Up until yesterday I had a lot of respect for Tony Wright. He's Labour MP for Cannock Chase and Chairman of the Public Adminstration Select Committee. But yesterday he cheapened himself and his Committee. The previous night he appeared on Newsnight and made repeated attempts to turn the fire of the Cahs for Peerages investigation onto the Conservatives. Bob Marshall-Andrews was having none of it and laid into him. Yesterday, despite holding his Commitee Session with Inspector Yates in private, Wright came out to tell the TV cameras that the Police had interviewed more Conservatives than Labour people. If the Committee was held In camera then its proceedings should have stayed private, as Wright well knows.
This investigation is serious. We can all play party politics with it, but for the Chairman of a Select Committee to do so indicates one of two things. Either he's been 'got at' or he has lost his sense of understanding of the role of a Select Committee Chairman. The chairman of a select committee is a spokesman for that committee and it's not their job to be party political. I trust the other members of his committee will remind him of that when they next meet.
27 comments:
Yes, he mentioned the truth - that Knacker is after Tories too - so he's now a very very bad boy, whereas previously everyone think's Wright is great and the torygraph regularly praises him. Stop playing baby politics Iain, the public see through that so easily now - focus on big issues, this sort of narrow pathetic politicking is beneath you. What does it matter if some tories are in the frame too? The whole system is bent and the new conservative party should promise to co-operate fully with the police, condemn the system and join with whoever will overturn the current pathetic House of Lords in favour of something democratic. Go where the people want to go, not some grubby point scoring.
Anonymous, hit a nerve, have I? It's not 'baby politics' to point out that a Select Committee CHairman has abused his position.
I fully recognise the implications of this enquiry for all parties and I am certain that we won;t see the Conservatives react like spoilt children to it (see David Blunkett for example)
If you had read my comments in the past you would see I agree with you on the House of Lords and believe it should be fully elected. So at least we agree on something.
Anonymous, you may want to believe that all politicians are 'bent' as a way of justifying your own feeling of superiority. The thing is they're not all as bad as each other and the point of a democracy is to keep kicking them out until they learn or re-learn. That means voting for the opposition, not staying at home or voting for a fringe party and helping Blair by default.
Also, it is irrelevant how many people the police have interviewed as just because you've been interviewed doesn't mean you are a suspect. That is, unless you're interview under caution (e.g. Levy yesterday).
I thought Tony Wright was quite shocked by the police evidence yesterday. He knows they (the police) intend to question Blair. Up 'til now, Wright has been quite happy to play along with this investigation because he believed it was going nowhere. I think the police put him straight yesterday.
By the way, Emily what's-her-name from Newsnight is crap. Too fond of her own voice.
Its the "Well, We were not the only one's defence, or to put it more bluntly, if you're in the shite, spread it as far and wide as possible and hope it sticks to someone else as well.
In fact its most like the "99 call" on the British Lions tour in the 70's. Every British Lions piled into a puch up, to make it difficult/virtually impossible for the Ref to single anyone out!
Iain, totally agree about Blunkett's behaviour - he proved yet again that he is unfit to hold any office. Cannot the great city of Sheffield come up with someone more worthy than this pathetically confused and immoral man to represent them? All very sad.
Of course more Tories have been questioned. They were in power 18 years. The questions. How many Tories questioned under caution. How many Tories refused to be interviewd. How many Tories to be charged? Wright knows that NuLabour are in deep trouble and his pathetic 'Its not only us being invetigated' is pathetic as well as being unprincipled.
Taking the longer view, the issue of party funding and banning(possibly) of big donations, will have implications. Both parties have used the Honours system for fund raising. It seems Labour have cynically leveraged the system to the point where criminality is now the issue. They have themselves to blame.
Iain get down to the beach with bucket and spade.
i watched that too, Iain, and the proof will be in the charges. Somehow I think we will be more in the clear than they are, making Tony look a bit silly.
I appreciate your point Iain - especially about the fact the meeting was held In Camera.
However, the line many news organisations took on this issue wasn't the fact that more Conservatives than Labour members had been interviewed, but Tony Wright revealing that DAC Yates refuted suggestions that Lord Levy's arrest was merely "symbolic".
Hence I'm led to believe that Tony Wright was slightly less party political than you have given him credit for.
Come back John Coles! I agree that Emily whatshername, in my view was trying to help Tony Wright and also the Labout Party.
Like you Mr Coles I am tired of the juvenile ranting of the guardian reporter 'amoymous' which rather sums up his rag! Losing readers by the thousands.Anonymous is also using this and the other blogs to get his inspiration. I am really tired of his nonsense.He is a perfect example of why people turn away from politics (and the guardian)
Iain had a very valid point. I, too, thought Tony Wright was a fair Chairman, He went down in my estitmation also.
I notice your blog is being hit by the same Labour activists that Guido's is; I just wish they'd make something of an effort to not sound like the people they are - Labour Party members.
You're right about Wright, of course, but it's not a new thing: John Denham has been doing exactly this sort of partisan stuff for ages.
The sooner we're rid of this bunch of crooks the better. Maybe there's an Italian football team they could go and manage?
I think that "anonymous" might actually be Tony Wright.
Emily Maitlis - who is normally a very good presenter - seemed very nervous. She forgot the name of Tony Wright's committee - called it the "Public...committee", I guess she couldnt remember whether it was Public Accounts or Public Administration. One of a few fluffs she made. Maybe the gallery were "in her ear" throughout.
Anonymous 1:21 - 'Go where the people want to go, not some grubby point scoring'.
