Tony Blair enjoyed free airline upgrades worth thousands of pounds during his controversial holiday to the Miami mansion owned by Robin Gibb, the former Bee Gee…
MPs said Mr Blair had become a national embarrassment for repeatedly failing to pay his own way. Mr Blair has taken “free” holidays worth more than £775,000 with wealthy hosts since taking office. They include four holidays at a Barbados villa owned by Sir Cliff Richard.
I look forward to BBC Views Online’s Magazine doing a lighthearted jokey style article about the extent of Tony and Cherie’s freeloading, just as they would were there an opportunity to poke fun at Conservative politicians. Over to you Beeboids!
Or why the BBC FLEW Mylene Klass from Scotland to Cardiff so she could front two different quizzes…..think of the trees Beeboids, think of the trees!
So Andrew, a friend of yours says ‘I’m not going to be in my house during the summer holidays but you’re free to use it’, and you say ‘how dare you treat me like some kind of tacky freeloader’? I don’t think so.
This is all stinkingly hypocritical to my mind. I’d gladly let our friends stay in our house when we’re not there and I’d be insulted if they insisted on paying. I would happily accept the same friendly generosity back. I can’t think of any reason at all to apply a different standard to anyone else, since I don’t think there should be one rule for me and another for the rest of the human race – or even one rule for some of us and another for others depending on what job we do. It seems to me this is just another disguise for the same old ‘Christ I hate the Blairs!’ emotion that uninforms so much of our political debate.
Anyway, cheer up. If the Torys manage not to destroy themselves because they hate Cameron even more than they hate Blair they might actually win the next election.
Not this right Charlie by any chance;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2984844.stm
Charlie: “It seems to me this is just another disguise for the same old ‘Christ I hate the Blairs!’ emotion that uninforms so much of our political debate.”
Quite possibly Charlie, but the Blair’s have taken huge advantage of their position (remember Cherie’s Australian Supermarket Sweep anyone?) to line their pockets, and it’s only going to get worse when Tony abdicates.
Most unseemly, and quite unlike any recent Prime Minster and his/her spouse.
Lastly, I may not be perfect, but I don’t make a pretense at being impartial (nor am I paid out of a compulsory tellytax to be impartial!) – I’m quite sure my contention about how Views Online’s Magazine would treat similarly grasping Conservatives is a reasonable proposition!
Thank you for your feedback and your interest – I hope you enjoy the rest of Biased BBC.
Each to his own but I don’t see that it is hypocritical.
Labour is a party of squalid fat cats with their snouts in a trough. This trough is filled up by taxes so high that the people who pay them can’t afford for themselves what they are providing for these vermin – final salary pensions, privileged access to health care, private education, and so on.
Labour has a history of taking bribes and backhanders: for placing people in the Lords, for writing Prime Ministerial letters to the Romanian government recommending that they favour an Indian steel company (which has given Labour money) over a British one (which hasn’t), for exempting Formula 1 from the tobacco advertising ban, etc etc ad nauseam.
Inquiring after Blair’s holiday arrangements seems an entirely legitimate line of challenge to me. Given his demonstrated dishonesty, I want to know what corrupt, anti-democratic, dirty little deal the lying creep has cut to secure the use of the latest plush pad. It’s of a piece with his other bits of party political peculation over the years.
On the last ten years’ form, we cannot possibly assume there’s nothing in it for the donor, can we?
Expect Tony and Billy to tour with their band while Hillary’s trying to run the White House. Maybe there’s going to be a vacancy for Cherie as politically correct advisor.
Maybe they could all buzz off to Hollywood along with Posh and Becks – after all most of the people already there are daft as brushes…..
dave t:
“… after all most of the people already there are daft as brushes….”
And dedicated Lefties!
And dedicated Lefties!
disillusioned_german | 15.01.07 – 9:12 pm |
er, um, i think that’s what he meant!! 🙂
I can hand on heart say I have ALWAYS voted, never missed, and I have NOT voted labour in 20 years, so I am no Labour toady. However I must say that I think there has to be some sense of proportion in these posts.
Exactly which recent previous government was there where the members did not have their snouts in the trough acting like fat cats? The last conservative governement was hardly a shining exmple for this was it?
Who were the recent prime ministers who did not play on their position to get favours past and present? Please do not answer Major or Thatcher as we know they did, help for relatives, tickets for test matches, etc, though I agree that in Thatcher’s case she hardly needed money as Dennis was a millionaire. I must admit to being less sure about Wilson and Callaghan but somehow I doubt you are referring to them and anyway they are hardly “recent”.
Behave, or you are acting just like Al Beeb!
Baggie, while you’re right tha the tories are equally culpable for their corruption, you have to admit that the sheer depth depth and audacity of the current lot is matchless in recent British history. The worst the old tory lot managed was servicing their sexual pecadillos and getting in to good jobs. Now we’re seeing massive scams involving the sale of government property to off-shore corporations, the sale of peerages, a sitting PM questioned by the police for his involvement in that particular farrago, a deputy PM who has his hand in so many pies (and skirts) as to make the cash for questions thing look positively pious and a general attitude from the cabinet that is akin to that of the court of Charles the first.
Archonix – it cant be denied that the current mob have much dirt on their hands, but I am saying we need to keep perspective with comparisons, even with leaders. Major telling us back to (family) basics whilst carrying on with Edwina Currie, Thatcher’s support of her son’s business dealings (for which he was later expelled from his country of choice because it was so “dodgy”, even Wilson with his “business” dealings and awards of peerages.
That said the court of Charles the first is a good line – it led to a revolution and IMO rightful execution of the tyrant leader, hmm…