Not that I’m some high powered political person, but I do work in the general media industry which all of this Blair stuff relates to.
The story was actually published 8 days ago, by both the Guardian, FT, Times and Independent. Sort of page 8 news, that barely caused a blip.
You know, “private citizen works for a living” is hardly ground breaking news.
The tory press office (this story is directly from tory hq) decided to re-hash it, and add in a quote from a tory back bencher, and asked the Mail to put it on the front page, to try and create a media storm for 48 hours, that would divert press and media attention away from the Ashcroft saga.
In the trade it’s called a “clogger”. A piece of high profile, usually speculative, usually old, news, to “stop the rot”.
As I said, the story broke 8 days ago, and has already been answered fully by all involved – predictably, there isn’t much of a story here. It was kept secret because of corporate competition (oil companies not wanting other oil companies to get information on their plans). Nothing to do with politics.
Tory Press Office have re-hashed it, added in a quote, and tried to whip a media storm.
Sadly, there probably isn’t enough meat to make it an “Ashcroft”.
As I said, private citizen makes money while working for a living. All popular, charismatic, leaders do. Bill Clinton makes twice as much as Blair.
The Mail are trying to state that the likes of Thatcher and Major not working, shows how a PM should act.
Not the fact that both were hapless fools, who created their own recessions, and ruled over a country with 3 million unemployed for nearly 20 years – so they aren’t really very attractive corporate figures.
So Jake, if you do work in the “media” we know which way you lean. Of course a private citizen, if that is what Blair is, can earn whatever. The question that needs answering is has he used his present position for pecuniary gain?
‘The story was actually published 8 days ago, by both the Guardian, FT, Times and Independent. Sort of page 8 news, that barely caused a blip’
Impressive stuff because no-one else heard about it till the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments published the details on 16th March.
That’s a wee bit less than 8 days ago by my counting – but correct me if I’m wrong.( I do hope poor Jake’s not getting his facts all befuddled up again)
‘You know, “private citizen works for a living” is hardly ground breaking news.’ Well, perhaps you hadn’t noticed Jake, but this particular private citizen took his country into an illegal war that costs the lives of over a hundred thousand Iraqi people. I think that makes him more than a wee bit newsworthy especially if he appears to be profiting from a war that he started.
‘It was kept secret because of corporate competition’. ….’Nothing to do with politics.’ Maybe Lord Ashcroft (or that other famous taxpayer and pensions expert Lord Paul) should try that argument.
‘Well, perhaps you hadn’t noticed Jake, but this particular private citizen took his country into an illegal war that costs the lives of over a hundred thousand Iraqi people.’
The Mail didn’t seem to have many problems with it at the time. I seriously doubt they care much about the Iraqi people now.
The Iraq invasion in 2003 was the result of the illegal provocation by the Conservative government in 1990 when they attacked Iraq. it is they who should be tried for war crimes, I wonder how much oil money the top Tories got? Bet the Mail won’t delve any deeper than 2003.
“The question that needs answering is has he used his present position for pecuniary gain?”. Are companies prepared to pay more money to have him as a keynote speaker because he is a former PM, well obviously yes. Would the MoS have paid Sandra Howard to write a column each week for them, if she wasn’t the wife of MIchael Howard MP and leader of the opposition – probably not.
“Mr Hague saw his earnings rocket after he stood down as Tory leader in 2001 and is now one of the wealthiest MPs in the Commons. He became the first MP to earn £1million in a calendar year, thanks to a combination of business consultancies, newspaper columns and speeches. In 2004, the Register of Members’ Interests revealed that Mr Hague earned at least £385,000 for dozens of after-dinner speaking engagements.” Which newspaper broke this shocking news: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1076370/Top-Tory-William-Hague-flew-Barclays-500-000-Italian-jolly-markets-crashed.html
The 1990 Gulf War may have been illegal on planet Marcs but in the real world it was legal – sanctioned by UN resolution 678 which allowed the allies to use ‘all means necessary.’
I seem to recall ( correct me if I’m wrong) that Sadam Hussein started the whole thing off by invading Kuwait ,but maybe that was the Tories fault too.
If you want to know how much oil money Tories earned the information is probably publicly available – I assume the Daily Mail isn’t your only source of information.
Personally I find it a wee bit distasteful if Tony Blair is profiting from a war that he helped start and I’m not really sure that I put William Hague’s after dinner speeches in the same league – but I’m just as interested in knowing about it.
Nice of you to point out the Mail’s lack of partisanship in publishing details of politicians’ money-making exploits.
“So Jake, if you do work in the “media” we know which way you lean. Of course a private citizen, if that is what Blair is, can earn whatever. The question that needs answering is has he used his present position for pecuniary gain”
Private citizens are free to pursue any business interests that they wish, after 2 years of being in a political cabinet.
You know, maybe the Mail should be writing stories about the fact that 50% of the shadow cabinet were on boards of major corporations raking in 500k a year, from the political influence that their position can offer to the company.
Guys like William Hague have made 10 million since 2002 from this sort of thing. And that guy is still active in politics!
“Impressive stuff because no-one else heard about it till the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments published the details on 16th March.
