The received wisdom is that Osborne was unwise to tell tales about Peter Mandelson and unleash the whole "Corfu crisis" sequence of events. I'm not quite so sure.
This week has been very uncomfortable for the Conservatives in general and George in particular but it seems clear the George has done nothing wrong. Brown made himself look stupid and opportunistic when calling for "the authorities to investigate", but was then unable to say which authorities and what they should be investigating.
Once the media realise that there is no meat on the obvious "Tory in dodgy donations" story they will be left with a less simplistic but much more important story. Why was the EU Trade Commissioner on the yacht of the world largest aluminium seller while negotiating a reduction in EU trade tariffs on aluminium?
It doesn't look good does it?
23 October, 2008
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I have long held the belief that whatever Gordon Brown says from a politically motivated position has the opposite effect.
I think Gordon meant the NKVD.
Crown, I think you may well be right.
.. and the Parliamentary authorities have declined to mount an investigation. Says it all really.
Feldman and Osbourne went to the yacht to grab some cash from a billionaire. Nat Rothschild has stated that they did discuss the possibility of a donation prior to visiting the yacht and I believe him.
It is to the credit of the Conservative party that they did not try to channel a donation through a holding company, as they do for Belize based businessman Michael Ashcroft, the largest funder to the Conservative. But Osbourne, Rothschild, and Feldman were clearly motivated to speak to Deripaska in the hope of finding a way to get a donation legally.
Incidently the Guardian has an interesting article from yesterday.
Isn't it funny that after Cameron condemns bankers and speculators, that a banker and hedge fund manager leak these stories. I don't think this is about Mandelson 'dripping posion' at all. It is about the bankers getting their revenge on the Conservatives.
And you are entirely correct in your criticism of Mandelson's behaviour as an EU commissioner, but then I would expect no less of an EU commissioner or of Mandelson.
James Cleverly: "..it seems clear the George has done nothing wrong"
George Osborne: "I think I did make a mistake. In politics it is not just what you say and what you do, but how things look. This did not look very good and I regret that..."
So whose judgement should we trust?
Of course Osborne is still not directly admitting that he went to the yacht to raise money for the Conservative party, just that he will no longer be involved in raising money, I think we can all understand the implication. When will he come clean?
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