Enough.
Labour's tantrums have been utterly shameful though, especially today's Business Questions. Get a grip, people in glasshouses shouldn't throw stones, however much they want to distract from Brown's Chilcot appearance tomorrow. Not only do they have millions of pounds of union support but they also have their own non-dom backers who are much much more controversial than Ashcroft. See this weeks Guy News for a little digging TB and co have been doing on Lord Paul. And to have the audacity to use Mandy to spearhead the charge is laughable. Who the hell is he to criticise any Lords appointment? The man should be in the political graveyard having resigned twice from the cabinet, lied to try save his arse and line his pockets on the EU gravy train.
Jog on.
Posts
5 comments:
Orwellian control is the problem. I just hope the electorate show some sense and cojones.
So it's all right to say you will be permanently resident, and then negotiating not to be?
And to keep this change secret from your sponsor, the hapless William Hague.
And all the other top Tories...
Making them look like fools...
For TEN years?
Is that not breaking promises, and is it not exactly honest?
Is exactly honest not a standard senior Tories aspire to?
Funny how this is a 'jog on', stop talking about this story, whereas the other week, the Brown bullying story was 'yet another negative headline for Brown, and rightly so.'
Hrm...
You're missing the point, so let me spell it out for you:
1. Ashcroft was turned down more than once for a peerage due to his financial arrangements.
2. When he finally was granted a peerage, it was on the explicit condition that he changed these arrangements.
3. This was all down to intense lobbying by William Hague, and as such it should have been Hague's responsibility to ensure that this condition was met.
4. This condition was not met.
5. Rather than being honest about this and giving up his seat in the Lords, Ashcroft and senior Tory MPs have kept it a secret for a decade.
Thus, all the Tories that have been wheeled out to say they didn't know about his status have either been incompetent or lying. The same can be said of Lord Ashcroft himself.
The argument is not that he is a non-dom, it's that he's not supposed to be a non-dom, and he's spent a decade lying about it.
I'm no Mandy fan, but I have to take my hat off to him - he's got more Teflon than Tony. Not many could manage together away with what he has. Though Boris could, I'm sure.