The BBC has this widely reported story about Labour party chairman Ian Lavery and money he received from the trade union he ran.
We have learned this from the trade union regulator which has now released a report into Mr Lavery's actions as general secretary of the NUM Northumberland Area.
He will now face questions on his record over a number of disputed payments by the union he ran.
Mr Lavery, who is the chairman of the Labour Party, denies any wrongdoing.
Ian Lavery is a coming power in the land, Jeremy Corbyn's general election joint co-ordinator and chairman of the Labour Party. If the Conservatives fall, he's most likely destined for high office. But, perhaps, for one thing: his refusal to answer a simple question asked by BBC Newsnight last year: "Did you pay off the mortgage?" BBC Newsnight asked him nine times without getting a reply.
I'm sure this is all within the rules but to my mind it is a worthwhile reminder of how common petty grabbing seems to be, especially among the second-rate. Nobody gets to be rich this way, so why do people do it - especially people in comfortable financial circumstances?
I’m reminded of people I knew who would take great care to claim every penny allowed by the rules. As I recall, none of them were indispensable and I'm sure that's not a coincidence...
...What am I saying? I know it's not a coincidence.
The scandal over MPs' expenses showed us just how strong is the temptation to grab whatever is there to be grabbed and how many petty grabbers there are in Parliament. We are hardly likely to be surprised by the story and will not be surprised by the next, nor the one after that. One even might treat it as a useful reminder of how lax we are as voters, how pitifully poor we are at gatekeeping the House of Commons.
The scandal over MPs' expenses showed us just how strong is the temptation to grab whatever is there to be grabbed and how many petty grabbers there are in Parliament. We are hardly likely to be surprised by the story and will not be surprised by the next, nor the one after that. One even might treat it as a useful reminder of how lax we are as voters, how pitifully poor we are at gatekeeping the House of Commons.
7 comments:
Sarcasm just isn't enough . . .
Recently I was talking to a bloke in our village. He used to be the customer services supremo in a big power company. On his "patch" he had two nationally famous very wealthy criminals as his customers. Both of them, despite living in grossly opulent mansions and engaging in very conspicuous consumption, engaged in protracted low-level fiddles to try and extract free electricity. He was warned by the police not to go after them, as it would potentially compromise their investigations into stuff like murder and massive illegal importation of drugs.
With some people, it's like a sickness. Nothing to do with the outcome - just to convince yourself that you are not one of the other mugs who pays their way.
All you need to do is get a 'job' with Kent County Council.
They're very good at it.
After John Poulson was released from Armley Prison he retired to a small bungalow. During his last years he made the lives of his neighbours hell threatening legal actions over the precise boundaries. It was about inches and not feet.
If you get a top job in a certain kind of organisation then you have had sight of all the fiddles going as you climb the pile. The higher you get the more you get to see and your silence allows you go higher. You would be a mug to turn down the fiddles and if you were not up for fiddling you would never have got the job.
Remember the Chipmunk?
DCB - piano wire?
Sam - weird isn't it? It is like a sickness but I suppose research and diagnosis are not easy when there is the possibility of broken kneecaps.
Scrobs - I think they all are.
Demetrius - it sounds as if prison taught him nothing.
Roger - maybe that's what morality is for - the majority. Wouldn't work so smoothly if everyone was at it.
James - no I don't, but there are many things I don't remember.
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