Suitably rewarded.
Unlike with gorgeous pouting Andy Burnham and his deliberately suggestive remarks on heart-melting, hand-wringing phone calls, there really doesn't seem to be anything in the letter sent by Geoff "Buff" Hoon to Keith Vaz, except a rather poor joke between friends. Anyone with half a brain, which apparently rules out David Cameron, could see that Hoon was referring to rumours that Vaz had been offered a knighthood in return for his support on 42 days, and was doing so sardonically. Such use of punctuation and sarcasm doesn't translate well when you're reading the letter out in parliament.
This doesn't of course rule out that Vaz wasn't suitably bought off like the DUP were, something that Diane Abbot for one suggested. It does seem strange that the committee you chair one month produces a report which makes clear that it considers 42 days completely unnecessary, and the next you then decide that it in fact is entirely needed and that the government has delivered all the needed safeguards. It might just be that Vaz, like the other most egregious Labour members, felt that Gordon simply had to be saved for the nation and so voted the correct way in the same loyal fashion they've displayed since 1997. We might have to wait for the next or next few honours' lists to find out.
This doesn't of course rule out that Vaz wasn't suitably bought off like the DUP were, something that Diane Abbot for one suggested. It does seem strange that the committee you chair one month produces a report which makes clear that it considers 42 days completely unnecessary, and the next you then decide that it in fact is entirely needed and that the government has delivered all the needed safeguards. It might just be that Vaz, like the other most egregious Labour members, felt that Gordon simply had to be saved for the nation and so voted the correct way in the same loyal fashion they've displayed since 1997. We might have to wait for the next or next few honours' lists to find out.
Labels: 42 days, civil liberties, David Cameron, Geoff Hoon, Gordon Brown, Keith Vaz
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