You are currently browsing the daily archive for Friday, June 15, 2007.
The Daily Mail has a depressing story (HERE) about the way in which the use of cocaine has penetrated to some astonishing corners of British society.
As someone who has managed to get through the tail-end of the 1960s as a teenager and since without ever once taking a drug controlled by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, The Huntsman has little sympathy with those whose lack of personal moral fibre has led them into drug taking. The Huntsman admittedly has a penchant for a nice glass of malt whisky and vino collapse of all qualities, but that is an entirely lawful exercise.
It is often said that we should concentrate on the dealers in order to curb the use of cocaine, heroin, cannabis, amphetamines et al. With respect, The Huntsman thinks that that is a lot of tosh. By all means keep on pursuing the dealers, but if the Courts were despatching a steady flood of celebrities, merchant bankers, politicians, teachers and all the rest for nine months slopping out as a guest of Her Majesty, with all the consequences for present and future employment which that entails might be a useful starting point for an incoming government which wanted to make an impression.
Sadly a future conservative government seems unlikely to take a serious view of drug taking, given the ambivalence of its leader about the subject.
Harriet Harman, a contender for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party, has one interesting claim to fame, in The Huntsman’s view. She it was who was responsible for flagging up just how serious the Cash for Peerages scandal might be.
Her husband, Jack Dromey, a run of the mill Trades Unionist, was, at the material time of the making of various dodgy loans to Labour, Treasurer of the Party. Most of us would think that if there was one person who knew all about loans being made to the Party, it would be its Treasurer.
As we now know, he knew no such thing and surfaced in an obviously well-staged appearance on Channel 4 News (HERE). There he made it clear that neither he nor other relevant elected officials knew anything of £3.5 million pounds worth of secret loans made to Labour.
The Huntsman believes that Ms. Harman, a lawyer, must have had a good look at the relevant legislation and decided that her husband was at risk of being caught up in the fall out of what might yet become a serious scandal (as proved to be the case). It is a reasonable inference that her advice was to the effect that this imbroglio could only get worse, not better, and that there might be a risk of police involvement (as also proved to be the case).
In those circumstances The Huntsman’s advice would have been what one suspects was hers: get out there now and make it abundantly plain that you knew nothing whatever of these loans, announce an enquiry and condemn the action of those who appear to have been running a parallel Treasury unbeknownst to those whose task it is to run the Labour party’s accounts. This is serious and someone may get jailtime. Make sure it is not you.
Whilst it must have been obvious how much damage this revelation would do to Labour, The Huntsman is confident that Ms. Harman was so alarmed at the gravity of what she had learn that she was minded to advise her husband to put his interests firmly and immediately before those of his party. It is again a reasonable inference that taking such a drastic step was occasioned by his revealing a really serious picture of potential wrongdoing that party loyalty was so swiftly and comprehensively chucked out of the window.
In addition, by giving legal advice to a potential witness she would also be very likely to disqualify herself as a potential witness at any Prosecution.
Given the effect Mr. Dromey’s intervention has had, this was a courageous and surefooted approach by both of them to what has turned out to be a serious nightmare. It may also be the reason why she does not win the race for the Deputy Leadership since one imagines that there are some out there in the Labour electorate who know and understand what she and her husband did and why but who will nevertheless hate her for having done it to their beloved party.
The Huntsman's Horn 