It’s like re-living the early 1990’s again with the BBC in its default position of leading the charge against the sleazy Conservative Party. The lead story today is actually located in the 1990’s with the shock horror! news that Conservative Party chairman Caroline Spelman has admitted using her MP’s parliamentary allowance for payments to her children’s former nanny. Spelman told BBC’s Newsnight that the money, paid in 1997 and 1998, was for secretarial work the nanny did. Following on from the revelations concerning Conservative MEP Giles Chicester, it’s like the good old days are back. A story that is TEN YEARS OLD is the single most important issue for the BBC this morning. Now I have no sympathy at all for our rapacious political caste and the fact that they abuse their expenses does not surprise me in the least but this is OLD news. I am sure the beleaguered Mr Brown will be thanking the BBC for doing all it can to shift the news agenda away from his serial woes. Naturally Labour MP’s are squeaky clean when it comes to their own use of parliamentary expenses. Mr Speaker Michael Martin is a good example of Labour financial propriety I suppose.
THOSE SLEAZY TORIES.
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This really is pathetic. It’s still the most important story in the world, according to the BBC’s website. Guess how many other newsgroups – Reuters, Sky, ITN, Channel 4 etc. – agree…
Thousands of international, and indeed national, readers must be puzzling over it wondering if they’re missing something.
It has all the signs of being a well-coordinated attack. It’d be really interesting to find out the origin of this ‘sleaze’ story – somewhere not too far from the Downing St. media unit, probably.
This is a 10 year old story and only the BBC are making such a song and dance about it.
I just wonder if the BBC will bury the next Nu Labour scandal?
We have a corrupt Commons speaker, and this is what Al Beeb regard as important … what utter scum.
I am in complete agreement with David Vance, Hugh and Albert the Cat about this. There is no possible justification for this story still being the front page lead at 11 am.
I’m also absolutely convinced that the story is a smear-job instigated by ZaNuLabour activists, who will have been examining every single expense claim since the 1832 Reform Bill in the hope of finding something with which to beat the opposition.
The way it works is that a store cupboard of smears is held for ‘the right moment’. Presumably, now has been judged such a time to lead a counter-attack against the resurgent Tories.
All the usual caveats apply, of course. I’d hang the lot of them, personally (Tories, LibDems and Labour alike) for the traitors, thieves, hypocrites and liars that 99% of them are. But this is just pure propaganda from the BBC on behalf of its political kith and kin.
According to the BBC the woman involved said she opened the odd letter and took the odd phone call and thats all.
Hmm. It would be interesting to ask her to repeat that under oath rather than being prompted by some beeboid.
IF you look at this story it’s a nothing story compared to the other expenses rows.
Peter Hain BBC what happened to him?
However, this is good news. The BBC have clearly gone after the Tory party here to help Brown out. So perhaps this is a good thing for us that want to see the BBC taken out and it’s throat slit in the streets?
If Tory MP’s can see that THEY might be the next target for non stories, we might finally be able to persuade enough Tory MP’s to kill the BBC?
When the Speaker was found paying for his wife’s taxi and air fairs with his expenses, it never got anywhere close to the front page on the BBC. Wouldn’t it be just fantastic if someone could dig up a link between No.10 and a Beeboid? They’d be done for.
It is a story,an old story,
in the current sleaze-busting atmosphere it might even be judged to be topical,
what f**cks me right off is the panty wetting glee the bbc exhibit whenever they think they`ve got a tory by the short`n curlies.
Compare that to the sombre sadness that reigns when one of labia party is caught,pissed up,pants down,hands in till or what have you.
Peter Hain anyone?
This story was the lead item on all the Radio 4 news bulletins this morning. It was introduced; “A BBC investigation has revealed that…”. So are we to assume that the BBC has been examining MPs expenses for the last 10 years? MPs of all parties? Or maybe just Conservative MPs?
I see the BBC still hasn’t reported the new police investigations into some of Ken Livingstone’s cronies, as reported in the Standard yesterday. In fact the Standard revealed the BBC were handed documentary evidence of this sleaze surrounding Livingstone nearly a year ago. The BBC reporter (whose name escapes me) decided it was a non-story. Yet when you press revealed it later he described the sleaze as instrumental in the downfall of Livingstone.
