|
Blair dents public's trust
20/03/2006 10:18 - (SA)
London - A furore over secret loans to Tony Blair's Labour Party and charges that he sold seats in the House of Lords to party backers is denting public trust in the British prime minister.
Blair has denied he handed out nominations to the Lords in exchange for funds for the party but his deputy refused on Sunday to categorically say the allegations were false.
A new poll showed that nearly half of Britons believed the charges and more than 70% thought Blair's government was at least as sleazy as that of his predecessor, Prime Minister John Major.
That's a worrying statistic for Blair, who trounced Major in 1997 partly because the Tory had been so badly damaged by a string of embarrassing scandals. Blair promised then that his government would be "whiter than white," words some are now throwing back in his face.
Blair has acknowledged his Labour Party took nearly £14m in loans from supporters ahead of last year's general election. The law requires that gifts to political parties must be made public but it doesn't cover loans and the party kept them secret until a newspaper reported their existence last weekend.
Blair nominated to seats in the House of Lords several of those who'd lent money to Labour. He says he did nothing wrong and that all the men were well-qualified for the jobs in Parliament's upper house. They have withdrawn their names.
Labour Party furious
Sir Alistair Graham, chairperson of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, a watchdog panel, said the commission that reviews nominations to the Lords should have been told about the candidates' loans.
"The problems have come because of a lack of honesty and transparency in some of the arrangements that have been made," Graham told BBC radio.
"This government clearly is in danger of attracting the sleaze label that was so clearly pinned on the previous government," he said.
In the survey by the ICM polling firm for The Sunday Times newspaper, 17% said Blair's government was sleazier than Major's, while 56% said it was about as sleazy. Twenty percent said Blair's administration was less sleazy.
Forty-seven percent of those questioned said they thought Blair had given peerages or other honors, such as knighthoods, to the big lenders, while 23% believed the charge were untrue.
Forty-six percent said they believed Blair should step down as prime minister, compared with 45% who believed he should stay on in his job.
Some critics within the Labour Party are eager to see Blair step aside for his likely successor, Treasury chief Gordon Brown. Blair, has said he intends to serve a full term but will not run again.
The "cash for peerages" allegations have infuriated many within the party. Labour treasurer Jack Dromey said he was "kept in the dark" about the loans.
Deputy prime minister John Prescott said he also learnt about the loans from the press.
|
News
