And corruption back at home
Things are becoming increasingly rotten in Downing Street. Even John Major's government felt it had to put up an appearance of ridding itself from sleaze, and toughened up the rules ensuring that ministers had to wait months (ohh, a very long time...) before they could take up jobs in the private sector, using their inside knowledge of upcoming policy and contracts that would arise, to lobby for big business, and make ever increasing profits for very rich people.
Even these minor measures, though, this Tory window dressing, is too much for a Blair government that has sold itself to the highest bidder ever since it was first elected. Indeed, the whole "Lobbygate" scandal which arose in 1998, barely a year after Blair had taken office, was simply that the lines between government and big business had been blurred, that men who had access to the ear of ministers, usually either through being ex-ministers themselves, or for having worked for ministers, would sell access to their pet members of the government, to anyone that could afford their huge fees. Which, basically, ruled out you, me and most activist and non-profit groups, but included energy companies such as Enron, who were supplied by one lobbying company with a government policy document long before it was ever published, so they could have their say in molding it to how they liked. Because, after all, who better than Enron to input into Britain's energy policy?
So did they learn anything from Lobbygate? Did they mend their ways? No. They carried on as before, and now they want to increase the influence of business, and, as a result, decrease democracy, since more influence will be pedalled purely to those who can afford it.
Today's Guardian has a list of some of the people who've made the short journey from government office to the private sector. They include former soft-left poster-boy, Robin Cook, who took up a consultancy with "communications" (read lobbying) company College Hill; former Health Secretary Alan Milburn, who got a job with finance company Bridgepoint Capital; and Simon Stephens, a former health advisor, who has now been appointed to a position with United Health - an American company who want to get more involved in the British health "market", as the NHS seems to be called, these days (as an aside, this Orwellian abusing of the language is disturbing enough in its own right).
Obviously, though, since this is a rather important change to the way our elected officials are allowed to behave, it is important that we have no say in it, and, indeed, as little knowledge of it as possible. For this reason, Blair had blocked the plan of Sir Nigel Wickes, the current chair of the commitee on standards in public life, from carrying out a review of the current guidelines and rules in public. The review will now take place in private, behind closed doors, and the evidence and conclusions need not be published. God bless open government and democracy, eh?
Even these minor measures, though, this Tory window dressing, is too much for a Blair government that has sold itself to the highest bidder ever since it was first elected. Indeed, the whole "Lobbygate" scandal which arose in 1998, barely a year after Blair had taken office, was simply that the lines between government and big business had been blurred, that men who had access to the ear of ministers, usually either through being ex-ministers themselves, or for having worked for ministers, would sell access to their pet members of the government, to anyone that could afford their huge fees. Which, basically, ruled out you, me and most activist and non-profit groups, but included energy companies such as Enron, who were supplied by one lobbying company with a government policy document long before it was ever published, so they could have their say in molding it to how they liked. Because, after all, who better than Enron to input into Britain's energy policy?
So did they learn anything from Lobbygate? Did they mend their ways? No. They carried on as before, and now they want to increase the influence of business, and, as a result, decrease democracy, since more influence will be pedalled purely to those who can afford it.
Today's Guardian has a list of some of the people who've made the short journey from government office to the private sector. They include former soft-left poster-boy, Robin Cook, who took up a consultancy with "communications" (read lobbying) company College Hill; former Health Secretary Alan Milburn, who got a job with finance company Bridgepoint Capital; and Simon Stephens, a former health advisor, who has now been appointed to a position with United Health - an American company who want to get more involved in the British health "market", as the NHS seems to be called, these days (as an aside, this Orwellian abusing of the language is disturbing enough in its own right).
Obviously, though, since this is a rather important change to the way our elected officials are allowed to behave, it is important that we have no say in it, and, indeed, as little knowledge of it as possible. For this reason, Blair had blocked the plan of Sir Nigel Wickes, the current chair of the commitee on standards in public life, from carrying out a review of the current guidelines and rules in public. The review will now take place in private, behind closed doors, and the evidence and conclusions need not be published. God bless open government and democracy, eh?
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