I suspect many readers of this blog are not readers of the Sunday Times. Nor am I. I do not have a subscription. But it is covering important stories right now, and I will feature them via their journalists' tweets instead.
This story is staggering. Remember that Kate Bingham, is the wife of Jesse Norman MP - a Treasury Cabinet minister, and like Dido Harding the daughter of a Tory peer. I do not believe she would have got this job but for those associations. Since she was not appointed in an open selection process we will never know. What we do know is that the official announcement of her appointment was not correct. She is not, as it implies, a life scientist. She is a venture capitalist. And when even Murdoch's press is shocked there is something wrong:
I am suggesting there is corruption here. I stress that I am defining corruption as a failure of the due and proper processes of government, using the term in the same way as a computer disc may be corrupt: it is not working as it should.
This is government very definitely not working as it should, exacerbated by the very close associations with a Cabinet minister and the Prime Minister.
How long do we have to put up with this?
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It looks like the Sunday Times is suggesting there is corruption here, which would mean that they agree with you.
We will have to put up with it for a long time I think. The trend line is well established with the continuing shift towards a kleptocracy, with the UK joining others in the confirmed status of a failed state. It has certainly shifted from a weak state (by the end of Thatcher) into a failing state (under Cameron and Osborne) towards a failed state (under May and Johnson). It is hardly surprising that the UK has put in one of the highest Covid death rates and the poorest economic performance amongst leading economies. All before Brexit.
This particular Tory government is reminiscent of the fag-end of the John Major regime, when “brown envelopes” became so fashionable.
A quote posted in response to the the Twitter thread caught my eye
“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” ― Frédéric Bastiat
(Looking at a selection of his quotes, many I disagree with, but this one I think does hit nail on head)
“How long do we have to put up with this” 4 years. 4 years of government-by-chums-for-chums. The Murdoch press is only getting excited because their owns snouts are not in the swill trough . I would add to Alan’s comment that with 4 million children in poverty and an unknown number going hungry, with zero interest on the part of the current gov’ the trajectory is firmly set (for the next 4 years). The result of the US elections means that the Fatberg will fold wrt Brexit, & a deal will be struck. This then leaves Covid, millions out of work and the Uk economically prostrate. I wonder if anything will happen?
My advice for now is to file it away and add it to the already long list for when we have (hopefully one day) a full public inquiry about this stuff complemented by a sufficient regime of consequences.
Lord Bingham was a peer by virtue of being a judge — Lord Chief Justice; would have been the first president of the Supreme Court if he hadn’t retired months before. “A Conservative peer” is misleading.
Do you mean that Lord Bingham sat on the cross benches?
Judges would normally sit as “cross-benchers” in the lords. His Wikipedia entry doesn’t say whether he did, or if he took the tory whip following his judicial retirement. If he did take the tory whip then it is a point well worth making.
Good point, Ralph. Tom Bingham was one of the towering legal giants of recent generations. He was Master of the Rolls from 1992-6, then Lord Chief Justice from 1996-2000, and then senior law lord to 2008, until required to retire just before his 75th birthday. The UK Supreme Court was founded the following year, and sadly he died of lung cancer just two year into his retirement.
He sat on the cross benches from 1996 until his death in 2010. https://members.parliament.uk/member/3556/career
But before he went, he gave us his masterfully powerful (and now timely) exposition on the rule of law, and founded the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law. In that connection, wonder what he would have said about this matter…
Worth noting that if you register an email address with the Times/Sunday Times, you can read two articles free per week. You can also get their daily coronavirus newsletter without being a subscriber. I found out this story that way. Always worth knowing how the Times is spinning the news.
And what about Owen Paterson Tory MP who is paid £100k a year for “work” for Randox who have been given a Covid Testing contract ? What actual “work” does he do for this ? For that sort of money you would think it is a hugely time consuming job requiring lots of expertise or is it just him allegedly making one phone call to his chum Lord Bethell the health minister responsible for contracts ?
I wish I could get paid that sort of cash for phoning my friends !