not be easy. The media - many of whom came from the same background and inhabit the same bubble as our political elite are already at work pointing up George’s errors and ignoring his message. 

“The status quo must prevail - no matter how corrupt or how crap - because it is our gravy train”

Mancis Fraude

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. Not been the best of weeks for the unconvicted expenses cheat has it?

First he was the chosen stooge to go onto the Today programme and defend the indefensible Tory fundraising dinners. He did not do well. Dismissing the issue as ‘having a few friends round for a kitchen supper’ revealed the depth of his lack of insight and just how out of touch these Toffs are.

Later that same day he stood in for Cowardy Cameron who would not face the Commons.

He did not do well. He tried to blame Labour and only mentioned the disgraceful allegations as an afterthought. Hoots of derision all round.

Yesterday he was a spokesperson put up against the tanker drivers strike. He did not do well. He came out with the astonishing idea that we should all get jerry cans and fill them up with fuel thereby maximising panic buying. He also managed to alienate and disgust the Fire Service as storing petrol is very dodgy. 

Today he had to come out and announce that his storage idea was not a good one. He did not do well. As an unconvicted expenses cheat he had zero credibility with rational beings before this week. His idea for storing petrol in cans makes you wonder if has a vested interest in either jerry cans or in a petrol company.

Not to mention the pasties.....Steve Bell sums up the sorry state of affairs. 

His week was bad - as bad as Cameron and Osborne’s. They are not only venal - they are also risible and for a politician, being laughed at is dangerous territory. 

Wonga Government

The lid has been lifted on the feculent pit that is the Conservative Party. The way they make policy to suit the whim of their wealthy backers. Since the revelations in the Sunday Times there has been a renewed scrutiny of their policies. Typical is this report in the Independent.  

“Adrian Beecroft, a venture capitalist who has given £593,000 to the Conservatives since Mr Cameron became leader in 2005, recommended companies be allowed to sack unproductive workers at will. The businessman, whose interests include payday loans company Wonga.com, argued that "coasting" workers inhibit economic growth and deter employers from recruiting.

His report, submitted last autumn, remains shrouded in mystery. Unusually for a Government-ordered study, it has not been published. Downing Street is coy about who commissioned it. The driving force is believed to be Steve Hilton, Mr Cameron's strategy adviser, who is leaving No 10 in May.

Ministers believe the report has not been published as it is too sensitive. Ideas are said to include watering down maternity rights, which would have jeopardised Mr Cameron's goal of making Britain the most "family-friendly" country in Europe. Another official said: "His report was full of the Tory millionaires' philosophy that government should not interfere in anything."

Mr Beecroft's plan for "no fault dismissal" was taken up by Mr Cameron and George Osborne, the Chancellor. It would allow a company to fire unproductive workers without the right to claim unfair dismissal, but they would receive statutory redundancy pay.

He (Beecroft) conceded a "downside" of his main proposal is employers could be accused of firing staff they "did not like," but said: "While this is sad, I believe it is a price worth paying for all the benefits that would result from the change."

Good to know that Gradgrind is alive and well. 

Beecroft makes lots of money from poor people. He lends money to them in payday loans at very high interest rates. Such loans are banned in many countries including the US. In those countries he would be done for loan sharking. However, in our Tory Boy government he is given status and the opportunity to propagate his anti- worker claptrap.

As that well known Tory ‘MP’ Alan B’Stard told his dim mate Piers, “It is not about the money, I am simply very, very greedy.”

Wonga man would have sympathy with that.

Cash for Access - some more points.

Cruddas - the pariah - made his money ‘spread betting’ on the financial markets. He is a non-dom based in Monaco so he avoids paying much tax on his winnings. 

His comments about circumventing the financial rules should be of interest to the plod - or they would be if they had not had their fingers burned trying to get evidence from the bag of vipers involved in ‘Cash for Honours.’

Cameron did not show up in the Commons to face the music. This is the second time he has done this when his judgement has been found wanting (or corrupt depending upon your viewpoint...)The first time was the occasion was when his chosen communications chief Coulson resigned. This is the PM who praises our boys in Afghanistan for their courage...

