Blair has managed one final trick. During the long goodbye and a media focus on the Dour Scot, the nagging embarrassments of the last few months will fight for media attention; Brown will be able to distance himself from them and no doubt 'Events, dear boy' will surface. Before long Parliament will be in recess again. As much a reminder to myself as anything else, here's my aide-memoire of unresolved matters that I've previously blogged on here (and do please add to them if I've neglected any)
- Cash for Honours - we await charges. The publication of the independent advice to the AG has been promised.
- State Funding - Hayden Phillips' recommendations are with the main parties. I am implacably opposed to the proposed model; only 1.4% of the electorate are members of the three main parties, they have all haemorrhaged members since 1979 as democratic power has been increasingly concentrated in Whitehall. What a different report we would have had if it had been written by the Chairman of the Local Government Association rather than by a lickspittle ex-mandarin.
- Navy hostages Board of Enquiry - This one was comprehensively covered by Private Eye a couple of issues back. As EU Referendum correctly surmised, it was a PR stunt for a BBC film crew that went wrong. Orchestrated from the MOD, the aim was to boost the UK's role in the Gulf. US and other vessels that were part of the flotilla were put 'out of sight'. A girl was cast in the politically correct lead role for the reality-TV boarding. The helicopter that was carrying the BBC film crew returned early not because it was short of fuel but because the crew had an appointment for a filmed interview with the flotilla commander. Britain's international reputation was therefore shredded for the sake of Whitehall orchestrated spin.
- Birmingham terrorist raids leak - media leaks that endangered the success of an anti-terrorist operation and, as David Cameron has eloquently explained on Conservativehome, further served to alienate the law-abiding Islamic people in Birmingham. The leaking was quite clearly a criminal offence, yet there is to be no inquiry and seemingly no charges. Contrast this with the jailing yesterday for six and three months of the civil servants who planned to leak a document that was merely embarrassing to the US President.
- ID cards fiasco - as costs spiral towards the £19bn estimated by the London School of Economics, expect more subterfuge, distortion, omission and misrepresentation from government.
- EU treaty - Blair will expect to sneak this through before his time is up. No doubt the timing is being carefully planned.
- CSR 07 - Brown's masterpiece, the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review. Expected I think in July, this will reveal the presbyterian thief in all his nakedness. Expect the defence of the nation to be the lowest of his priorities, and locking ever more people into a waste of welfare and State dependency to be the highest.
There's no let-up and no honeymoon on this blog.
5 pithy observations:
I would add the looming constitutional crisis with Scotland
The EU Treaty merits whatever resistance can be mustered. Might the blogosphere have a rôle to play ?
The thing which irks me most about the EU Constitution (lite) is not what the details are, it's that Blair will be able to sign us up without even being leader of the governing party. I think there's a serious (British) constitutional question here.
Aren't we signed up and have been since the end of 2004? It's the ratification process for the few unratifying member states, of which we are one, that Blair is helping to finagle.
Sarkozy has sorted France, Blair is sorting the UK without even a debate in Parliament on the lines of it being a consolidation of already accepted treaties rather than a constitution with new measures affecting UK law, Poland is getting ratify or go messages as it hadn't understood it isn't fully in yet unless it conforms to its accession status, ditto any other objecting new member state. Holland I don't know what they think or have to do.
I didn't know that about the Navy "hostages". Why am I not surprised that I didn't know?
I thought the Iranians were having a laugh at us, but now I see why it was such a deep belly laugh.
Nick, I agree. Time for non violent civil unrest. How are we to avoid seven bullets to the head on the way to work?
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