Posted on 07/12/2006 9:05:01 AM PDT by Ed Thomas
Tony Blair's chief fundraiser Lord Levy has been arrested. His arrest is in connection with the "cash-for-honours" inquiry by the Metropolitan Police.
Lord Levy, 61, made his money in the music industry in the 1960s and 1970s, managing singers including Alvin Stardust and Chris Rea. He has been a high profile fundraiser for Labour since Tony Blair's election. Lord Levy is understood to be being held at a North London police station.
Asked if he had any reaction to the news that Lord Levy had been arrested, the prime minister's official spokesman said: "I cannot comment on that, it is a party matter." He confirmed the peer was still the prime minister's Middle East envoy.
A Scotland Yard spokesman would not confirm whether Lord Levy had been arrested, but did say a man had been arrested by the Specialist Crime Directorate of the Metropolitan Police in connection with inquiries into possible breaches of honours and election laws. The spokesman said the man had been asked to attend a London police station on Wednesday morning and questioned about possible infringements of the Honours (Prevention of Abuses ) Act 1925 and the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act.
Scotland Yard is conducting a wide-ranging investigation into loans and donations made to all three parties to see if there is any evidence that honours have been given as rewards for financial help. It was prompted by the revelation earlier this year that a number of multi-million pound loans were secretly given to Labour before the last election, and that some of the lenders had subsequently been nominated by Tony Blair for peerages. All involved have denied any wrong-doing.
BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson said the arrest was "deeply damaging for Tony Blair" because Lord Levy is a particular friend of the prime minister. He said the fate of Lord Levy and Mr Blair was "intertwined". "It doesn't get much more serious than this," he said.
Angus MacNeil, the Scottish Nationalist Party MP who initiated the police inquiry, called for a freeze on all future honours until the investigation is completed. "This is a significant development and one that would appear to justify my decision to report this matter to the police," he said.
And a body in the woods turns out to be a former NatWest banker involved in the Enron affair.
Strange days indeed.
There used to be a formal procedure for degrading nobles. The scoundrel's sword was broken with great fanfare, then a chamberpot was emptied upon his coat of arms, and then he would be beheaded ot otherwise disposed of. I miss the old days.
Be careful what you wish for,my friend.What little I've seen of,and from,the guy who's slated to replace Blair (Gordon Brown) makes Blair look like Ronald Reagan by comparison.
And unless I'm mistaken,the current government need not call for elections for another four years or so.
Oh, it's not going to be so much of a problem- frankly I have a feeling that whoever ends up being the 'Stop Gordon' candidate in the post-Blair leadership elections will end up winning, much as Heseltine was the heir apparent under Thatcher until Major snatched the job from under his nose. Alan Johnson's the man to watch I feel, has a presence that Gordon lacks, and more importantly for voters worried about the West Lothian Question etc he's English...
Even if Brown suceeds Blair it'll be a short premiership- Gordon just doesn't have the combination of grit and charm to be anything more then a placeholder for the next Prime Minister, whoever that may be.
In any case, I'd rather suffer Gordon's dour rule for a few years then endure any more of Blair's sanctimonious crap...
I always thought that the Chancellor was assumed to be ruling Party's heavyweight...after the PM,of course.The question that comes to my mind is...is Blair the least of several hundred evils in today's Labour Party and,if he isn't,who is?
I recently saw a speech that Brown delivered to some left wing group (I'd remember the name if I heard it) and couldn't help but notice how often he used the phrase "shared responsibility" and how enthusiastically the audience received that phrase,judging by their applause.
Well Brown is regarded as a heavyweight, and it's the accepted view that he'll take over from Blair... the problem is that in many ways Brown is too much of a heavyweight. In public he seems to lack charisma and humour, and comes across as an extremely dour and unlikable figure. As I say, I have a feeling that he just doesn't quite have the killer instinct neccesary to get to the top of the greasy pole- by all rights he should have stabbed Blair in the back a long time ago but doesn't seem willing to take the gamble and instead seems to expect the job to fall into his lap. I suspect this caution will prove to be his undoing.
As for the alternatives, well in many ways it's a moot point. I can't see Labour winning a convincing fourth term in office whoever leads them, and most people seem to accept that the next election will produce a hung parliament or a small majority for one side or the other. Having said that, the people to watch for are Alan Johnson the Education secretary, David Milliband, the secretary for the environment, and Hilary Benn, the pensions secretary. All of these figures are broadly 'Blairite' in political outlook, and there's little chance of the Labour Left producing a plausible candidate.
