Blair's Watergate?
A parliamentary scandal stalks Britain's prime minister in his waning days in office.
By Tim Luckhurst
TIM LUCKHURST is former editor of the Scotsman.
LA Times
'I GOT FED UP with all the sex and sleaze … of rock 'n' roll," Tony Blair said before he was elected, "so I went into politics." Yet today he stands accused of bringing sleaze closer to the center of British democracy than any leader since the dawn of universal suffrage.
Last Friday, for the second time in three months, Blair was interrogated at 10 Downing Street by police investigating a scandal that is fast growing to resemble Watergate. The controversy began last March when healthcare entrepreneur Chai Patel was denied a seat in Britain's unelected upper house of Parliament, the House of Lords. Days later, news broke that Patel, who had been nominated by Blair, also had loaned the prime minister's Labor Party 1.5 million pounds — almost $3 million — to fund its 2005 election campaign.
In the days that followed, it emerged that Blair had nominated three more party benefactors to seats in the House of Lords. Opponents accused the party of selling nominations. Scotland Yard opened an investigation, and last month an aide to Blair was arrested, as was a top Labor Party fundraiser earlier this week. Nobody has been charged, but the taint of corruption is hanging over Downing Street like heavy fog.
(More here.)
By Tim Luckhurst
TIM LUCKHURST is former editor of the Scotsman.
LA Times
'I GOT FED UP with all the sex and sleaze … of rock 'n' roll," Tony Blair said before he was elected, "so I went into politics." Yet today he stands accused of bringing sleaze closer to the center of British democracy than any leader since the dawn of universal suffrage.
Last Friday, for the second time in three months, Blair was interrogated at 10 Downing Street by police investigating a scandal that is fast growing to resemble Watergate. The controversy began last March when healthcare entrepreneur Chai Patel was denied a seat in Britain's unelected upper house of Parliament, the House of Lords. Days later, news broke that Patel, who had been nominated by Blair, also had loaned the prime minister's Labor Party 1.5 million pounds — almost $3 million — to fund its 2005 election campaign.
In the days that followed, it emerged that Blair had nominated three more party benefactors to seats in the House of Lords. Opponents accused the party of selling nominations. Scotland Yard opened an investigation, and last month an aide to Blair was arrested, as was a top Labor Party fundraiser earlier this week. Nobody has been charged, but the taint of corruption is hanging over Downing Street like heavy fog.
(More here.)
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