« Murder in Samarkand | Main | Hot air and empty threats? »
July 7, 2006
Legerdemain
Another day and another set of allegations and revelations surrounding John Prescott. The main stream media and the blogosphere are both full of it:
The Guardian - Prescott faces new casino bid claim
The Telegraph - In a spin over casino questions
The Ministry of Truth - Getting murkier by the minute...
Chicken Yoghurt - Dead meat
Now I agree that something doesn't add up, by I'm more concerned about what is going on elsewhere in Government while Prescott acts as a lighting conductor for all the flak being aimed at New Labour. It may be crediting Blair with too much foresight, but it seems very convenient that John has been kept around in spite of Tracey Temple and croquet on the lawn at Dorneywood.
Prescott seems emminently suited to the role he is now fulfilling, the bumbling leftie northerner who is out of his depth; the fall guy who can be blamed for any number of ills given the wide remit the ODPM used to have.
But, as Jo Moore's suggestion that 11th Sep 2001 was a "good day to bury bad news" showed, this is a Government that believes in the use of legerdemain, or sleight of hand, as an effective tool of Government.
So, while we're all looking at Prescott, digging dirt, spreading the gossip and generally trying to nail the old sod's balls to the floor, I can't help wondering what we're missing.
Posted by Clive on July 7, 2006 10:50 AM in the category Labour
Comments
>>> I can't help wondering what we're missing...
For all that I've done much of the digging I agree with you - there's more to this than meets the eye.
Whatever Prescott's up-front role as DPM, his behind the scenes role in the party has long been as one of the deal-makers and go-betweens, so its natural to wonder whether that's been his role here and that, in a sense, we may be shooting the messenger without seeing who sent the message.
Trouble is, when you start to look for the possible hooks to other fish, you can very quickly end up looking like yoy off on safari wearing only a tinfoil helmet.
The way things shape up, the bigger picture has to encompass the matter of the Dome itself, which was a major political embarassment and spawned a shed load of bad press from a notoriously flak averse government, and also the Olympic bid, in which the Dome is included.
By the time you get to the fact that the dealmaker on the disposal of the dome was dear old Charlie Falconer - and we all know who his best mate is - then you start to wonder whether all roads to one place in particular but there's nothing in this as yet that would confirm such a suspicion.
Posted by: Unity at July 7, 2006 12:12 PM
Don't forget the fact that back in 1998, the Budd Report on reform of Britain's gambling laws was under the auspices of the Home Office. Moving responsibility to the Department for Culture start things down the soft route. What would be interesting would be to see who Blair met prior to his being elected PM in 1997. We're just seeing the fringes of a very long game here.
Posted by: Clive at July 7, 2006 5:47 PM
Keep up the great work on your blog. Best wishes WaltDe
Posted by: WaltDe at September 1, 2006 7:14 AM