Ah, so you represent the people, do you? Is that the public at large, or only the chosen right-on ones? The point is that this current bunch of crooks have hijacked the entire political process that we are more or less a one-party state. They thought that they were above the law. Sadly, they probably are...
I must agree with you that the whole system is bent, but will these turkeys vote for Christmas? Until some brave politician bites the bullet, we're just going to have more of the same. Maybe, just maybe, this latest scandal (in a very long line) will change forever the face of British politics. Heaven knows it's overdue. Oops, sorry, I must have dropped off for a moment...
I got the impression that - despite the general fracas around Wright as he commented to the assembled world's press - he was thoroughly enjoying the attention. But he did look a bit 'post lunch' to me....
Of course the fact that Knacker is to question Conservatives and no doubt many others is a statement of the bleeding obvious.
There is, after all, a certain tendency to cover backsides amongst the plod. It's part of the basic course at Hendon, after all. Advanced courses also include presentation (fabrication, possibly?) of evidence...
Just goes to show that "Wright" can be "Wrong".
What a dick-head!
As I recall, Mr Wright indicated that he had the specific agreement of Inspector Knacker to disclose what he did.
Wright does appear to be going out of his way to spray smoke about to try to deflect attention from the emerging evidence against this govt, is one entitled to ask whats in it for him?
or he's stating the facts that more tories have been interviewed about this. This is again the right trying to keep it solely fixed on labour.
This type of shifty shinanigans has been going on for years under both parties governments, it just so happens to be a labour one now.
I know you wouldn't want to stoop to cheap party political point scoring Iain, I mean, let's face it, which of us would, but you wouldn't know from reading this site, for instance, that more Tories had been interviewed about this scandal than Labour. Well, perhaps Tony Wright has lost some of your respect for releasing this information. Has the Tory Member of the Select Committee, Grant Shapps, also plummeted in your admiration? Because Mr Shapps was also quoted in this mornings newspapers giving details of what was said in the meeting.
Or is it only Chairmen of Select Committees that are supposed to have this honour code? Also, if the Chairman is the Spokesperson, what was Shapps doing mouthing off anyway.
jc: yes, she was inept, wasn't she? Who on earth appointed her and why? I think Plod should investigate.
Agree with you John Coles Bob Marshall-Andrews was the best person in that discussion and I wish Paxo had been the moderater.
Interesting that no Conservative was invited onto that show,Newsnights' choice or ours?
Sir Stelios still a tax cheat despite knighthood.
Directly overlooking the waterfront is the Shangri-La apartment of the Easyjet founder Sir Stelios, (worth £727m). Nearby is the residence of the big Tory party donor and conference company tycoon Irvine Laidlaw (worth £714m).
The tax arrangements are sometimes complex. Lord Laidlaw is reported to have ceased claiming tax exile status since receiving a peerage in 2004. Sir Philip does not claim non-residency, but receives his dividends via his Monaco tax-resident wife Tina. Sir Stelios is of Greek-Cypriot origin, and therefore has privileged "non-domicile" as well as "non-resident" tax status. Stelios is quoted as saying: "I have no UK income to be taxed in the UK."
Source David Leigh
Monday July 10, 2006
The Guardian
Despite the scandal around the way Sir Stelios got his nomination for a knighthood now that he is a peer he must also lose his current tax free status but so far has not done so. So unlike Sir Philip Green and Lord Laidlaw, Sir Stelios is still an old fashioned tax dodger.
Marc
Green family income?
Green family tax paid?
Green not a good tax planner.
You are joking.
This is The Anonymous speaking and not one of my many (poorer) imitators. You can tell me from the spelling mishtakes. But really - so many people saying I'm a Guardian reader (I read Private Eye, New Scientist, Racing Post, Horse and Hounds, Used Car Monthly, the Herald Tribune, Church Times, Sunset Times, Conspiracy News and the Spectator) and a Labour stooge (hate New Labour and most of Old Labour too although they at least had some ethics from time to time) that I really had to respond. Here is a copy of my post from another thread. Read it and get back to us - am I a raving socialist? No, just a depressed realist. Many of you on this blog are too, but I have more power in real life than the rest of you.
Anonymous said...
Griswold - on Blair running a coffee table cabinet, all previous prime ministers in living memory have done exactly the same thing. The problem is that most of the other MPs in all parties are also complete shits and therefore utterly untrustworthy - the only recourse is to bring in one's pals from outside the house to advise. The issue is more with the choice of advisors; Blair and the Blairina (Madame Cherie) seem to have really really poor judgement when it comes to picking friends. Most laughably in the case of Chaplin, but many other fine examples. Even Mandie, whilst often praised as an operator, is the worst sort of ghastly oozing lounge lizard and not a fit and proper person to let into respectable organisations of any kind. And he is now managing trade for Europe! The old Papacy with it's retinues of hideously corrupt cardinals, catamatimes-made-ministers and fat accountant-priests could scarcely have come up with anything more Byzantine!
Yes, Tony Wright has cheapened himself (is that possible for a Labour MP?).
No doubt people of all political persuasions have been and will be interviewed as witnesses - that's how investigations are conducted, if he didn't understand that -(where do they get these people.........).
As has been pointed out, it's being interviewed UNDER CAUTION that matters.
These attempts to smear are not going to deflect anyone's attention from what is important - let's not have any more of this "they're all at it" rubbish - that's the Alistair Campbell line!
Speaking on behalf of the media, the most significant comment by Wright was the fact that he did not believe the arrest of levy was theatrcial. This was rightly the top line. The fact that more Tories interviewed was intersting,but not unexpected. It's obvious they will be questioned to see if they were also taking loans.
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