I watched that excellent film, The Sting, starring Paul Newman, (now sadly the late) and Robert Redford the other evening and it reminded me of the recent Channel Four Despatches programme in which Stephen Byers, Patricia Hewitt, Geof Hoon and Margaret Moran were set up in an undercover operation to reveal the murky goings on by our MP’s, using their influence to affect an outcome for a fee. I always like to add a picture to go along with any comments, so I had to dig through my archive to find an appropriate one for the article, here it is…
Aside from the obvious discredit this latest episode brings again to our Parliamentarians, I was staggered, but not surprised to here that, quoting from the Daily Telegraph: However, a spokesman for Mr Brown said the Prime Minister was “satisfied” that there had been no impropriety on the part of ministers in the Transport and Business departments. “The Prime Minister has seen the statements from the departments and is satisfied that there is no impropriety.”
It is OK for Stephen Byers to discuss his objectives with Lord Adonis, and no impropriety has occurred, really, what do they have to do to be considered out of order? The culture of money for nothing, i.e. £3,000 – £5,000 per day for offering strategic advice, when people up and down the land are living off little more than that per year, sharply contrasts the imbalance in society today.