John Major asks Bliar to apologise over sleaze
Discussion
Quite an attack from one ex-PM to another!
bbc said:
Major accuses Labour of 'sleaze'
John Major interview
Former Prime Minister Sir John Major has accused Labour of presiding over "systemic sleaze" during its 10 years in government.
Sir John said the government had become "institutionally careless", citing as examples the Bernie Ecclestone affair and the David Abrahams funding row.
He said Tories had misbehaved when he was PM as individuals not members of government.
Labour accused Sir John of "backward-looking mud-slinging".
Whiter than white
Speaking on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show, Sir John also accused Labour of carrying out a "McCarthyite" campaign against his Conservative government.
Sir John said Tony Blair should apologise for what he had said about the Conservatives in the 1990s, and that he had behaved in an "unscrupulous" way.
People would laugh if the government now claimed to be "whiter than white, purer than pure," he said.
He acknowledged that "lots of people misbehaved" when he was prime minister, but said they did so as individuals rather than members of the government. It was not institutional sleaze, he said.
Economy
Sir John warned that the good economy that Labour inherited from the Conservatives "is now beginning to unravel".
He blamed government policies on pensions and too many taxes for a drop in competitiveness and productivity.
"The economy is running into serious difficulties," he said.
He added that Gordon Brown's decision to sell much of Britain's gold reserves in 1999 had lost the economy billions of pounds.
And he predicted that losses to the taxpayer incurred by the Treasury's attempts to bail out the ailing Northern Rock bank would exceed those created by Black Wednesday in 1992.
"I hope this will stop Gordon Brown talking about 10 successful years, " he said.
Labour MP Graham Allen said: "Sadly Sir John Major's attempt to rewrite history will only serve to remind us that, on his watch, there were countless Tory funding scandals in the 90s, including Neil Hamilton, Jonathan Aitken and Azil Nadir.
"During his tenure donations were not all declared and foreign donations were commonplace. It took a Labour government to end those scandals and introduce legislation to bring greater transparency to party funding."
John Major interview
Former Prime Minister Sir John Major has accused Labour of presiding over "systemic sleaze" during its 10 years in government.
Sir John said the government had become "institutionally careless", citing as examples the Bernie Ecclestone affair and the David Abrahams funding row.
He said Tories had misbehaved when he was PM as individuals not members of government.
Labour accused Sir John of "backward-looking mud-slinging".
Whiter than white
Speaking on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show, Sir John also accused Labour of carrying out a "McCarthyite" campaign against his Conservative government.
Sir John said Tony Blair should apologise for what he had said about the Conservatives in the 1990s, and that he had behaved in an "unscrupulous" way.
People would laugh if the government now claimed to be "whiter than white, purer than pure," he said.
He acknowledged that "lots of people misbehaved" when he was prime minister, but said they did so as individuals rather than members of the government. It was not institutional sleaze, he said.
Economy
Sir John warned that the good economy that Labour inherited from the Conservatives "is now beginning to unravel".
He blamed government policies on pensions and too many taxes for a drop in competitiveness and productivity.
"The economy is running into serious difficulties," he said.
He added that Gordon Brown's decision to sell much of Britain's gold reserves in 1999 had lost the economy billions of pounds.
And he predicted that losses to the taxpayer incurred by the Treasury's attempts to bail out the ailing Northern Rock bank would exceed those created by Black Wednesday in 1992.
"I hope this will stop Gordon Brown talking about 10 successful years, " he said.
Labour MP Graham Allen said: "Sadly Sir John Major's attempt to rewrite history will only serve to remind us that, on his watch, there were countless Tory funding scandals in the 90s, including Neil Hamilton, Jonathan Aitken and Azil Nadir.
"During his tenure donations were not all declared and foreign donations were commonplace. It took a Labour government to end those scandals and introduce legislation to bring greater transparency to party funding."
Conveniently forgetting Cash for Questions, certain alleged deals with Saudi Princes, Jonathan Aitken wielding the sword of perjury, not to mention a shedload of sex scandals and affairsPuggit said:
No one's read the article then, that much is clear...
