Bishop Hill Yeo stushie
Jun 9, 2013 Climate: Parliament The big news this morning is that BH favourite Tim Yeo has been caught up in a lobbying scandal. He appears to have offered to become an advocate for a private company for a fee of £7000 per day.
The Sunday Times broke the story, having covertly filmed Yeo making the offer. Details can be gleaned from Guido Fawkes blog here and from the Conservative Home blog here.
While it looks as though Yeo is going to fight the allegations, claiming without a hint of irony that he was on the point of writing to the company to tell them that he was uncomfortable working on the basis they'd discussed, the general vibe among the Westminster insiders seems to be that Yeo is toast.
I can remember being aghast when Yeo became chairman of the ECC committee, Cameron having whipped his backbenchers into supporting the sleaze-meister, no doubt having calculated that having a deep green like Yeo in that position would win him some plaudits among what James Delingpole calls the yoghurt-weaving classes.
That Cameron was willing to overlook Yeo's murky past and ongoing conflicts of interest is quite an indictment.
Reader Comments (72)
Mailman
While I hear quite clearly what you are saying and why, I disagree that the answer is a third party. That way lies 20 years of mess while the system sorts itself out.
The cure is to stop believing that yoof has all the answers and to get some grown-ups in positions of authority. Some of the best prime ministers this country has had have been in their late 60s and over and in an age when many of us are expecting to live to 80 and beyond why the hell are we handing over the running of the country to a gaggle of kids half our age who have no adult experience of the world outside politics and haven't even been an adult long enough to have the rough edges knocked off their adolescent arrogance.
I doubt that geoffchambers and I are ever likely to agree on party politics (though occasionally I think we are closer than either of us would care to admit!) but I'm sure we would agree that our respective parties need to take a serious look at how they are run and how they behave vis-a-vis the people that put them into power.
If there is one good thing that could conceivably come out of the current run of scandals it is that lobbying of ministers and MPs by outside interests is not regulated but banned. Speaking on behalf of outside organisations has a long and honourable tradition in the House. (As an example Sir Eldon Griffiths was for many years recognised as parliamentary spokesman for the Police Federation without that being considered in any way likely to affect his proper duties as an MP.)
Likewise "all-party groups" have always been a useful means of obtaining information — and, yes, provided a few freebies in the process, but so what?
But there is a difference between those and professional lobbying organisations bending the ear of parliamentarians to further the interests of their clients when those who disagree with those interests do not have the same opportunity. The machinations of the environmentalists and those with a vested interest in renewable energy are the ones that mainly concern us here but they are only the tip of the iceberg.
The only long-term cure, of course, is for the people to regain control of their parties from the carpetbaggers that taken them over, but that requires a wee bit of self-sacrifice and some leg work!
Too big for even The Guardian to ignore now,,,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jun/09/tim-yeo-denies-lobbying-advice-claims
... although it does feature Yeo's statement rather more heavily than the actual allegations!
The House of Commons is never going to reform itself- too much vested interest at stake. It needs an outside agency to do so. The Police spring to mind- which is why I have made a detailed allegation about a certain MP's activities.
Of course, I have no high hopes of a successful prosecution- I can already see the "not in the Public interest" line being trotted out.
I will, of course share any developments with readers of this blog.
It tells you all you need to know about Yeo that he is so greedy that he didn't smell a rat. The ST journos must still be hugging themselves!
Artwest, the beeb version of the story has changed a lot and now also tries hard to present Yeo's side of the story, headline "Yeo denies..." and quoting his responses at length.
I suppose it could be said that the longer he tries to hang on, the better, as the story will get bigger and longer.
Don
We look forward to progress. It looks as though you may have some support...
Link
Mike,
I think you will find that I agree with everything you say...which is why I had a dig at Luciana as she is a kid with absolutely no experience what so ever in the adult world.
We don't need children with feck all experience in Parluament and in a sane world there would be no place for politicians like Ms Burger.
I'd also go as far as to ban all outside work for members of parliament (and remove all pay for councillors while I'm at it). Why I'd even ban husband and wife MP's AND introduce term limits. What we don't need are politicians of the calibre (or should I say sun calibre) of Ed Milliband (and his wife).
