Tories and scandal (go together like a horse and carriage)

Scene of the - er - indiscretions: The Light ApartHotel in Manchester. [Image: Sunday Mirror.]

Scene of the – er – indiscretions: The Light ApartHotel in Manchester. [Image: Sunday Mirror.]

The Party of Sleaze shoots itself in the foot yet again.

It seems the Conservative Party has been keeping documentary evidence of Tory MPs’ indiscretions, crimes and bad behaviour in a “black book” (actually a blue folder), but this has now been destroyed for fear that the Party might be forced to reveal its contents under the Freedom of Information Act.

The information in the “book”, which was destroyed a little more than four years ago as the Tories prepared for the 2010 general election, was used by party whips – its official title was “Whips’ Notes” – if they needed to persuade a colleague to support legislation they opposed, or a minister under fire.

Sources within the Conservative Party say this persuasion did not go as far as blackmail – although you are perfectly entitled to form your own opinion about this, dear reader.

The book’s existence was revealed by the Sunday Mirror, which also carried details of several more ‘sleaze’ scandals, including allegations that:

  • Taxpayers indirectly funded a £2,500 suite in the Light ApartHotel, used for a gay sex party during the Conservative Party’s 2011 conference in Manchester.
  • Senior Conservatives regularly tried to seduce male parliamentary workers after getting drunk at the House of Commons.
  • MPs and peers used ‘date rape’ drugs on junior activists, and paid for abortions after getting their staff pregnant.

The claims are eerily reminiscent of sleaze scandals from the Conservative Parliaments of 1979-1997, in which Cecil Parkinson was forced to resign after impregnating his secretary; David Mellor’s extra-curricular sporting activities with Antonia de Sancha; and sex scandals involving Tim Yeo and the Earl of Caithness.

The headline of this article is based on a song and is intended to evoke comparisons between ‘love and marriage’ and ‘Tories and scandal’.

To close, let’s remember another well-known saying and conclude that if a leopard cannot change its spots, neither can a Tory resist sleaze.

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11 Comments

  1. sdbast April 14, 2014 at 5:34 am - Reply

    Reblogged this on sdbast.

  2. […] The Party of Sleaze shoots itself in the foot yet again. It seems the Conservative Party has been keeping documentary …Continue reading →  […]

  3. diane April 14, 2014 at 6:07 am - Reply

    When Cecil Parkinson & Tim Yeo knocked up their mistresses, in the 80s, I was a single parent and at the time there was a vicious attack on unmarried/single parents – like the ‘skiver rhetoric’ of today – any way, the government had to stop it’s attack on the single parents’ because of these scandals. How I remember how Yim Yeo sneered when questioned (by a reporter) about the attack on unmarried mothers’: “My child will NEVER live off the state” he spat

  4. beastrabban April 14, 2014 at 7:15 am - Reply

    Reblogged this on Beastrabban’s Weblog and commented:
    What it actually reminds me of is the original ‘House of Cards’ series, where the hero, a whip who has been passed over for promotion to prime minister, takes his revenge and murders and blackmails his way to the top using the notes he has kept on the illegal and immoral activities of the other MPs. In one episode of the show, he deliberately contaminated the heroin used by one of the other MPs, so that he died of a mysterious drug overdose in a public lavatory. If this suddenly happens to one of the Tories in Cameron’s cabinet, we’ll know for sure that the series was actually a documentary rather than drama.

    As for the similarity to the sexual scandals during Maggie and Major’s administrations, some of this goes much further. Sarah Keays and Antonia de Sancha consented to sex. The use of ‘date rape’ drugs makes their sexual activities far more like rape, while the attempts to seduce male parliamentary workers while drunk could constitute sexual harassment.

  5. Rob April 14, 2014 at 8:26 am - Reply

    “a gay sex party”: Why use this description? Why not just “a sex party”? Is “a gay sex party” somehow more scandalous. Would it have been more acceptable to spend taxpayers money on “a straight sex party”?

    • Mike Sivier April 14, 2014 at 8:47 am - Reply

      That’s how it was described in the Mirror, therefore it’s possible that it is how it was described TO the Mirror.

      • Rob April 14, 2014 at 9:12 am - Reply

        So some bigger boys did it and ran away. Nice get-out, Mike.

        • Mike Sivier April 14, 2014 at 9:41 am - Reply

          That’s not a very accurate comment. For the sake of clarity I used the same language that was presented in the source material. That’s accuracy, not “some bigger boys did it”. And they didn’t run away, as far as I can tell.

  6. jaypot2012 April 14, 2014 at 8:53 am - Reply

    I feel sick! To be raped is the most sickening thing that can happen to a person, besides murder – I should know, I’ve been there.
    For so called “professionals” to do this time and time again goes beyond the pale. I would personally kick each and everyone involved in this deplorable act in the nuts, and it would bloody hurt, I’d make sure of that!
    How dare they treat men and women like this, just for their own pleasure! Depraved is what they are.
    I’m blazing mad, I’m shaking with anger and I’m bloody remembering – damn and blast every one of them!

  7. jaypot2012 April 14, 2014 at 8:54 am - Reply

    Reblogged this on Jay's Journal and commented:
    When you want to badly hurt…

  8. […] needed to persuade a colleague to support legislation they opposed, or a minister under fire.”http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2014/04/14/tories-and-scandal-go-together-like-a-horse-and-carriage/ But its not just Tories who are sleazy. Politicians of all parties love a bit of it, they’ve […]

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