Human nature, British edition
Blair's chief party fundraiser arrested (Adrian Croft, Reuters)
Lord Levy, the chief fundraiser for Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party, was arrested on Wednesday by police probing allegations that state awards had been given in return for cash.
The "cash-for-favors" row has dented Blair's standing in opinion polls and sparked calls for his resignation. The arrest of Blair's Middle East envoy, close friend and tennis partner makes the prime minister's position even more precarious.
Levy, who denied any wrongdoing and accused the police of using their arrest powers "totally unnecessarily," was later released on bail without charge pending further enquiries.
"It is damaging. It revives the sleaze story, one of Blair's many problems in recent months," said John Curtice, politics professor at Strathclyde University.
"The critical thing is Levy is quite close to Blair and the brutal truth is that Blair is wounded and the endgame is playing out. The more wounds there are, the sooner the end comes."
With or without this scandal, Blair will almost certainly ride off into the sunset within a year or so.
It may come as a shock to some people, though, that corruption in politics is not exclusive to the right or left, but rather seems more of a product of the nature of man and politics.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/13/06 10:27 | International | Technorati
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"that corruption in politics is not exclusive to the right or left, but rather seems more of a product of the nature of man and politics."
Right on. Which is why I loathe politics and politicians almost universally (the latter not qua people, of course, but in their status as politicians).
Posted by TP @ 11:53 on 07/17/06
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