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A Gloomy New Years Message
January 1, 2007 12:00 AM
By Paul Holmes MP in View from Parliament
By Paul Holmes MP in View from Parliament
Tony Blair's New Years message to other countries seems to be very clear. "Do as we say but not as we do" and "any suggestion of corruption is unacceptable and will be vigorously investigated - unless it involves a medieval style monarchy who are 'mates' of ours."
Back in 1997 (remember the golden glow of hope for a new Britain back then?), Blair and Brown announced that Britain would now have an 'ethical' foreign policy. Robin Cook as Foreign Secretary, soon discovered however that that did not mean we would stop selling arms to repressive governments who used them against their own people. Eventually he was the only senior Cabinet Minister who had the integrity to resign in 2003 over the illegal invasion of Iraq based upon a 'dodgy dossier' about non existent WMD and long range rockets.
More recently Blair and Brown announced that the problem with Africa was that so much Aid money disappeared into the Swiss bank accounts of corrupt African politicians. This they said was no longer acceptable. A shame then that Blair's Government has 'pulled the plug,' just as Britain's Serious Fraud Office were about to access Swiss bank account details which would throw light upon allegations of another massive corruption scandal.
The Al-Yamamah deal began in 1988 when Thatcher's Government and BAE sold weapons to Saudi Arabia. Another arms sale by BAE looms this year. However the 1988 deal is alleged to have involved BAE in paying vast bribes to members of the Saudi Government. Exactly the sort of corruption that New Labour says is illegal for any British company to be involved in.
Why then, just as the notoriously secretive Swiss Banks were finally about to open their accounts to the Fraud investigators, did our 'anti corruption' government close down the investigation? Why did the, then, Conservative Government refuse to publish the findings of the National Audit Office inquiry into this alleged scandal? Why does the current Labour Government still refuse to let MP's - let alone the taxpaying and voting public -see this report?
The new year will (after Blair hits his 10th anniversary as PM on May 1st) eventually see a new broom at No 10. But Gordon, the likely replacement, voted for the illegal invasion of Iraq, is still writing the cheques to pay for it and has said that he will not change Blair's policies!
A gloomy New Years message all round.
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