Late late late

If Tony Blair, the most corrupt British politician in living memory, remains in his post until 27 Nov 2007, he will have been in office longer than Lady Thatcher. However, he stated on 7 Sept 2006, that he would step down within one year. I mention this because the current cash for peerages scandal is threatening to explode into a Watergate. If the scandal causes damage, and it's hard to see how it won't, then it would be much better for the party if Blair is still PM when the shit hits the fan. He can step down, as he was going to anyway, and his successor can carry on. If on the other hand, Blair has already left when the balloon goes up, someone else will have to carry the can.

Lord Levy has been arrested a second time as part of the cash for peerages investigation. This time it appears to be more interesting as he has been arrested on "suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice". In other words, the police think he's lying about something. This is of course far more serious than simply offering peerages for cash, this is offering peerages for cash, and then trying to cover it up.

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It's Thursday, and I haven't yet managed to post anything this week yet. I'm aware that there are notes I need to respond to as well. It's been quite a rough week, but that's another story. I have written things, I just haven't posted them. If you're reading this, the previous entry propbably went up at the same time.

The most interesting news story today is the cash for peerages row again. Today sees a report confirming that Blair has been interviewed a second time. It seems that the investigation is now far more concerned with whether there has been a coverup, than with whether peerages were sold. It seems to me that the Labour party is digging itself into a hole here. Selling peerages is not a terribly erious offence. It's not unusual for donors to the party to receive peerages. It's been going on for years. There is a suggestion that loans were not declared when they should have been, but although technically illegal, it's not a show stopper. The only big transgression here would seem to be that the party is attempting to cover something up.

If the Labour party is attempting to cover something up, it would seem logical to assume that it is something much more significant than anything we already know about or suspect. However, remember the Peter Foster affair? Number 10 did their best to deny any connection between the PM and Foster even though a connection would not have been serious. As it turned out they failed and the PM got into hot water anyway, more because of the attempted cover up than the actual deal with Foster. Is this what is happening here? Are the Labour party attempting to cover up minor transgressions and creating a much bigger scandal in the process?

It seems that the last Harry Potter book will be out on 21 July. I think that's Harry's birthday isn't it?* It's also 4 days before my birthday, so I know what I'll be buying myself. I was sure it was going to be released on 07/07/07, but I guess I was two weeks out. I imagine that the plot must be just about finished now if the release date is confirmed. Must be into the editing stage. Terribly exciting.

* Edit: Nope, Harry's birthday is 31st July - Doh!