Tory Peter Cruddas sold access to PM, Sunday Times alleges

[wjfox]

The sad thing is, this kind of thing doesn't even surprise me anymore.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17501618

[Marmora Man]

Every party, every government, so many politicians. As you say not surprising - except perhaps the politician's inability to learn from the past.

For me it supports an argument for small government.

[Brendan]

Nick Robinson (as much as it pains me to agree with tories I often find myself agreeing with him) summed it well on the bbc;

"The reason nothing much has been done is simple. Most independent reports into party funding recommend increased taxpayer support for politics combined with a cap on individual and trade union donations.

It's a recipe vetoed first by the opinion polls ("A granny tax to pay for election posters," anyone?) and secondly by the Conservative and Labour parties' fear that they will be unilaterally disarming themselves in the political funding arms race."

[Undisputedtruth]

I wonder how much Cameron knew about what was going on. It was not as though Peter Cruddas was acting in his own self interest. I'd have expected Cameron's diary to be very busy and each appointments prioritised according to their importance.

[El Pibe]

Regardless of how much he knew (and I'm betting that it was plenty) the Sun is going to run and run with this and make sure this Tory government will be as tainted with sleaze as the last one (although this is much more of a new labour flavour of sleaze than your traditional tory variety, but I digress).

Murdoch didn't much like Cameron and was already quietly doing him down and praising Boris before the Leveson enquiry.

Expect a relentless attack with a huge helping of schadenfreude from Murdoch.

[Loz]

Oh, quite. You can expect that post-Levenson, Murdoch will be seeking to renew his powers over the political class (of all colours) in the UK. They've been getting a bit confident of late and not doing his bidding, so he'll be keen to slap them down and show them who's boss.

[El Pibe]

It is interesting times in judging how [post-leveson] emboldened politicians will really feel in the face of an onslaught from Murdoch's papers.

I'd love them to hold their nerve but my instincts tell me that politicians feel the precariousness of their political fortunes somewhat too keenly for that.

Does anyone remember the yes prime minister RPG on the old Spectrum? I seem to recall it really cast you in the role of doing everything in order to effect some positive press as your party got the knives out if your popularity rating fell below a threshold for too long.

It's probably as relevant today (as indeed was it's inspirational source material) as it ever was.

I wonder if it's out there on an emulator somewhere.

*ETA - for the bit-curious: http://www.hotud.org/component/content/article/46-simulation/22304*