Nor have the BBC reported the revelation that Labour health Minister Ann Keen was charging her life-insurance policy to expenses, as revealed in May.
Hard to see this as anything but a concerted BBC effort to smear the Tories.
It’s amazing how a sentence changes its meaning if you leave the last few words off:
“Tory MP paying nanny out of public finds (for secretarial work)”
12:51pm
Top story at The Times:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/
Second at The Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/
Second on ITV News:
http://www.itv.com/news/
Top on Reuters:
http://uk.reuters.com/
So, not just the BBC then.
No Korova, it just shows how powerful the BBC are at setting the days news agenda.
Er, Korova, the Reuters page you linked to is its UK News page. So, in summary, the only other source that put it as its top story in the whole world would be the New Labour supporting Times, then.
At least Chichester had the grace to resign immediately when exposed, unlike the scoundrel Speaker Martin.
Korova,
it certainly is the case that other media outlets have covered the Spelman story, but the Beeb has certainly been leading with it – and most enthusiastically, too.
It’s why I described it last night as a ‘well-coordinated attack’. Let’s face it, stories like this have their genesis in prompts by opposing political factions, whether inter- or intra-party. It’d make an interesting book for somebody to examine some case studies, one day.
But other contributors to this blog are still correct in pointing out that the normal focus of the Beeb is anti-Tory, or anti-anything they don’t like according to their left of centre agenda.
As one contributor pointed out last week: We aren’t required by law to buy ‘The Guardian’ – so neither should we be required to pay for the BBC.
This is new news, albeit about old events. The charge is also being led by the conservative blogosphere, people like Guido and Dizzy.
Incidentally, can anyone remember when a UK story spent almost the whole day as the lead on the website? Let alone one about an MP most of the public haven’t heard of, for an expense claim over ten years ago.
Oh, and of course it’s also worth noting the Times page is specifically it’s UK edition (it has a global edition, which isn’t leading with it). The BBC News home page is usually more internationally focussed. And not even the Guardian reckons this should have top billing.
Crick is like a dog with a bone when it comes to Tory sleaze. Archer especially.
But Hain? Martin? Labour sleaze? He’s a little slower there.
I hear at least one Radio 4 news bulletin every day, and IIRC this is the first time I’ve heard any mention of Chichester, who was described in passing as ‘breaking EU rules on expenses’. Technically correct, but leaves the impression that the EU runs a tight ship re expenses.
To anyone who reads Guido Fawkes regularly, the BBC’s bias on this issue is painfully obvious, just as its AGW bias is painfully obvious to anyone who reads Climate Audit.
It’s satisfying to see that the BBC’s bias attracts comment at every “right-wing” (ie sceptical) blog and forum throughout the internet, the above two being no exception.
And remember the way BBC Newsnight went after the producers of undercover Mosque?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/2007/08/wednesday_8_august_2007.html
The EU breaks its own rules on expenses. The EU has not had its accounts signed off in ages. It is as crooked and corrupt and sleazy organisation as you’ll meet in a month of sundays.
Albert, don’t try to educate silly trolls like korova. She won’t get it. She can’t get it. She is a one-track mind, soi-disante ‘anarchist’ (ROFL) Rottweiler.
NO: Agreed. If the BBC really wanted to do the people of this Country a favour, they might start digging around the finances of the EU.
Oh and the silly and wasteful swapping of Parliaments every 6 months (just how much CO2 does that produce?)
But of course they won’t. The BBC loves the EU, it just hates Tories
Clinton to bow out of campaign headline finally gets Caroline Spelman off the top spot of al-Beeb.
They’ve certainly made the most of it with Operation Save Gordo’s Arse in full swing.
Despite its prominence on ViewsOnline the Spelman story doesn’t appear under al-Beeb’s Most Popular Stories Now section so the public aren’t as interested as the Beeboids hoped.
Well it’s now half 4 and the Tory sleaze story still commands top spot. Over that of a football star (on the day Euro 08 starts) nicked for killing 2 children by dangerous driving.
