Lord Moonie's Backers Arrested Alistair Darling "Did a Jacqui"

Blair's Growing Charity Empire - Observer
Jacqui's Neighbours Complain to Standards Commissioner - MoS
Case Notes on the PM's State of Mind - Matthew d'Ancona
Brown Last Placed in Sexiest Brains - Guardian News
Draper Masters the Confusion - London Evening Standard
Anyone Else Would Be Sent to Jail - Peter Oborne
Counterfactual Thought for the Day - Dizzy
You're a Thief, Sue Me Jacqui - Peter Oborne
A Tawdry Story of Political Decay - FT

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2009

Lord Moonie's Backers Arrested 
Alistair Darling "Did a Jacqui"

When the man in charge of the nation's finances, Alistair Darling, has been caught fiddling his expenses, and Jacqui Smith, the woman who is in charge of crime prevention is accused of corruption, you have a government which is a kleptocracy. The New Labour promise to be "whiter than white" is like a sick joke now.

Lord Moonie's money grubbing ways are a disgrace to the House of Lords, he also aided and abetted another expenses fiddle by facilitating Alistair Darling lodging with him and claiming expenses based on Moonie's flat being Darling's "main home", in just the same way that Jacqui claims her sister's house is her "main home". Already under investigation for Cash for Amendments,Lord Moonie is mired in fresh sleaze after his business associates were arrested in a police probe into alleged fraud in the NHS.

The Sunday Herald has the scoop:

Richard Nawrot and George Henderson, who run Fife-based Americium Developments, were arrested in London last month on "suspicion of conspiracy to commit fraud and misconduct in a public office".

Americium currently pays Moonie, a close ally of Gordon Brown, up to £40,000 a year in consultancy fees. The peer's relationship with the company dates back to October 2006.

Two of Americium's US clients have told the Sunday Herald they had lunch with Moonie and Nawrot at Westminster and that the peer later gave a tour of the parliament.

One client said he discussed a potential NHS contract with Moonie at the lunch.

Moonie was close to Gordon and at the heart of the Scottish Raj. He knows where the bodies are buried. This could potentially get very messy for Brown.