He relied upon well known expenses cheat Maude to speak on his behalf. Not a good choice. There are many of us in this country who believe this man should have been charged - along with quite a few more. He has zero credibility.

Labour went from a four point lead to a seventeen point lead in two days.

Among the ‘guests’ have been property tycoons, financiers and his best mate. The best mate was appointed chairman by Cameron immediately after the election. His appointment has been described as a ‘crony chairman’ - by Tory activists and party workers! They are not impressed.

Eric Pickles was almost indignant when challenged on the World at One about today’s  planning reforms and whether they had anything to do with cosy chats over the consomme. Every policy they introduce from now on should undergo the ‘batman’ test: dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner dinner - fatcatman! 

Listening to a selection of Tory mouthpieces over 48 hours shows they really do live in a different world. They see nothing wrong with these ultra exclusive dinners. The thought of such access being unavailable to the remaining 99.9% of the electorate does not figure in their thinking. They think £50,000 is small change.

Coming after the Tory papers were unimpressed by the budget and with local council elections to come there are some big chickens clucking their way to the roost. The Tories are deeply toxic again. 
Steve Bell sums up the situation:

The last time they were in such bad odour with the electorate Thatcher went to war against Argentina. 

Watch this space.

Cash For Access

It is a sign of how much of a mess the tories are in when they have to rely on unconvicted expenses cheat Maude to defend ‘cash for access.’ In case anyone has forgotten, Maude bought a flat in London a few minutes walk from a house he already owned. He then rented out the other property (to Tory Boys apparently) and began claiming on the new flat: the taxpayer has since covered over £50,000 in mortgage interest payments. He owns several properties and is a multi-millionaire.

On the Today programme he said it was perfectly reasonable for very wealthy people to have dinners with Cameron and Osborne. He also denied that this would give the donors any special access. A small tremor was recorded across the nation as a million households cried ‘bollocks’ in unison.

John Harris, writing in the Guardian Online has this take on the scandal..

“....Questions bound up with wealth, privilege and a disquiet about Cameron and George Osborne have been building for months, were heightened by the budget and now threaten to turn critical....

....This fiasco fits so snugly into recent political events that it surely represents the perfect Conservative nightmare.

Five days after Osborne delivered the most butterfingered budget in living memory, it's worth reflecting on its ongoing aftershocks, and how neatly they fuse with the Cruddas affair. The questionable idea that the rich would somehow end up paying five times as much tax as they did pre-budget has vanished. Instead, the cut in the top rate is the prism through which every controversial aspect of the budget is now seen, from the ubiquitous granny tax, through the prospect of an extra 1.3 million paying the 40p rate, to Labour's under-reported claim that £500m has been taken out of the NHS. Note also the unsolved question of which senior Tory politicians stand to gain from the end of 50p, talked up most frantically by those two renowned wagers of the class war, the Daily Mail and the Telegraph.” 

One of those probably benefitting from the 50p tax cut is of course Maude. He may well have his finances in such good order that like our estimable Chancellor he did not pay the top rate. Either way these venal creeps lose in the public opinion stakes. They are either very rich and avoiding tax or they are very rich and benefitting from a tax cut.

Cameron will eventually be forced to publish his guest list. His credibility is on the floor. He will do what he can to avoid this because he will know the embarrassment factor for him and the government will be immense. This issue goes to the heart of our democracy and will outrage many tory activists who already feel marginalised and ignored by the leadership.

As for who is on his ‘Guest List?’. How about Charlie and Rebekah Brooks? James Murdoch? Sir Philip Green?

Tory Club

The first rule of Tory Club is you do not talk about Tory Club. The second rule of Tory Club is you do not talk about Tory Club. The third rule of Tory Club is that if you do talk about Tory Club you will be marginalised, disowned, denied and turned into a pariah. You will also be described as a lone rogue operator (sound familiar) with aspersions cast as to your mental health. 

