21st Century Wire says…
The very fabric of British political society is being torn into pieces with an apparently never-ending stream of scandals.
Top British Labour Party figure Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind, overseer of British intelligence agencies, have been caught on camera offering political influence for cash.
The scandal goes all the way to the top.
Jack Straw boasted that he could operate ‘under the radar‘ and would do so for at least £5000 ($7700) per day. Rifkind suggested that he could offer ‘useful access‘ to the British political system for the right price.
Who exactly has benefited from these services? Who else is offering a similar service? To what extent is British policy, foreign and domestic, shaped by external oligarchic interests? Have British intelligence agencies been compromised due to these activities?
This comes in the wake of numerous banking and sexual abuse scandals. Moreover, the nation’s austerity cuts are now going to be killing people. How much more damage can the British political system sustain before it collapses?
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Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind in latest ‘cash for access’ scandal
Two former foreign secretaries are exposed for their involvement in a new “cash for access” scandal.
Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind offered to use their positions as politicians on behalf of a fictitious Chinese company in return for payments of at least £5,000 per day.
Mr Straw, one of Labour’s most senior figures, boasted that he operated “under the radar” to use his influence to change European Union rules on behalf of a commodity firm which pays him £60,000 a year. He has been suspended from the Labour party following the disclosures.
And he claimed to have used “charm and menace” to convince the Ukrainian prime minister to change laws on behalf of the same firm. Mr Straw also used his Commons office to conduct meetings about possible consultancy work — a potential breach of rules. And he suggested that his Commons researcher had worked on his private business matters, raising further questions.
Sir Malcolm, who oversees Britain’s intelligence agencies on behalf of Parliament, said he could arrange “useful access” to every British ambassador in the world because of his status…
Continue reading the full story on The Telegraph
READ MORE ON OLIGARCHY AT: 21st Century Wire Oligarchy Files