Musings from the Merse
Sunday, November 12, 2006
FOR LAIRD READ LORD Throughout?
I am very indebted to a bloggee for drawing Huttonian's attention to an article in the Sunday TIMES (Scottish edition) which begins as follows
A new lord of the manor in waiting
The Labour MSP John Home Robertson has been caught up in an expenses scandal, but as he defends himself to Gillian Bowditch, he also lets slip that he has a higher calling
It's 10 o'clock on a Thursday morning and I am in the parliament building when I find myself in uncharted territory. For the first time in 22 years I am about to be thrown out of an interview. My subject, John Home Robertson, the Labour MSP for East Lothian, last week announced that he is to stand down at the election.
He has just revealed that he is destined for the House of Lords. But now he is so incensed with my line of questioning, he wants me to leave immediately.
'I am not happy' he says getting up from his seat. 'I have made a huge mistake in talking to you'. The tension in the room is palpable. It is all the more perplexing because Home Robertson has just given a strong defence of himself. Two weeks ago it was revealed he had claimed about £7,000 a year in expenses to live in a flat bought by his 17-year-old son, Patrick, just days before he became an MSP in 1999. It has given his political enemies, who now call him John Home Improvement, plenty of capital.
This is his first real opportunity to respond
(see rest of story in the on-line edition at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2090-2447116_1,00.html
And although lengthy is worth reading in full. And if you might think it is most unusual that someone indicates that he is about to be elevated to a peerage before this is officialy announced. You would be right.
It is.
I am very indebted to a bloggee for drawing Huttonian's attention to an article in the Sunday TIMES (Scottish edition) which begins as follows
A new lord of the manor in waiting
The Labour MSP John Home Robertson has been caught up in an expenses scandal, but as he defends himself to Gillian Bowditch, he also lets slip that he has a higher calling
It's 10 o'clock on a Thursday morning and I am in the parliament building when I find myself in uncharted territory. For the first time in 22 years I am about to be thrown out of an interview. My subject, John Home Robertson, the Labour MSP for East Lothian, last week announced that he is to stand down at the election.
He has just revealed that he is destined for the House of Lords. But now he is so incensed with my line of questioning, he wants me to leave immediately.
'I am not happy' he says getting up from his seat. 'I have made a huge mistake in talking to you'. The tension in the room is palpable. It is all the more perplexing because Home Robertson has just given a strong defence of himself. Two weeks ago it was revealed he had claimed about £7,000 a year in expenses to live in a flat bought by his 17-year-old son, Patrick, just days before he became an MSP in 1999. It has given his political enemies, who now call him John Home Improvement, plenty of capital.
This is his first real opportunity to respond
(see rest of story in the on-line edition at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2090-2447116_1,00.html
And although lengthy is worth reading in full. And if you might think it is most unusual that someone indicates that he is about to be elevated to a peerage before this is officialy announced. You would be right.
It is.
Comments:
Oh Dear! If JHR gets kicked upstairs it will spoil half my fun. I wonder what the citation will read
'For services to the Tories in Scotland?'
or 'For being a generous Dad. Here you are son.You are 17 now. Open your piggy bank and get a flat. Then move to Glasgow. You know it makes sense!'
'For services to the Tories in Scotland?'
or 'For being a generous Dad. Here you are son.You are 17 now. Open your piggy bank and get a flat. Then move to Glasgow. You know it makes sense!'
# posted by 
: 3:01 PM
: 3:01 PM
If that report is true, it merely confirms the state of the current political system. In recent reports Fergus Ewing (MSP) put it succinctly:
“In the first instance it is unprecedented that someone announces that he has received a peerage, rather than the prime minister himself announcing it”
“We know the prime minister’s out of touch with what’s going on in Iraq. Now we know that he’s also out of touch with the Holyrood project fiasco. Taxpayers will be angry, but not surprised at yet another completely inexplicable decision by a discredited prime minister.”
Lord Fraser said: “I think what it reveals is that while Tony Blair and the cabinet have signalled that they have had absolutely no involvement in the parliament, actually at every place you find Tony Blair’s fingerprints are all over it. John Home Robertson’s peerage seems just to be the latest example of this.”
Quotes extracted from: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2090-2450506,00.html in the article entitled: “Rent row MSP offered peerage for his role in Holyrood 'fiasco'”
Accountability? Discretion? Not here.
The question we should be asking is: WHY? The answer will be interesting.
“In the first instance it is unprecedented that someone announces that he has received a peerage, rather than the prime minister himself announcing it”
“We know the prime minister’s out of touch with what’s going on in Iraq. Now we know that he’s also out of touch with the Holyrood project fiasco. Taxpayers will be angry, but not surprised at yet another completely inexplicable decision by a discredited prime minister.”
Lord Fraser said: “I think what it reveals is that while Tony Blair and the cabinet have signalled that they have had absolutely no involvement in the parliament, actually at every place you find Tony Blair’s fingerprints are all over it. John Home Robertson’s peerage seems just to be the latest example of this.”
Quotes extracted from: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2090-2450506,00.html in the article entitled: “Rent row MSP offered peerage for his role in Holyrood 'fiasco'”
Accountability? Discretion? Not here.
The question we should be asking is: WHY? The answer will be interesting.
# posted by : 5:10 PM
: 5:10 PM
Here's another perspective:
http://macnumpty.blogspot.com/2006/11/john-home-robertson.html
Post a Comment
http://macnumpty.blogspot.com/2006/11/john-home-robertson.html
# posted by : 9:20 PM
: 9:20 PM
