Free Republic

In most good heist movies there is always a moment when the bad guys fall out. A disagreement over splitting the loot turns to violence. More usually, one of the gang, fearing the Old Bill, sings like a canary. What you do not expect is to see the Lavender Hill Mob played out inside Downing Street. The cash for honours investigation is reaching its climax. Assistant Commissioner John Yates and his Scotland Yard colleagues are said to be confident of bringing charges under both the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act of 1925 and for perverting the course of justice. The...

Last week’s arrest of Ruth Turner is a major political event. The police are now investigating three possible criminal offences that may have been committed in the course of Labour Party fundraising. The first is the sale of honours, which is a criminal offence under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925. The second is failure to disclose funding, which may be an offence under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. That Act was introduced by this Government. The third is perverting the course of justice, the offence for which Jonathan Aitken and Jeffrey Archer were sentenced to...

Red faces after Putin jibe over peerages By Graeme Wilson and Alec Russell in St Petersburg (Filed: 17/07/2006) Tony Blair and Vladimir Putin tried to present a united front yesterday after the Russian president publicly mocked the Prime Minister's difficulties over the "cash for peerages" scandal. The men exchanged diplomatic pleasantries following talks yesterday afternoon, but struggled to disguise the strained relations after Mr Putin's barbed intervention. The Russian president used a televised press conference yesterday morning to take a swipe at Britain's increasingly beleaguered premier. Asked by Alec Russell, The Daily Telegraph's Washington correspondent, about British criticism of Russia's...