Tory corruption

I've been writing about this most of tonight in various Facebook groups but I thought I would mention it here too. I'm trying to avoid the news at the moment* (except on C4) but for some reason tonight I found myself looking at Theresa May as she spoke these words to camera on Sky: 'The conservative Party has cooperated fully with the inquiry.'

She was talking here about the inquiry into electoral fraud in 20 constituencies - repeat, 20 - at the last general election in 2016 - and she was lying. I knew she was lying because I'd just been watching Michael Crick on C4 news, where he quoted from the actual report (page 70, if I remember right) which stated that the Tories had not cooperated fully with the inquiry. I imagine Michael Crick will have got that right because he was the journalist who started investigating rumours that Conservative Central Office had been playing fast and loose with expenses during the election. It matters that this involves 20 constituencies because the Tory majority is just 17 and if any of the MPs involved are prosecuted and found guilty of fraud, they'll have to stand down. A spokesperson for the inquiry was also there on TV to state that the Tory Party had been fined the maximum - oh, I don't know how much, maybe £70,000 - but I did think that won't even cover the amount they over-spent. And then I thought: drug dealers at least lose all their assets...

If you want to read about this try the New Statesman:  http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/elections/2017/03/qa-what-does-tory-election-fraud-probe-mean-government

He's quite eccentric, is Michael Crick. He tends to latch on to politicians and stories - usually suspect ones - and is reluctant to let go. That sometimes gets him into real confrontations with politicians who are not used to being challenged. But he's one of the last investigative journalists working in the UK media today. Next time you see a presenter delivering a piece to camera, ask yourself:  is this balanced, does it present both sides, is it fair? That's what TV news presenting should be about, but a friend pointed out the other day that when the Dutch government was facing up to Turkey, the BBC interviewed someone all the way from Istanbul - but nobody from the Hague.

I imagine Michael Crick is not very popular is some political circles, though he is with me. If I were him, I'd be watching out for polonium-tipped umbrellas.



* Well, it's the Scottish Referendum, Brexit, the Tories, innit?