That’s a wee bit less than 8 days ago by my counting – but correct me if I’m wrong.( I do hope poor Jake’s not getting his facts all befuddled up again)
‘You know, “private citizen works for a living” is hardly ground breaking news.’ Well, perhaps you hadn’t noticed Jake, but this particular private citizen took his country into an illegal war that costs the lives of over a hundred thousand Iraqi people. I think that makes him more than a wee bit newsworthy especially if he appears to be profiting from a war that he started.
‘It was kept secret because of corporate competition’. ….’Nothing to do with politics.’ Maybe Lord Ashcroft (or that other famous taxpayer and pensions expert Lord Paul) should try that argument
”
===============================================
Karlo
The story was actually in the Guardian and the Financial times on 10th March. Before the official information was released.
It was a none event. Hyped up by the tory press office, and put onto the front of the mail, for party interests. As in, get Ashcroft out of the news for a few days.
“Maybe Lord Ashcroft (or that other famous taxpayer and pensions expert Lord Paul) should try that argument.
”
Lord Paul has given the grand sum of £900k to the Labour party since the late 1970s. And £50k since he was awarded a peerage.
Whatever his failings, he was never a none dom trying to influence general elections, and was hence given a peerage.
Ashcroft has pumped in £14 million into general elections since 1997, and 10 million since he was given a peerage.
Hence he was turned down, so felt the need to lie about his tax status, so he could both influence elections without paying tax, and have his peerage, so he could ask 55 parliamentry questions on financially attractive propostitions involving his beloved Belize
“Personally I find it a wee bit distasteful if Tony Blair is profiting from a war that he helped start and I’m not really sure that I put William Hague’s after dinner speeches in the same league – but I’m just as interested in knowing about it. ”
William Hague is thought to have made over £10 million since he stood down in 2001.
The tories spent nearly 2 years trying to block the official release of how much MPS make outside parliament. And successfully managed to create a deal, where they would only have to announce money made after a certain date. Allowing guys like Hague and Ken Clarke to simple quit their roles before the date, and keep all of the money secret.
Seriously. Hague, Clark, have made numerous millions from private sector, commercial roles, in the last 15-20 years.
er Jake – last October the New Statesman estimated William Hague was worth £2.2 million. What on earth has he spent the other £7.8 million on? (Or were we just plucking figures out of thin air again?)
Blair and blonde today then.
Plenty about Blair’s cash, but strangely no mention of the Ashcroft (non) tax millions.
Blonde widow corner.
Bloke invests in stuff shocker!
I wonder if the widow would’ve been on the front page if she wasn’t young, blonde and attractive?
Not much outrage about Blairs millions.I wonder why not?
Not that I’m some high powered political person, but I do work in the general media industry which all of this Blair stuff relates to.
The story was actually published 8 days ago, by both the Guardian, FT, Times and Independent. Sort of page 8 news, that barely caused a blip.
You know, “private citizen works for a living” is hardly ground breaking news.
The tory press office (this story is directly from tory hq) decided to re-hash it, and add in a quote from a tory back bencher, and asked the Mail to put it on the front page, to try and create a media storm for 48 hours, that would divert press and media attention away from the Ashcroft saga.
In the trade it’s called a “clogger”. A piece of high profile, usually speculative, usually old, news, to “stop the rot”.
As I said, the story broke 8 days ago, and has already been answered fully by all involved – predictably, there isn’t much of a story here. It was kept secret because of corporate competition (oil companies not wanting other oil companies to get information on their plans). Nothing to do with politics.
Tory Press Office have re-hashed it, added in a quote, and tried to whip a media storm.
Sadly, there probably isn’t enough meat to make it an “Ashcroft”.
As I said, private citizen makes money while working for a living. All popular, charismatic, leaders do. Bill Clinton makes twice as much as Blair.
The Mail are trying to state that the likes of Thatcher and Major not working, shows how a PM should act.
Not the fact that both were hapless fools, who created their own recessions, and ruled over a country with 3 million unemployed for nearly 20 years – so they aren’t really very attractive corporate figures.
Well, unless you have manure to sell.
So Jake, if you do work in the “media” we know which way you lean. Of course a private citizen, if that is what Blair is, can earn whatever. The question that needs answering is has he used his present position for pecuniary gain?
Not much of secret then?
Not quite sure what they’re aiming for with that headline; their target audience always thought Blair was a twat and a lot of the rest of us agree.
‘The story was actually published 8 days ago, by both the Guardian, FT, Times and Independent. Sort of page 8 news, that barely caused a blip’
Impressive stuff because no-one else heard about it till the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments published the details on 16th March.
That’s a wee bit less than 8 days ago by my counting – but correct me if I’m wrong.( I do hope poor Jake’s not getting his facts all befuddled up again)
‘You know, “private citizen works for a living” is hardly ground breaking news.’ Well, perhaps you hadn’t noticed Jake, but this particular private citizen took his country into an illegal war that costs the lives of over a hundred thousand Iraqi people. I think that makes him more than a wee bit newsworthy especially if he appears to be profiting from a war that he started.