Ok I’ll admit sleaze is big news now-a-days. Yet for some strange reason I cannot fathom why the BBC didn’t spend as much time and effort into investigating other MPs and their cash claims. I mean so this woman paid her nanny for doing secretarial work. Was that on top of her nannies pay?
The way the way the BBC informs the reader, you get the impression she paid her nanny’s wages out of expenses, I quote;
“Conservative Party chairman Caroline Spelman has denied she was wrong to use her MP’s parliamentary allowance to pay her children’s former nanny.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7441597.stm
The guardian however informs the reader straight away why she was paid;
“The Conservative party chairman, Caroline Spelman, today defended her decision to pay her nanny for secretarial work from parliamentary expenses.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jun/07/conservatives.houseofcommons
My point, Spelman didn’t take her nanny for granted and paid her for doing non-nanny work.
Yes it may be technically wrong. But I actually don’t have a problem with it. (Well actually I do, but in the big picture it is nothing like £4000 for shopping trips or even £30 K paying a son who never turned up for work)
Now, can anybody point me in the direction about Browns Sky TV, Blairs TV licence or even Two Jags metal gate to which the BBC devoted so much time and effort to bring to the attention of the public.
Crick is no stranger to sleaze himself as his affair with Jeanette Eccles shows.
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/2402_crick.shtml
An interesting comment on Adam Boulton’s blog:
http://adamboulton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/05/this-weeks-su-1.html
Adam
Hope you are having fun
There has been anger over the Eurovision song contest back here
I think it needs a more authoritarian presenter than Wogie,more political …maybe BBC’s Michael Crick in a baseball cap ?
Any thoughts
Posted by: Jeanette Eccles North London 26 May 2008 11:31:51
A “Jeanette Eccles NW London” posts on Crick’s own blog:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/2008/01/happy_families.html
Excuse the Capital letters.
TONY BLAIR FUNDS PROPERTY POrTFOLIO ON EXPENSESFormer unemployed lawyer becomes property tycoon by screwing the taxpayers.Much better than a story about a poor working class nanny getting a little extra money to get her through life.
Peter
“Former unemployed lawyer becomes property tycoon by screwing the taxpayers.Much better than a story about a poor working class nanny getting a little extra money to get her through life.”
I got the impression from listening to BBC reports that the nanny herself was a key source for this story. Did I miss something?
Link to BBC website article quoting Tina Haines.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7441360.stm
…if someone could dig up a link between No.10 and a Beeboid? They’d be done for.
David | 07.06.08 – 11:45 am | #
I wish!
When Crick went after Duncan-Smith over secretarial payments to his missus (subsequently exonerated), his Newsnight producer who did all the dirty work on the story was one Neal Dalgleish – civil partner of Nulab minister Ben Bradshaw.
When the links are exposed – they just brazen it out.
Yes, and where did Bradshaw work before becoming an MP? Three guesses…
http://www.benbradshaw.co.uk/biog/
“Did I miss something?
Fran | 07.06.08 – 6:16 pm | #
It’s a kind of scale thing Fran,it isn’t the source,it is the complete lack of proportion.
Peter
True. This business, compared with the Speaker sleaze, seems trivial.
Remember when Ruth Turner, one of Blair’s closest aides, was arrested on suspicion of wrongdoing in cash for peerages scandal, including the very serious charge of perverting the course of justice?
Remember what Newsnight lead on on that particular evening? A one-year-old e-mail from a Tory activist (not an MP, not even a councillor — despite some reports). His crime? The e-mail used the word “cripple”. This, we were told, revealed that the Tories were still a nasty party.
Strange how the BBC weren’t bothered about sleaze that night, despite the unprecedented involvement of the police.
The issue of sleaze is not a party issue, because they are all at it.
The issue is the corruption and greed of our ruling elite.
Using taxpayers money so they can live an easy life while ordinary taxpayers are taxed relentlessly.
The BBC, by trying to tag this on one party, are not just displaying bias, but also distorting an issue which is a national scandal.
Sorry, Zevilyn, that is simply not so. It is a party issue. Never before have we had a corrupt speaker. Never before have we had a corrupt PM. Never before have we had the PM’s wife totally abusing her position to get huge sums out of the tax-payer. And never before has the BBC behaved quite so corruptly by doing everything possible to cover this up.