I don't think Brown as Prime Minister would be much worse then Blair, as by now the Labour government simply isn't going to last long enough for him to do a vast amount of damage while in office. On top of all this there's the ongoing scandal of the Deputy PM John Prescott's numerous affairs and his expense fiddling, as well as chaos in the Home Office.
All in all, a great time to be a British politics geek!
Brown is pretty awful, as you say- and beyond policy decisions, his behaivour in office also points to the fact that he'd be a pretty awful Prime Minister. Cameron would make mincemeat of him in Prime Minister's Questions, for example, and he has an unfortunate habit of doing a disappearing act when things get awkward- not a good attribute for a head of government to have...
As for the BNP, they have no realistic chance of getting anywhere IMO, which is a good thing as they're a bunch of poisonous thugs. The chance of their getting a credible leader is put into perspective when you look at their performance at the last local elections- they had severe problems finding enough party members without criminal records who were eligable to stand! Their elected councillors are of a similar quality, rarely turning up to council sessions and embarassing themselves hugely when they do. There was a case the other week when BNP councillors proposed a motion, and then promptly forgot to vote for it when the time came, despite it only being ten minutes later...
Agreed re current edition of BNP, bunch of idiots for the most part, but their apparent support is due to the fact that they at least raise issues of concern to a huge number of people however un-PC those views may be. At least one Labour (female) bigwig recognised this a while back.
Well put. Blair has been a stalwart ally, and more conservative than the Conservative PM might have been.
...and, he didn't even have $90,000 in a plastic bag in the freezer.
" Blair has been a stalwart ally, and more conservative than the Conservative PM might have been."
You don't really believe that Blair can in anyway possibly be described as a conservative, do you?
You don't really believe that the Conservative Party of Britain can in any way possibly be described as conservative, do you?
Hard to determine what their actual policies are currently, so I'm 'waiting and seeing'!
And Blair?
He's an exceptionally nimble politician, and is aware just how the UK was changed during the Thatcher years. He's been taking a middle course and has done so to his own political benefit and that of his party. There are kookier leftists elected in the UK than almost any we have here, and they're often ticked off about this or that Blair policy. But their efforts have undermined their own influence and numbers.
This peerage-selling isn't really new (the "baronet" for example, if memory serves; I think that was done by the Crown back when) but is of course a bit questionable. One early act by Blair was to get rid of the last of the non-ceremonial functions of the House of Lords, so there's no political influence being sold along with the peerages.
Y'know, I got thinking about what I wrote about the House of Lords... they do have some political power. What Blair's Commons removed in 1999 was the hereditary nature of the seats in the House of Lords. Power of the HoL is limited (they can delay but not deny spending), but Commons can in effect determine its membership.
Bagman pushes Blair to edgethe alleged actions of Mr Blair's bagman, known as Lord Cashpoint for his uncanny ability to deliver money on demand, might just tip the PM out of No. 10... The affair centres on claims peerages were offered to wealthy Labour backers in return for bankrolling the party. It is claimed Lord Levy, 62, advised millionaires to make loans which could be kept secret, rather than donations which must be disclosed... The arrest of Lord Levy came days after a newspaper revealed he had told curry king Sir Gulam Noon not to disclose a $610,000 loan to the party on an application form to the House of Lords Appointments Commission... Property tycoon Sir David Garrard loaned $5.6million. Stockbroker Barry Townsley withdrew his peerage nomination after loaning $2.4 million, and Priory Clinics founder Dr Chai Patel was rejected by an honours committee after loaning $3.6million. About $35 million in secret loans were made by a dozen business people then known only to Mr Blair, Lord Levy and the Labour Party's then general secretary. The Honours Act 1925 makes it illegal to promise a peerage in return for a party contribution... This week is not the first time the fundraising activities of Lord Levy, who was awarded his title soon after Mr Blair came to power in 1997, have come under intense scrutiny. A $2.4 million donation he extracted from Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone caused a fuss when Labour went on to delay banning tobacco sponsorship in motor sports... Scottish National Party MP Angus MacNeill, whose complaint triggered the investigation, said he took no pleasure in Lord Levy's arrest. "But I think it is time the UK woke up to the fact that there is a real problem at the heart of Westminster democracy," he said.
by Fiona Hudson
15jul06
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