The three former Labour MPs Elliott Morley, David Chaytor, Jim Devine and an ex-Tory peer Lord Hanningfield facing expenses fraud charges have lost their High Court appeals after a ruling by the Lord Chief Justice this morning that they are not protected from prosecution by parliamentary privilege.
They will be treated just like any other suspected common criminal would be…
The Court Of Appeal
Criminal Division
COURT 4
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE, QUEEN’S BENCH DIVISIONAL COURT
FRIDAY 30th JULY 2010 IN COURT 4 AT 09:15 AM
BEFORE
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF ENGLAND AND WALES
PRACTICE DIRECTION: AMENDMENT NO 25 TO THE CONSOLIDATED CRIMINAL PRACTICE DIRECTION (CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS: LISTING CASE MANGEMENT: COSTS IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS)
TO FOLLOW FOR HAND DOWN JUDGMENT AT 9:30AM
Before
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF ENGLAND AND WALES
MASTER OF THE ROLLS
SIR ANTHONY MAY PRESIDENT OF THE QUEENS BENCH DIVISION
201003220 B5 Paul Edward Winston White (Lord Hanningfield)
201003279 B5 James Devine
201003276 B5 David Chaytor
201003274 B5 Elliot Morley
They are appealing on the basis of parliamentary privilege – claiming that only parliament and not the Courts should deal with their case. They object to being treated like common criminals…
Brown is, we are told, pounding out 10,000 words per day. If he were the “Fastest Typist In The World” (150 words per minute), then this would only take him 67 minutes of each day. Leaving him plenty of time to do those constituency duties which he claims he is still doing.
But Gordon isn’t the “Fastest Typist in the World”. Let’s assume he’s a ‘fast’ typist (40wpm), then his 10k marathons will be taking him four hours and ten minutes of each day. Assuming he is doing constituency work until, say six in the evening (as he is paid to do), then he’ll be working until around 11pm each night. Meaning he won’t see his kids. Which Brown professes not to do, so we must assume therefore that he’s letting his book time eat into his constituency work.
More than likely he’s officially a ‘slow’ typist (23wpm). In which case he’ll be spending seven hours and fifteen minutes of publicly paid time on his book. Even allowing him two or three hours for constituency work, that’s a pretty busy day. But those times are merely for copy taking…
What’s the average typing speed when someone is composing? Well, that’s just 19wpm. And how long would it take to compose 10,000 words if one is typing at 19wpm? On average, not taking account for poor eyesight and periodic fits of rage, it would take eight hours and forty-five minutes. Pretty much the same as a full working day, that the taxpayer, not Simon and Schuster is footing the bill for..
Maths via email from Stephen Bray
How do bureaucrats save their jobs? They re-invent themselves as green advocates. You can imagine Sir Humphrey explaining to the minister that instead of sacking a few dozen burdens on the taxpayer, he can redeploy them as green advocates. It’ll cost more, but it’ll be green…
When is a quango not a quango? When it is an “Office”. In this case the new Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), “a cross Whitehall team dedicated to taking forward” green initiatives. So far the only initiative they have come up with is a £50 million taxpayer subsidy to middle and upper-class greens who can get £5,000 off the purchase of an expensive electric car. That £5,000 will end up directly in the profits of foreign electric car manufacturers.
The Foreign Office now has a Climate Change twitterer, no really. We are supposed to be getting small government and a Big Society. We’re actually getting a Big Green Government…
David Lammy tells the Fabian Review…
“Tony Blair and Gordon Brown both served our party, but neither is now active in British politics.”
When the Political Editor of the BBC is writing public memos to himself suggesting that he he “must try harder” because he managed to miss the fact the coalition was coming, things aren’t exactly going well. Just like he missed the leadership coups when his sources’s Blackberries were vibrating right under his nose.
Robinson took a month making a documentary about the coalition negotiations before seeing the light, Guido was outlining the contours of the coming coalition before election day. It became blindingly obvious the Tories were not going to get a majority. Is better-late-than-never-Robinson really the best talent that the BBC’s vast news budget can buy?
The race to take over from Robinson is well under-way, this mea culpa should help those vying for the job.
