Tuesday, 26 May 2015

That odd moment when you see your thinking end up on the front page of The Guardian


So, on Sunday I said...

 "If MPs resign every time they are proved to have told untruths we’ll have none left. Which is a pretty depressing state of affairs but a fact. So Alistair shouldn’t need to resign. Unless everyone who's ever told a journalist a great big porkie is going to do the same (more of that anon)"

 And then today I see Sir Malcolm Bruce has said:

"Asked on BBC Radio 4 whether he was alleging that lying was widespread in public life, Bruce, who stood down at the election, replied: “No, well, yes. Lots of people have told lies and you know perfectly well that to be true.”
He suggested MPs could not be excluded for telling a lie: “If you are suggesting every MP who has never quite told the truth or even told a brazen lie, including cabinet ministers, including prime ministers, we would clear out the House of Commons very fast, I would suggest,” he said "
A sad state of affairs. But nice to see the party now has a better line than just 'forgiveness'.

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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous26 May 2015 at 13:27

    Also worth noting that his misdemeanour was that of a minister, and the appropriate forfeit was made - he effectively resigned, giving up his severance payment.

    Unless breaches of the ministerial code now mean MPs should resign. If so, I look forward to seeing Tory ministers resigning as MPs in their droves in the coming years.

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    1. Richard Morris26 May 2015 at 13:35

      Ah yes. i do wish though, that that the party had a chance to take some action. By (quite rightly) forfeiting his severance pay, Alistair made it hard for the arty to reprimand him - any action now would effectively be punishing him twice. But it shouldn't appear as tho Alistair has chosen his own 'punishment'. Which currently it does.

      But I agree - force him to resign now and every MP will be under pressure every time they are economical with the actualite...

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    2. Anonymous26 May 2015 at 16:06

      Right.

      But you could even argue that this is not a matter for the Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards, as the misdemeanour was as a minister (part of the executive) and not as an MP (part of the legislature). Expenses scandals for ministers are not the same - as their actions there were to do with benefits received as an MP. This is nothing to do with being an MP. It is solely a matter to do with being a minister - and so the relevant authority is the cabinet secretary, with the relevant guidelines being the ministerial code - but the highest sanction available - firing as a minister by the PM after the cabinet secretary's review is not available here, as he is no longer a minister. What has happened is equivalent though, with him forgoing the severance pay.

      I agree that the above argument relies on a lot of technicalities, and is not one I'd want to put to the public (Caesar's wife must be beyond reproach) - but I think I'd actually stand by it.

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  2. keaton26 May 2015 at 20:26

    Are you being sarcastic when you call this "a better line"? We've now got Liberal Democrat politicans publicly declaring they're mostly liars.

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    1. Richard Morris27 May 2015 at 13:25

      You're right, it's a deeply depressing state of affairs. But I think everyone knows politicians lie. Its awful. But they do. And indeed, look what happens when they tell the truth

      http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/29/david-cameron-third-term-declaration-election

      I suppose what I mean is - the line 'he's no worse than the rest' is better than ' he did wrong but we must forgive him and pretend it didn't happen'. Neither is great. the first is better than the second

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