New Term Starts At St. Sleaze

Naughty ex-head girl 'Iffy' Smiffy gets away with a ticking off. Whipping boy Green's left bruised after an unfair beating. Cheeky school chums are moaning about pocket money. A new term starts at St. Sleaze.

After the long summer break it's time to get down to more monkey business.

Disgraced two homes secretary Smith is being forced to make a humiliating commons apology over her dodgy second homes scam.

The disposable home secretary is taking the fall as the commons 'sleaze' watchdog, Lyons, lays down the law, with Smith "clearly wrong" to claim that her sister's home was her main residence. Smith now faces the indignity of being ordered to apologise to the commons after breaking house rules on second home expenses.

But Shameless Smiffy gets to keep the cash. Toothless Lyons is taking no further action on one of the untouchable political elite, despite finding a stash of hubby's taxpayer porn in her locker.

The Greengate scandal has been shown up as a dirty tricks disgrace after Green's gaff was turned over and nothing was found but an opposition MP doing his job.

The heavy-handed raid on Damian Green has been blasted as way "over the top" and his arrest "not proportionate". But all part of a home office witch-hunt, presided over by, er, Jacqui Smith.

Green's arrest in the sanctity of parliament was a dark day for democracy. Whipped up as a threat to national security, it was nothing more than "embarrassment matters for the government", ruled investigating police chiefs.

Meanwhile Legg's expenses letters to MPs are causing quite a stir with government expenses spinner-in-chief, Stuart 'ring my' Bell, doing the rounds, batting for Westminster, leaving some MPs trying to get one over on Legg.

Retiring headmaster, Mr 'had his' Chips, is busy writing out his expenses payback cheque, while giving his Euro minister, Greedy Glenys, the boot.

Nothing much changes at St. Sleaze.

Read More...

Two Damians, One Spinning Sorry Brown

After days trying to put a lid on Smeargate, Brown finally played the 'sorry' card to milk it for all its worth, in a feeble attempt to kill two Damians with one spinning stone. 

As a beleaguered Brown belatedly muttered the S-word, many were left wondering if saying sorry was dreamt up on a good day to bury bad news.

The prime minister had finally uttered the S-word but not before the shameful disgrace of trumped up charges against Tory MP Damian Green were dropped and his disposable home secretary Smith was under fire.

As home office leak charges against Green were being dropped and a committee of MPs slated civil servants for "exaggerating" the seriousness of the alleged leaks, which led to the heavy-handed police raid and arrest of Green, a bad hair day for Brown and bad news for home secretary Smith was just getting worse. 

So, out of the blue, up pops the prime minister, with the much-demanded 'sorry' over the smear emails from Damian 'McPoison' McBride in the Tory sex smears scandal.

A tad late in the day for an embattled Brown, in a blatant attempt to distract attention from the Greengate scandal and his beleaguered home secretary: 

No apology then for Damian Green and his family who've suffered the indignation of an anti-terror raid on their home with trumped up charges hanging over his head. 

Instead an apology for just one of Brown's tight cabal of attack dogs lurking in the bowels of Downing Street, dreaming up the next pre-election Tory attack.

Just another piece of good old Brown spin which the deluded prime minister keeps insisting is all behind him but will only go away when his tight cabal of spinners and henchmen have bitten the dust.

Brown and his bunch of amateur reservoir dogs really don't get it. Where news is concerned, big or small there's room for all.

Brown's 'sorry' will linger for a little while but the shameful smears of Smeargate and the disgraceful treatment of Damian Green will leave a bitter taste for months to come. 

Picture: Still from TV Special: 'Gordon Brown's S-Word', with walk-on part by hard hat guy

Read More...

Smith Under Fire As Greengate Dropped

Trumped up home office leak charges against a top Tory MP have been dropped as a committee of MPs slated civil servants for "exaggerating" the seriousness of alleged leaks, which led to the heavy-handed police raid and arrest of Damian Green. It's goodbye Smeargate, as Greengate leaves a discredited fag-end of a government trying to close another 'gate' after the pre-election dirty tricks horse has bolted.

The Greengate decision comes as a reeling Downing Street struggles to cover up the Smeargate email scandal against the Tories and raises fresh doubts over the involvement of home secretary Jacqui Smith and her band of political police, already under fire for G20 police brutality. 

Now the CPS has said there was "insufficient evidence" to bring a court case against the shadow immigration minister, adding: "The information leaked was not secret information or information affecting national security," something police must have known before the raid and arrest. 

Many at Westminster expected charges against Green to be dropped weeks ago but instead it dragged on for months since anti-terror police made an unwarranted raid on Green's office in the sanctity of parliament. 

Red-faced cops and officials tried to use the excuse of 'national security' for the raid to hide their embarrassment. Now the home affairs committee has questioned whether police would have got involved if they had not been misled.

The MPs said there was a "clear mismatch" between the "misleading" and "hyperbolic" contents of a senior cabinet office official's letter citing national security as a reason for the raid and the description of the leaks provided by the home office's civil service chief.

The decision to drop charges against Green comes days after the appointment of Yates of the Yard, commissioner John Yates, to head up the Greengate police inquiry after Smith's favourite copper, bungling Bob Quick, was forced to make a quick exit when he exposed anti-terror plans to  the media. 

