He’s a crook

So, in summary.

“I couldn’t kill the story, people are looking for incriminating evidence, so I’ll resign and hopefully it will have blown over in three and a half years or so…

Please remember I did the right thing [without any indication of at last] and be appropriately grateful.”

Nice mention of the budget deficit in there though. Got to keep pumping that message.

I look forward to representing my constituents in neo-conservative think tanks and the arms manufacturers.

I reckon BAE owe him a job for all the taxpayers’ money he’s decided to waste on Trident.

Bah. I believe that British tradition here is entirely wrong – when things are this bad, they should be fired, not allowed to resign.

@4 To be fair, when it comes to situations like these, I doubt there’s a difference. There’s always the question of if they jumped or were pushed, even with this little PR-stunt letter to the headmaster.

Yeah, but now Hammond’s taken his place.

Most cabinet and shadow cabinet members are grotesque parodies of what people might have expected from politicians a hundred years ago; I say replace them with humorously-shaped vegetables and see how long it takes for anyone to notice.

Oh, and can we get rid of Lansley next?

[6] ‘can we get rid of Lansley next’ – I think Ollie is the next inept tory pushing himself to the top of the queue?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/oct/14/oliver-letwin-sorry-documents-bin

Apparently “Letwin was seen on five separate days binning sensitive correspondence on terrorism, national security as well as constituents’ private details in the park near No 10″.

Needless to say the usual insincere groveling ensued.

@7, A&E – ” I think Ollie is the next inept tory pushing himself to the top of the queue…”

So if you removed those who were thieves, liars, inept, incompetent and / or corrupt (from the cabinet *and* the shadow cabinet), would there be a sufficient quantity of the mediocre remaining to actually fill the positions required?

I rather liked this timely and apt quote from Mary Riddell writing in the Telegraph:

“the Fox affair leaves the clear and lasting impression that Britain is broken not at the bottom but at the top”
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/maryriddell/100111133/liam-fox-goes-what-took-so-long/

[8] “would there be a sufficient quantity of the mediocre remaining to actually fill the positions required” – this could be the sort of opening a certain Narnian MP has been dreaming about?
http://www.bloggerheads.com/images/sarah_palin_nadine_dorries.jpg

@5 – At the time? Perhaps. The symbolism is different, though, and it makes it harder for them to return.

The fact that he bothered to mention the budget deficit just shows how fake his apology is.

If he was really sorry he would resign without trying to throw a bit of party politics into it.

You gotta admire Tory on-message discipline though. I bet these people aren’t allowed to mention they went to the toilet without the budget deficit