It appears that this non-story has longer legs than the fake global warming alarmism.
On second thought all the dinosaurs in my neighborhood have gone extinct, so possibly there is something to the global warming panic.
From 4 thousand miles away I can see the BBC is a joke.
Going back to the original story,this has the whiff of a preemptive rebuttal,as our American cousins would say,”There is something nasty coming down the pike”.Labour is getting it’s story in first.
Interesting,that the party in power is obviously the one which is in a position for the most corruption,yet the BBC is targeting the Opposition.
Peter, the BBC is being used and willing letting itself be used by liberals.
This non-story has me yawning.
Let me review.
A Conservative MP paid someone for miscellaneous secretarial work.
That “someone” also happened to be the Nanny to her children.
Dot the i, cross the t and Bob’s your uncle.
NO STORY.
The liberal media is unhinged. It will do anything for it’s agenda.
Save the Whales.
Save the Planet.
Stop beating the baby seals.
Hug a Muslim.
etc etc etc etc.
The U.N. is groovy.
The E.U. is even groovier.
And we let libs win far to often.
Oh dear. Even the BBC look to be back tracking on this non story now.
Just out of interest anyone noticed if the Government have “slipped” some bad news out today?
This whole story was based on ONE interview this woman did with shithead Crick.
YET when C4 did Undercover Mosque BBC Newsnight went for the throat making all sorts of allergations about manipulating the evidence.
Me thinks it’s the BBC that has been caught out with yet another piece of corrupt shoddy partisan journalism. The Tory MEP may have been a legit story, but Spelman? What a larf.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7442053.stm
Martin, you’ll notice that as soon as the nanny made her statement, back came the Obama/Clinton story to the top of the headline pile. Pathetic.
The BBC has sensed its first opportunity to move the news agenda away from the current Labour shambles. Commentators are giving too much credibility to what Crick alleges the nanny told him. The BBC should be ashamed and it’s time to abolish the license fee and put the Beeb on a commercial footing.
Yes, and where did Bradshaw work before becoming an MP? Three guesses…
http://www.benbradshaw.co.uk/biog/
Hugh | 07.06.08 – 6:41 pm | #
Not only did he work at the beeb – but they kept him on the payroll while he campaigned for parliament.
http://bbcpioneers.blogspot.com/2007/11/another-lefty-beeboid-family-bradshaws.html
BBC 1 news see’s Spelman story down to number 5 I think. Still did live piece from Westminster with the fat bloke who has the wonky eye (no not McBean) who simply waffled a bit then mentioned the statement given by the nanny.
BBC have been found out yet again and are backtracking quicker than an Italian tank on a battlefield.
The beeb have seized on this like a dog with a new bone.As important as political corruption in all forms is…this is of no real substance when compared to the serious problems the nation faces…not that the beeb would admit that.giving gordo a lifeline is all they care about at the moment…tough luck beeb…he is going under for the last time.
From my humble perspective this whole caper is pathetic and reeks of desperation.
Face it BBC/Nulab your’re stuffed, you hear me? Stuffed!
Andy: Too right. Even the Tories have to be able to see what the f**king bastards at the BBC have been up to this time. If this doesn’t prompt the Tories to take the BBC outside and slit it’s throat I don’t know what will.
Is there any chance we can keep some long of all these anti Tory stories ot link to or quote when writing to our MP’s over this?
Think about it. The BBC ran a story based on a single source, something I thought the BBC didn’t do?
The nanny has now “clarified her position” and the BBC are left with nothing.
However, I did notice some Nu Labour type on News 24 was spouting some shite about a cover up.
Peter Hain anyone?
Notice actually how quiet Nu Labour have been on this? What with Gorbels Mick and his dodgy dealings, McBean with his TV licence and Blair robbing the Country blind.
This story has faded tremendously fast – top story in the World most of yesterday, barely on the UK page and not even the top politics story this morning.
Oh, and for the likes of Korova, guess how many of the Sunday papers lead with what was the biggest story in the World yesterday… (It’s a whole number, less than one).