Basically, as Richard North is fond of saying, the real issue is that politicians have lost the fear of the people.
Mailman
Jamesp, yes I am aware.
I've posted on Guido about this.
Mailman
However, I would take a diametrically opposite approach from you on the subject of MPs' outside interests.
It is those who persistently argue for "equality" and individual "rights", regardless of what they actually understand by those words who insisted on making parliament "family friendly".
In the days when the House of Commons sat at 2.30 a very large number of MPs had "real" jobs and nobody ever suggested that parliament was the worse for that. I agree with you about councillors but I don't see any reason why MPs shouldn't be treated in the same way. There is no reason on earth why being an MP or a Councillor needs to be a full-time occupation and in my opinion neither should be.
The end result of this (relatively) recent pernicious little habit is that governments are forever legislating whether they need to or not and Councillors are forever empire-building to justify their presence in the Town Hall all day.
One result is that local government has its fingers in pies that a) are none of its business, and b) didn't even exist 20 years ago and are costing the taxpayers a fortune (needlessly) while parliament continues to find ways to interfere in everybody's lives to justify their excessive presence at Westminster. Instead of 30 weeks at Westminster and 22 weeks wherever, I would much rather have 15 weeks at Westminster and 30 weeks in gainful employment and we'll let them have seven weeks holiday ('cos it's Sunday and I'm feeling generous!).
In order to sort out parliament then the civil service must first be tamed.
This now allows Yeo to spend more time with his Income-Providers.
Jun 9, 2013 at 2:18 PM | Unregistered CommenterJoe Public
"more time with/in the environment"? or as it used to be called "wilderness".
Simon Hopkinson: stop feeding the myth that UKIP is only for disaffected Tories. The Political Compass puts me further left than even I thought I was (in fact, I am seriously beginning to doubt the whole idea of left-wing/right-wing, just as I consider the “class” system to be utter tripe – it is just a means for people to be pigeon-holed); UKIP does offer the only alternative to the cretins that we now have in Wastemonster.
If he got caught doing it once, it means he probably has gotten away with it before.
Mike,
Because MPs are allowed outside interests we are in the position of having MPs like Yeo and co in place who use (abuse)their positions to feather their nests.
It seems the days if paying MPs well to reduce the risk of corruption are well and truly gone eh?
Btw, some further steps I'd take is to get ride of several million of the 10 million public servants, introduce common sense policies that don't require a whole horde of policy advisors to advise you about your own policies, introduce a no receipt, no reimbursement expense system...and cut back the number of MPs. there is no way a country the size of the UK needs 600 odd MPs!
Chances of any of this even being looked at?
Regards
Mailman
Matthew W
Well yes. And, of course, Yeo Ho Ho's other claim to fame is his pontificating about family values after fathering TWO "love" children.
One hopes he will be able to spend more quality time with them.
martin brumby
As I said, I met one of his children. He is a painter. Not surprised Yeo decided to take up a 'cool' cause to be identified with.
Should have taken a lesson from Harry Reid -- get rich at a couple removes and no one can prove a thing.
If these guys are anything like the democrats in the US, they will pretend to punish Yeo, then he will be given an even better job higher up the food chain.
From the Ecclesiastical Uncle, an old retired bureaucrat in a field only remotely related to climate with minimal qualifications and only half a mind.
Mailman, Geoff Chambers, Mike Jackson and others
See my post-Xmas effusion on Discussion Page 3 Right to Bear Arms (Post probably No 52, 6 before the end)
Iain Dale now also has a go at Yeo.
Mailman
Do not get me started on "policy advisers" — at least not on a Monday morning. You could ruin my whole week.
I think I wasn't as clear as I could have been about "members' outside interests". I'm angling for a return to the days when being an MP was a service you did for your local community and your country in addition to your proper job, whatever it was.
I realise that some form of remuneration is needed these days but when asked for 'Occupation' it should not be possible to write down 'Member of Parliament' any more than you can write down 'CAB volunteer' or 'Rotarian' or 'chairman of the local choral society', all of which are arguably vital to the well-being of the community and none of which is a job of work.
Uncle
I'll nip off and find your posting and come back later.
Jiminy
"I am sure the Guardian and Private Eye are right on it."
It must be awful dilemma for them!
Not to mention the Beeb..