I did, he made some good points re: the economy -and it's good that he mentioned the selling of the gold reserves as the huge blunder that it was, not enough people know about that - but I hardly think anybody will be taking lectures from him about improper behaviour..I was thinking about this a couple of weeks ago.
Cash for honours >>> Cash for questions.
Hamilton's slap up meal at the ritz pales into insignificance compared to NL's latest dodgy donations.
The odd MP liking to dip his wick is hardly news these days - Remember Robin Cook?
I know mandelson got off with it but IMHO his loans fraud was at least as significant as Aitken's failed attempt to rip off the tabloids. Again, the underlying story was a meal at a hotel, not a cover-up of massive illegal party donations.
And I don't remember Major ever lying to parliament to justify taking us into an illegal war.
Cash for honours >>> Cash for questions.
Hamilton's slap up meal at the ritz pales into insignificance compared to NL's latest dodgy donations.
The odd MP liking to dip his wick is hardly news these days - Remember Robin Cook?
I know mandelson got off with it but IMHO his loans fraud was at least as significant as Aitken's failed attempt to rip off the tabloids. Again, the underlying story was a meal at a hotel, not a cover-up of massive illegal party donations.
And I don't remember Major ever lying to parliament to justify taking us into an illegal war.
Pesty said:
John Major? isnt he the 
wit that was banging that married minging Edwina curry* MP behind his wifes back?
Yes. but he was doing "it" as an individual rather than as an institutional party wit that was banging that married minging Edwina curry* MP behind his wifes back?
Edwina. Eggs. Job done.
I should add I quite like John Major, sounds like I'm having a dig.
Edited by cottonfoo on Sunday 16th December 20:59
It seems entirely fair to me.
You may have forgotten that New Labour was elected amidst gladiatorial howls of 'Sleaze! Sleaze! Sleaze!' and sold themselves as whiter-than-white champions of honesty, justice and truth.
They've subsequently proved themselves to be equally fallible - if not more so, as many of their 'crimes' have not been individual faux pas, but not-quite-well-enough-orgainised institutional sleaze. We don't know the ones they got away with.
They can count themselves very fortunate that the Conservative opposition is not as effective as theirs was.
You may have forgotten that New Labour was elected amidst gladiatorial howls of 'Sleaze! Sleaze! Sleaze!' and sold themselves as whiter-than-white champions of honesty, justice and truth.
They've subsequently proved themselves to be equally fallible - if not more so, as many of their 'crimes' have not been individual faux pas, but not-quite-well-enough-orgainised institutional sleaze. We don't know the ones they got away with.
They can count themselves very fortunate that the Conservative opposition is not as effective as theirs was.
Edited by Simpo Two on Sunday 16th December 21:17
black1 said:
Pesty said:
John Major? isnt he the wit that was banging that married minging Edwina curry* MP behind his wifes back?
wots wrong with edwina,well 2 viagra would help !wit that was banging that married minging Edwina curry* MP behind his wifes back?Edited by Pesty on Sunday 16th December 20:29
Rob-C said:
I was thinking about this a couple of weeks ago.
Cash for honours >>> Cash for questions.
Hamilton's slap up meal at the ritz pales into insignificance compared to NL's latest dodgy donations.
The odd MP liking to dip his wick is hardly news these days - Remember Robin Cook?
I know mandelson got off with it but IMHO his loans fraud was at least as significant as Aitken's failed attempt to rip off the tabloids. Again, the underlying story was a meal at a hotel, not a cover-up of massive illegal party donations.
And I don't remember Major ever lying to parliament to justify taking us into an illegal war.
Cash for honours >>> Cash for questions.
Hamilton's slap up meal at the ritz pales into insignificance compared to NL's latest dodgy donations.
The odd MP liking to dip his wick is hardly news these days - Remember Robin Cook?
I know mandelson got off with it but IMHO his loans fraud was at least as significant as Aitken's failed attempt to rip off the tabloids. Again, the underlying story was a meal at a hotel, not a cover-up of massive illegal party donations.
And I don't remember Major ever lying to parliament to justify taking us into an illegal war.
And my god - selling off the gold reserves wasn't prudent, it was idiotic, misguided and pathetic in ways I can't even begin to describe.
wit is too kind. Signing us into the european constitution is going to cost us too.
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