politicians lobbying for 5K per day

[SteveT]

Anyone watch the Dispatches programme on channel four, offering themselves out to any company that wants to get into the procurement market.

The politicians are not supposed to get involved in this before they've had two years away from their MP roles.

They make up their own rules and then break them when ever it suits them.

They also get a fat sum to go with 40-60k and their mp's pension of course.

If ever there needs to be a complete shakedown in that hotbed of corruption, it would be better sooner than later.

Come along David_Carnell the major parties are finished in most peoples eyes, so start your own party you would have the

cleanest hands of any of them to get elected with.

That of course may be a stumbling block.

We are so used to sleaze and dirty dealing, lies, fraud, we are probably anaesthetised to truth, and honesty, when it

comes to dealing with the right honourables.

If this Forum could vote in our own man it would be a landmark in political administration.

What do you think?

[david_carnell]

Steve - as an ex-lobbyist my hands are certainly dirty. Count me out.

[SteveT]

Sounds like you have all the main ingredients for success then David as you've lost the stumbling block already.

They would still be cleaner than almost anyone elses in that house of inequity.

[SteveT]

For a free ticket to ride in the political merrygoround representing the EDFORUM Party.

Marmora man 12/1

Hal 9000 14/1

???? 20/1

HonaloochieB 25/1

Brendan 30/1

100/1 bar

[woofmarkthedog]

Look away now...

http://www.cheeseontour.com/xxx/images/xxxcheese.gif

Too late....

You are now a cheese goosing POLITICO

Vote YES here now ☐

W**F

[????]

And there's more

They just don't get it......

Blow it up is what I say

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

I'd vote for M.Man - how could you not vote for one of the few who understands Duckworth Lewis?

[SteveT]

Blow it up is what I say wrote ????

I say keep it as a tourist attraction and museum of how politics used to be, eventually it will all be decided on networks such as this, is my prediction for the future.

PGC wrote:- I'd vote for M.Man - how could you not vote for one of the few who understands Duckworth Lewis?

Already the cricket lobby has burst into life, yes the new techno government is on it's way.

[*Bob*]

This has come as a complete shock.. up until now I always thought Steve Byers and Pat Hewitt were the last word in integrity.

[SteveT]

Marmora man 10/1

Hal 9000 14/1

???? 18/1

HonaloochieB 25/1

Brendan 25/1

Jeremy 30/1

Peckhamgatecrasher 30/1

Moos 32/1

AnnaJ 33/1

Ladymuck 33/1

Dulwichmum 35/1

mockney piers 40/1

Sean MacGabhann 45/1

David_Carnell 50/1

100/1 bar

[ImpetuousVrouw]

Line them up against the wall.

It's sickening.

[????]

Peter Mandleson describing it as 'all rather grubby' has me pissing myself laughing at the front of the sleazebag

[*Bob*]

Paxman on Nightnight was entertaining last night.

After quizzing Pete and Ken about the lobbying revelations, he then turns the the Lib Dem in the dying seconds and says: "So.. would anyone bother lobbying a Liberal Democrat then?"

[????]

:))

[Marmora Man]

I'm flattered to be on the shortest odds (tho at 10/1 still long).

Would be prepared to lead the Libertarian Cricketers Party (LCP).

I see cricket as an elegant metaphor for the way life and politics should be handled. A long and slow evolution of laws over 200 years, it requires a certain degree of erudition and understanding to enjoy properly, does not earnestly seek a knock out result and is, relatively, untainted by scandal. It has absorbed and entranced players of all nations, ethnicity and religion. It was considered and rejected by Hitler as inappropriate for a Fascist state Ben Macintyre "Hitler played Cricket". Spectators and players obtain similar levels of satisfaction - unruly behaviour and riots seldom happen. It has many forms for different audiences - wham bam 20/20 for the youth and those of short attention span, one day matches for those with limited time, four day county matches and 5 day Test matches for the connoisseurs.

Platform therefore:

No sudden change

Respect for tradition

Umpires, in white coats and panamas for all parliamentary discussions

Only one bouncer per MP per debate - helmets not allowed

Mandatory exams for MPs on the Duckworth Lewis and the LBW law

Spectators in parliament to be allowed to bring in own sandwiches and beer

Football not to be played during the cricket season

I'll work up the rest of the details later (like all politicians!)

