I think we all realise there is something very, very wrong about politics. This latest scandal with the fraudulent leak of a document claiming Nicola Sturgeon had stated a preference to Sylvie Bermann, the French Ambassador to the UK, for a Conservative win in the General Election.
The Telegraph splashed this on their front page on 3rd April and continued to ‘milk’ this so called exclusive in a very subtle and suggestive manner using reverse psychology.
Of course we now know that it is was a pack of lies with Alistair Carmichael, LibDem MP for Orkney and Shetland at the heart of the deceit. Of course his deputy and ‘office share’ David Mundell Conservative MP for the Borders would be completely oblivious to all this – ‘Aye, right?’.
The fact that the tab for the enquiry at £1.4 million puts this deceit in the super-crime bracket should be justification to put both these clown behind bars. Let’s hope, as the matter progresses, that they resign their political positions, where they are deceiving their constituents, and face formal charges by the police.
Of course, telling you all this is no great shakes – we know all this already. So what’s the real story – the back story if you will.
A lot of research has been conducted into the background of politicians. What we find is an alarming slant towards the legal professions. Education and especially career politicians who have come through education into political advisory roles then into office is grossly over-represented. Journalist and media people are another lot who are in there in droves.
So, where are the real people. In 2010 we found 4% of MP who had held down a manual or regular job and business people, who often have vast experience in running things efficiently and effectively, are alarmingly under represented.
Is anyone still surprised that politics is a mess? I’m not. I have a very particular abhorrence for traditional legal people. In fact, I am writing a book on the subject that I hope will serve as a stark warning to ordinary, decent people.
Someone jokingly once said, ‘I didn’t know I had a serious problem until I spoke to my solicitor?’. Quite so.
When confronted with the despicable, lying behaviour of Carmichael and probably Mundell I said under my breath – I bet they were both solicitors. Bingo, right on the money. So, no surprise there.
So what is the problem from the perspective of ordinary citizen? Here is my take:
The law is not and has never been the pursuit of justice or truth. The law is about who can secure and afford the smartest lawyer who can twist, bend, manipulate or compromise the truth to the benefit and full extent of their client’s affordability. Truth and justice never come into it – it’s a p*ssing contest. The only thing that ever matters is the outcome and the biggest fee.
Charles Dickens said ‘the law is an ass’. I say the ass is a law(yer).
Put that age old mentality into a political environment and we can see why Carmichael would behave the way he behaved and no doubt has behaved like this throughout his political career. With regards Nicola Sturgeon, Carmichael knew precisely that she had not stated any preference. However, he felt that if he released such a story it would work to his advantage and the advantage of his party. It certainly did not work for his party, but it certainly did work for him. Completely against the run of the General Election he scraped in, in his constituency. Without his deception he would almost certainly have been kicked out like every other LibDem in Scotland – and the UK for that matter. It is not a fluke that the one LibDem who does the dirty is the ONLY LibDem in Scotland to win his seat. Oh, and lest we forget, his deputy, Mundell, was the second of three candidates who held their seat in Scotland.
From today’s news, when he has secured the backing of his party, it is clear that he will try to hang in there. However, his party represents a tiny percentage of his constituency and he was elected to represent his constituents NOT his local party lacky’s.
Carmichael is a man who simply lies and deceives on demand. He could even be a Labour politician at a stretch.
Before the Referendum I asked him in person to comment on the Glasgow Effect. As the Scottish Secretary he would or should be all to familiar with the works and views of Professor Harry Burns, the Chief Medical Officer who titled the Glasgow Effect. Carmichael’s answer was to claim that there urban deprivation in most UK cities. This is a scandalous betrayal of the poor people of Glasgow who have been and continue to be affected by this life limiting condition. The Scottish Secretary was prepared to betray his own dying people to attempt to make a cheap political point.
This is the man we are dealing with. And Mundell was no better. He must have known about the activities of his office share compatriot, Carmichael. I asked Mundell a direct question, in person, before the Referendum about his claims on the State pension. He was trying to make out that an independent Scotland would not be able to afford the current level of State pension. What a scandalous lie that was. He was either completely stupid or completely deceitful. The truth is, Westminster could never afford to pay an independent Scotland the pro-rata money paid into the State pension scheme that guaranteed Scottish contributors their STATE PENSION RIGHTS. Again, Mundell, a solicitor, chooses a lie rather than explaining the truth in the situation because the truth does not suit his aims or that of his party. He is another who must go because he is not fit to represent the interests of his constituents.
So the message is clear. Legally trained or practiced MPs will invariably do what is expedient rather than what is right.
What about MPs with a journalistic background? Journalists are viewers, watchers and spectators. They observe things then write about them in a way that makes a story rather than a point. We must ask ourselves, if we were ever privy to something that happened ‘first hand’, then read about it later. I have had a few experiences when I said to myself, ‘that’s not what happened! or at least that’s not the way I saw it’ I suspect for every story or report there is someone, somewhere saying the same thing. Journalists do not do things. They watch others doing things then they write about it. They make it interesting by distorting the truth. Very often truth is the first casualty of the journalist. Is that the kind of person you would want to represent you in Parliament?
Then there is the career politicians. Many of them have come from very privileged backgrounds and they pull each other along. A very high and unrepresentative proportion of MPs come from these ranks. They have never had to want. Most of them have been ‘funded through their life’ and almost none of them has ever had a real job, with real demands, real world problems etc. In other words they have no real world experience and now they are going to tell us how to live our lives in the real world? The paths they pursue can best be described as ‘suck up’. They will suck up to anything or anybody who will further their career. They have no knowledge, no interest and certainly no experience of real people. Is that the kind of person you would wish to represent you. No, I thought not!
Finally, there is that other breed – the trade unionist. When I was in industry there was a certain type who often became involved in the union; we all knew them. They were useless on the shop floor, they struggled with the skills and the commitment but they could do two things. They could talk with great authority on subjects they knew nothing about and they would suck up to the shop steward at every opportunity. Is this the type of person you would wish to represent you? I thought not.
Of course we can almost never solve all these problems but we can make a start, or is that a stand, when we come across really blatant examples. We had a real heads up with the expenses scandal or ‘snoutsinthetroughgate’ as I liked to call it. But, Carmichael and Mundell are two great example where their constituents must make a stand – because their local party, who put them in the in the first place, certainly will not.
If we had the power of recall, Carmichael would already be gone and I expect Mundell would be on his coat tail. For now, we need pressure from their constituency to force them to resign and even offer themselves for re-selection and let’s see what their constituents really think of them.
In the meantime we can only keep up the pressure on them and hope their party seniors blink first and force them to fall on their swords. But don’t hold your breath – these people will hang in there for grim life – because they can’t do anything else decent – and coincidentally, that’s why we need rid of them?
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