ANOSMIA* THROUGH NATURAL SELECTION

SANCTIMONIOUS HUMBUG, HYPOCRISY AND THE VENALITY AT THE HEART OF THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY

On the 18th March this year William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, stepped up to the despatch box, and speaking with all the gravitas that he has long since perfected in front of his bathroom mirror, sonorously declaimed, with respect to Russian annexation of Crimea:-

"No amount of sham and perverse democratic process or skewed historical references can make up for the fact this is an incursion into a sovereign state and a land grab of part of its territory with no respect for the law of that country of for international law…”

Going on to declare,

" [A] third tier" of sanctions against Russia, including economic and financial measures, and that the UK has suspended all military cooperation with Russia…[the] Credibility of international systems rests on there being costs attached to breaking binding commitments, and refusing to address disputes through peaceful diplomacy,"

Stern stuff hey, Hague showing a bit of backbone; there was surely fear and trembling in the Kremlin that night? Then again, perhaps not.

 In March this year I wrote to my MP, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, respecting a scheme, one is tempted to say a scam, whereby wealthy Russians can purchase visa’s to the UK for the tidy sum of £1m. Named imaginatively the Visa for Investment Programme it has about it all the ethical flavour of the transaction between the rent boy and his trick.  
Russian oligarchs, as might be imagined, are very taken with the scheme  and as the response to my e-mail confirmed, a letter from the Immigration and security minister James Brokenshire, Crimea annexation notwithstanding, it is business as usual.

'There are [currently] no plans to restrict nationals [access to the scheme] as a response to events in Crimea.' 

Now in this morning’s Guardian it is revealed that as part of the Conservatives endless search for lucre, from whatever source, to fund its election campaign it has held a Summer Fundraiser at which:-

 ‘…On one of the most intriguing tables at the dinner features several prominent Russians connected to the Kremlin, including Vladimir Putin's wealthy judo partner. Vasily Shestakov, an influential MP in Russia's Duma, sat a table hosted by the PR executive David Burnside. Shestakov is an old friend of Putin's and the co-author with Russia's president of several books on the sport, including Learn Judo With Vladimir Putin and Judo: History, Theory, Practice.’
[Also] At the dinner, Burnside introduced Shestakov to David Cameron. A photo on the sambo federation's website shows Cameron chatting to Putin's close friend, with Alex Nekrassov – who works for Burnside's PR consultancy firm New Century Media – translating. Also pictured is Andrei Kliamko, a FIAS executive with business interests in Crimea, who according to Forbes Russia is worth $1.9bn.’ [My Emphasis]
Vasily Shestakov and his close friend Vladimir Putin 

" Tim Lewin, who sat with Shestakov, and advises New Century Media, said. "Cameron was looking for people to meet and greet. David grabbed him and introduced him to Shestakov. Asked whether the meeting was appropriate, given the 2006 murder of Alexander Litvinenko in London by suspected Kremlin agents, Lewin said: "Shestakov is a senior MP." He added: "It's no different in my world, the finance world. If you want to impress people you have to introduce them to other big swingers. If you can have him [Shestakov] shake hands with the PM, it makes the wheels go round."1.

Well, one would certainly not wish to stop the wheels going round, for it is essential that we remember the Conservative ‘golden rule,’ money trumps all.  
The stench from this profoundly dishonest, hypocritical and venal government would overcome anyone with a normal moral compass. Fortunately though, through a process going back many years, a form of natural selection one might say, the Tories have developed a natural capacity to block out such smells.

As to the pompous, hypocritical and inflated humbug that is William Hague the next time you hear him spouting this kind of sanctimonious piffle imagine a Putin crony stuffing used fifty pound notes into his back pocket.



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