[david_carnell]

Could I bribe you with MCC membership?

[Brendan]

You would have to institute some sort of schoolboy political competition or a junior politician?s academy system to ensure that the buggers have at least some sense of common decency and fair play drummed into them.

[mockney piers]

Aaah, Duckworth Lewis Method, a fine album indeed.

The sun is out and the gentleman's game will commence anon. I'll be taking the little fella down to the oval (not a euphemism!!) very soon, huzzah!!

My uncle is an MCC member, but have yet to persuade him to invite me into the hallowed pavillion :( Could you lobby him on my behalf D_C, would a couple of fine whiskies or a trip to Bar Pepito for some fine (fino?) sherry be temptation enough?

[Brendan]

My question is what the agenda behind brining this to light now is when the press, and most of Westminster, have been aware of it for years but those who have rightfully tried to expose it have not been given a proper voice.

Brings to mind a Newswipe episode from last year with that guy on whose name I can?t remember.

[mockney piers]

As you say, private eye has been reporting on the bending of the voluntary code of conduct and the grey areas around the register of interests, fortnightly for as long as I've been reading the damn thing.

It always helps to get good pictures of an MP making a twonk of themseves though. Next dispatches will be dressing up that reseracher in a rubbish fake beard and dark glasses.

Essentially a non-story. Again, either make rules enforceable and preferably in law (god knows nu-labour have thrown legislation in a heavy-handed manner at every other issue they've dealt with) or just accept that people are a bit corrupt and driven by self interest and move on. Or even, as D_C has often suggested, attract capable people and pay them a decent wage, hopefully negating most of this grubbing around for cash we keep seeing.

In other news the sindy reported that TB has made an estimated ?20 million since leaving office, mostly for sitting on part-time directorships of oil, construction and defence companies, advising how best to exploit all the crap he helped cause.

Byers is a pathetic amateur in comparison.

[woofmarkthedog]

5K.....?

John Terry was charging 10K for a sneaky tour of Stamford Bridge

So in that light "a bargain" from Byers & Co in relative terms

Really..

W**F

("Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under." -H. L. Mencken)

* it's the last serious thing you'll get out of me today*

[david_carnell]

Lobbying has been going on for decades but in the UK it is still small fry to what the USA get up to. The amounts of money spent are not even close to comparable. We are also less corrupt than many of our European cousins.

I was a researcher for 3 years for a lobbying firm of medium size. To my knowledge we never offered to or paid MPs for any services. Some of our competitors did. It was an open secret in the industry.

Lobbying is a necessary in our political system. MPs have such massive caseloads and legislative timetables trying to attract their interest in a certain issue is a difficult job for an individual or a company that doesn't know what it's doing.

The bread and butter work is either a)profile raising or b)winning contracts.

For a) it would be dull mail-drops and the occasional face-to-face. We might take an MP or civil servant out for lunch or to Salisbury Plain/Farnborough to see a new bit of defence kit. We had a good contacts network and knew who to talk to and who made the important decisions. Sometimes we were lobbying for British jobs, sometimes against.

For b) it's all about the bid document and building on what you've done in a).

We'd advise on future changes in govt (internal or at election times) and what effect this might have, we'd monitor output from all influential sources and advise on action that might need to be taken.

The idea that lobbying firms routinely influence actual legislation is, imho, a myth. The closest I ever came was a failed attempt to initiate double British summer time. Not exactly ground-breaking stuff.

The brown-envelope-stuffed-with-cash days are gone but no doubt there are quiet asides about directorships and board positions for MPs once they leave govt. The trouble is, for many young MPs these days, they're not qualified for anything else so the offer of a solid job at the end is quite attractive.

Hiring ex-MPs is an attractive proposition for most companies. The inside knowledge and contacts that they bring is unrivalled. Ditto senior civil servants. Whilst there are guidelines about time elapsed before taking up these posts they are rarely adhered to.

But attempting to stop the industry or regulate it further is futile.

[Marmora Man]

david_carnell Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Could I bribe you with MCC membership?

Everyone has their price and pain threshold.

MCC membership would be my price and, almost, anything to do with dentristry would represent my pain threshold.

[Brendan]

David it seems to me that you are suggesting that political influence should be open to market forces.

[david_carnell]

More that it is very difficult to prevent market forces being involved and to bear in mind that it has uses.