It has not been the best of weeks for the cesspit of slime known as the Conservative party. Killing the ‘N’ in the NHS followed by rewarding the rich at the expense of pensioners, the poor and the squeezed middle. And now this...

The sting operation run by a Murdoch paper (yes, a Murdoch paper!) exposing payment for access at the top of government lifted the lid on the way corruption is endemic within our system. It is hardly a surprise when the political class are nearly all from public schools and are skilled operators of the old boy network. Who you know is more important than what you know. It is a small step to selling influence and access.  

The video footage of Co-Treasurer Cruddas (what a great name for a sleazeball) offering access to Cameron and or Osborne has featured across the media this morning. The Observer pays due respect to the Sunday Times.

“Cruddas, the founder of online trading company Currency Management Consultants, is heard discussing how much access different-sized donations would get, during an undercover operation run by the Sunday Times.

In the footage, he is heard to say: "Two hundred grand to 250 is premier league … what you would get is, when we talk about your donations the first thing we want to do is get you at the Cameron/Osborne dinners.

"You do really pick up a lot of information and when you see the prime minister, you're seeing David Cameron, not the prime minister. (my italics)  But within that room everything is confidential – you can ask him practically any question you want.

"If you're unhappy about something, we will listen to you and put it into the policy committee at No 10 – we feed all feedback to the policy committee." Observer 25/3/12

The remark about seeing David Cameron, not the Prime Minister is important because it means that there will be no record kept of the meeting. Nice!

The revelations contradict previous claims by the Tories that their high-value donor groups, such as the "leader's group", ‘are for genuine supporters who do not seek to influence policy in return for their cash.’ (Oh Yeah). 

It costs £50,000 to have a meal with Dave or Gideon. The sort of small change out of reach of everyone but the 1% who currently rule the world. 

They also raise huge questions about the honesty of the prime minister. Months before taking office, Cameron warned that this type of "secret corporate lobbying" was the "next big scandal waiting to happen". The Sunday Times claims the meetings, at which Cruddas claimed "premier league" donors could lobby the prime minister directly, have not been declared to the public. But they were not meeting the prime minister - they were meeting David Cameron - off the record. Stinky. Stinky. Stinky.

And just in case anyone thinks Labour and the LibDems are much better just remember ‘Cash for Honours’ and the convicted fraudster Brown.

The Tory Club revelations heap more fuel on the revolution bonfire.

George Gideon Oliver Osborne

George apparently was once known as Gideon but didn’t like it so he changed it to George. It wouldn’t have anything to do with Gideon being known as ‘The Destroyer’ in Hebrew would it? His revelation that he does not pay the 50p tax rate astonished many and confirmed what many others already knew, that he was one of the children of Thatcher who are selfish, greedy bastards. Not sure what the ancient Hebrew is for that. 

Even the right wing Daily Wail were not impressed. This is from their online site.

“I'm not wealthy enough to pay the 50p tax rate' claims George Osborne (who earns minister's salary, rents out £2m Notting Hill home and has £4m stake in the family business)

• George Osborne earns £134,565 as Chancellor - just over £15,000 short of 50p tax threshold
• He rents out Notting Hill family home while living in 10 Downing Street flat
• Osborne has 15% stake in family wallpaper business which is worth an estimated £4million
• It is believed that he last year sold £600,000 property in his constituency in Tatton, Cheshire
• Osborne stands to inherit £4million from a family trust fund - dodging £1.6million inheritance tax
• Chancellor faced claims he 'flipped' his second home at height of the expenses scandal” Daily Wail 23/3/12

One of the advantages of online news is that it allows for almost instant feedback from readers. There has been a deluge of comment from Wail readers, the massive majority up in arms and outraged. Comments include ‘He has just lost the next election’ and ‘These Tory Toffs have not got a clue what it is like to live on an average wage.’

The reaction to the Budget did not go quite to plan either. Having assiduously managed the news beforehand, the one unknown element was seized on by the media and portrayed as ‘Grannies paying for millionaire tax cuts.’

This was beautifully portrayed in today’s Independent by Dave Brown.