The main credit for the fall of Denis MacShane belongs to Neil Clark. Meanwhile, Andy MacSmith writes:
The former Labour MP Denis MacShane, who has
pleaded guilty to false accounting, is the most colourful of the politicians
destroyed by the expenses scandal.
As he awaits sentence, he might give a thought to a gifted but greedy figure from the 1970s, the Home Secretary, Reggie Maudling, who resigned when the police opened an investigation into his crooked business associate, John Poulson.
After his departure, but while he was still a serving MP, his name cropped up during a BBC radio phone-in, when the caller described him as a “crook”.
That was embarrassing enough for the BBC, which is not supposed to broadcast slanderous remarks, even from listeners. What made it worse was that the voice was recognisably that of a member of staff.
The programme had not been getting enough genuine calls, so a BBC journalist rang in posing as a member of the public and made the careless comment, for which he was sacked.
The caller was a 29-year-old Denis MacShane.
As he awaits sentence, he might give a thought to a gifted but greedy figure from the 1970s, the Home Secretary, Reggie Maudling, who resigned when the police opened an investigation into his crooked business associate, John Poulson.
After his departure, but while he was still a serving MP, his name cropped up during a BBC radio phone-in, when the caller described him as a “crook”.
That was embarrassing enough for the BBC, which is not supposed to broadcast slanderous remarks, even from listeners. What made it worse was that the voice was recognisably that of a member of staff.
The programme had not been getting enough genuine calls, so a BBC journalist rang in posing as a member of the public and made the careless comment, for which he was sacked.
The caller was a 29-year-old Denis MacShane.
No comments:
Post a Comment