‘It was kept secret because of corporate competition’. ….’Nothing to do with politics.’ Maybe Lord Ashcroft (or that other famous taxpayer and pensions expert Lord Paul) should try that argument.
‘Well, perhaps you hadn’t noticed Jake, but this particular private citizen took his country into an illegal war that costs the lives of over a hundred thousand Iraqi people.’
The Mail didn’t seem to have many problems with it at the time. I seriously doubt they care much about the Iraqi people now.
The Iraq invasion in 2003 was the result of the illegal provocation by the Conservative government in 1990 when they attacked Iraq. it is they who should be tried for war crimes, I wonder how much oil money the top Tories got? Bet the Mail won’t delve any deeper than 2003.
“The question that needs answering is has he used his present position for pecuniary gain?”. Are companies prepared to pay more money to have him as a keynote speaker because he is a former PM, well obviously yes. Would the MoS have paid Sandra Howard to write a column each week for them, if she wasn’t the wife of MIchael Howard MP and leader of the opposition – probably not.
“Mr Hague saw his earnings rocket after he stood down as Tory leader in 2001 and is now one of the wealthiest MPs in the Commons. He became the first MP to earn £1million in a calendar year, thanks to a combination of business consultancies, newspaper columns and speeches. In 2004, the Register of Members’ Interests revealed that Mr Hague earned at least £385,000 for dozens of after-dinner speaking engagements.” Which newspaper broke this shocking news: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1076370/Top-Tory-William-Hague-flew-Barclays-500-000-Italian-jolly-markets-crashed.html
The 1990 Gulf War may have been illegal on planet Marcs but in the real world it was legal – sanctioned by UN resolution 678 which allowed the allies to use ‘all means necessary.’
I seem to recall ( correct me if I’m wrong) that Sadam Hussein started the whole thing off by invading Kuwait ,but maybe that was the Tories fault too.
If you want to know how much oil money Tories earned the information is probably publicly available – I assume the Daily Mail isn’t your only source of information.
Personally I find it a wee bit distasteful if Tony Blair is profiting from a war that he helped start and I’m not really sure that I put William Hague’s after dinner speeches in the same league – but I’m just as interested in knowing about it.
Nice of you to point out the Mail’s lack of partisanship in publishing details of politicians’ money-making exploits.
“So Jake, if you do work in the “media” we know which way you lean. Of course a private citizen, if that is what Blair is, can earn whatever. The question that needs answering is has he used his present position for pecuniary gain”
Private citizens are free to pursue any business interests that they wish, after 2 years of being in a political cabinet.
You know, maybe the Mail should be writing stories about the fact that 50% of the shadow cabinet were on boards of major corporations raking in 500k a year, from the political influence that their position can offer to the company.
Guys like William Hague have made 10 million since 2002 from this sort of thing. And that guy is still active in politics!
“Impressive stuff because no-one else heard about it till the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments published the details on 16th March.
That’s a wee bit less than 8 days ago by my counting – but correct me if I’m wrong.( I do hope poor Jake’s not getting his facts all befuddled up again)
‘You know, “private citizen works for a living” is hardly ground breaking news.’ Well, perhaps you hadn’t noticed Jake, but this particular private citizen took his country into an illegal war that costs the lives of over a hundred thousand Iraqi people. I think that makes him more than a wee bit newsworthy especially if he appears to be profiting from a war that he started.
‘It was kept secret because of corporate competition’. ….’Nothing to do with politics.’ Maybe Lord Ashcroft (or that other famous taxpayer and pensions expert Lord Paul) should try that argument
”
===============================================
Karlo
The story was actually in the Guardian and the Financial times on 10th March. Before the official information was released.
It was a none event. Hyped up by the tory press office, and put onto the front of the mail, for party interests. As in, get Ashcroft out of the news for a few days.
“Maybe Lord Ashcroft (or that other famous taxpayer and pensions expert Lord Paul) should try that argument.
”
Lord Paul has given the grand sum of £900k to the Labour party since the late 1970s. And £50k since he was awarded a peerage.
Whatever his failings, he was never a none dom trying to influence general elections, and was hence given a peerage.
Ashcroft has pumped in £14 million into general elections since 1997, and 10 million since he was given a peerage.
Hence he was turned down, so felt the need to lie about his tax status, so he could both influence elections without paying tax, and have his peerage, so he could ask 55 parliamentry questions on financially attractive propostitions involving his beloved Belize
“Personally I find it a wee bit distasteful if Tony Blair is profiting from a war that he helped start and I’m not really sure that I put William Hague’s after dinner speeches in the same league – but I’m just as interested in knowing about it. ”
William Hague is thought to have made over £10 million since he stood down in 2001.
The tories spent nearly 2 years trying to block the official release of how much MPS make outside parliament. And successfully managed to create a deal, where they would only have to announce money made after a certain date. Allowing guys like Hague and Ken Clarke to simple quit their roles before the date, and keep all of the money secret.
Seriously. Hague, Clark, have made numerous millions from private sector, commercial roles, in the last 15-20 years.
er Jake – last October the New Statesman estimated William Hague was worth £2.2 million. What on earth has he spent the other £7.8 million on? (Or were we just plucking figures out of thin air again?)