Green's controversial arrest last November came after Quick sent 20 anti-terrorist officers to search his parliamentary office, causing outrage at the time by both LibDems and Tories: 

Both Green and Christopher Galley, a junior civil servant working at the home office, always denied wrongdoing. Both have had charges against them dropped due to "insufficient evidence". Green says he was releasing information in the public interest.

Key questions remain over why police were involved in this case when it was clear that could have been handled as an internal matter. 

But the Tory MP paid the price of public interest after the heavy-handed tactics of the political police were exposed with his arrest. Yet he was bailed, not under anti-terrorist laws but under common law.

The shameful arrest of Green made a mockery of the pseudo-liberal facade of the New Labour government. Once again it exposed the hidden workings of powerful institutions of political and social control. 

Home secretary Smith and the rest of the gang involved in this disgraceful episode now face fundamental questions at the heart of this scandal, not least why were the heavy mob used for the arrest when clearly this did not involve any state secrets? And who authorised the police search in the sacrosanct precincts of the Place of Westminster?

Downing Street had claimed this was a matter for the police and the prime minister had no prior knowledge of the arrest but the Orange Party smelt a big political rat at work here and some scary heavy-handed Big Brother tactics. A police investigation into a high-ranking politician would have to have been cleared at the very top. 

Speaking after the CPS decision a relieved Green pointed the finger of responsibility at the home secretary: “I believe in the old Italian phrase that the fish rots from the head down.” Smith was “a poor home secretary” who had "shown poor judgement."

The decision to drop all charges over the Greengate affair is a further nail in the coffin for disposable home secretary Jacqui Smith, as the two homes secretary is already under fire over her second homes expenses fiddle. It is difficult to see how she, or speaker Michael Martin can survive. 

Goodbye Smeargate, hello Greengate. The government is spinning out of control as another concerted attempt by Brown's bunch of spinners and henchmen to stoop to dirty tricks in Tory attacks has been exposed in the run up to the general election. 

Read More...

Smith's Favourite Cop Quick Quits

The home secretary's favourite copper has been forced to quit after a bungling blunder ended the Met's cosy relationship with ministers. But it's taken a long while for blundering Bob Quick to be prised out of his job, as the wind of change finally blows, in a wake up call for the Met, the political police and the government. For the Tories, revenge is a dish best served cold. 

The government's cosy relationship with the Met is so over the top it's almost laughable. Quick is now knackered of the Yard - to be replaced by Yates of the Yard. His latest blunder is the final straw.

Strolling into Downing Street with a top-secret anti-terrorism document under his arm in full view of photographers hardly puts public faith in the head of counter-terrorism who is set to leave without his dignity but with a generous pension pot. 

But the home secretary's only response was to blissfully ignore the whole thing. Smith made no comment about the blatant blunder. Instead, she praised police for their professionalism.

Any PC plod would have been sacked on the spot but not the home secretary's best friend. But his fate was sealed when shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, who, while not exactly calling for his head, said in politicianspeak: "It had to be decided whether he was really the right man for the job."

London mayor Boris Johnson too was quick to get in some credit for Quick's demise. A tad too quick. Sour grapes by the Tories maybe but Quick's fate was already sealed after the Downing Street blunder.  

For a top cop he has repeatedly shown a monumental lack of judgement as he sucked up to the government and rounded on the Conservatives, blissfully unaware they are Her Majesty's Official Opposition and the government-in-waiting.

In December, Smith's copper was forced to make an unprecedented apology  after a direct police attack on the Tories  blew out of the water any pretence the Met is not a highly politicised arm of the current government. 

At the time the Orange Party asked: Now the only question is how quick will Quick go? 

Quick was forced to  issue an "unreserved" apology to the Conservative Party after his outburst accusing the Tories of behaving in a "corrupt" way and mobilising the press against the Met. 

Publicly the Tories  drew a line under it, privately they must have been seething.

And, to top it all, Quick was clearly peeved with Mail on Sunday hacks sniffing around his wife's luxury car hire firm run from the family home but too quick to lay the blame.  

To make matters worse, Quick's absurd and damaging outburst re-ignited the whole Damian Green affair. Quick ordered the controversial arrest last year of senior Tory MP Damian Green and sent 20 anti-terrorist officers to search Green's parliamentary office. 

That called into question the political bias of Quick, a keen supporter of the home secretary's 42 day detention, who is also heading an inquiry into the alleged home office leaks which sparked off the Greengate scandal.

But times when police could pander to politicians and get away with it are changing and the Met should get used to it. 

Quick's shoes are being filled by Yates of the Yard, commander John Yates, who famously and doggedly pursued the 'cash for honours' scandal until he was told to drop it. 

Yates has the brains, temperament and sensitivity to handle this crucial top job. More importantly, it seems he's a copper who won't pander to politicians or be pushed around by politicians of whatever colour or flavour of the month. 

With a criminal investigation underway into masked police thuggery over the death of an innocent G20 bystander, Quick's quick exit may be a small step to restore some much-needed public confidence in the police.   

Picture: BBC

Read More...