Pain for Hain
Peter Hain has now met with the Electoral Commission (see blogs previous) and provided it with information about donations made to his Labour deputy leadership campaign. We await word from him about the size of the donations and the identities of those who gave.
Comments
Hain has no option but to resign. He has caused gross embarrassment to all politicians by failing to adhear to the funding rules his Party put in place. It is utter hypocrisy for him to continue in office.Should he continue, it demonstrates his complete contempt for the electorate.
Labour has certtainly become the party of sleaze.
Government ministers should set an example otherwise how are they expecting the rest of us to behave?
Madame Deputy Speaker,
Peter Hain is one of the few people in the Labour Party who is liked by people on all sides of the political spectrum.
I do not accept that he knowingly did anything wrong or intentionally misled the House with regards to his campaign to be Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.
It is my hope, therefore, that Peter Hain will remain Work and Pensions Secretary and have the support, not just from my side but also from the benches opposite.
"Hear! Hear!, Hear! Hear!" (or is it "here"?)
I just have to add that one of the most important issues concerning this whole sad affair, is that Peter Hain in making a case out of his 'administrative errors' - does little to negate the very widely held public view - that many politicians are essentially self serving, rather than servants of the people.
Politicians - such as everyone else, has to accept & demonstrate responsibility for their actions and not to be seen passing the blame in such a flippant manner!
Normal people live their lives and make mistakes under pain of punishment. We are being suffocated by laws and fines for making minor mistakes.
However, Members of Parliament are devious in the extreme and think that the electorate are stupid and can be satisfied merely by the word "sorry".
Hain cannot be trusted and must go asap. Then a replacement is required who must be someone who is transparent and true to their word.