This entry was posted on
Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006 at
11:09 am and is filed
under Tony ‘King Blair.

The Independent points out the following this morning: Can the loans be converted into donations at a later date? Yes. There is nothing to stop the loans quietly being turned into donations when the dust has settled. Some of the lenders, such as Chai Patel, actually offered donations but were told to make them loans.

I’m going to ask you to think about that for a moment… these people came offering donations, but were instead asked for loans. Were it not for this scandal, how many of them do you think would be prepared to simply write off the loan after a suitable period? You get ten points if you answered correctly; All. Of. Them.

Oh dear. Accidental money. What a shame. Boy, it’s a good thing that all of the paperwork is above board.

How in the hell did Labour Downing Street expect to pay the money back? Short answer; they didn’t.

(Phew. That was a close one. For a while there, I though Tony Blair might be a radical rapturist; determined to forcibly bring about the conditions required for the return of Jesus to Earth and caring not a jot about what the bank might want a few months from now.)

Now compare this to the behaviour of Capita (whose executive chairman Rod Aldridge played the above ‘loan’ game for as long as he thought he could get away with it), where they typically go in with the lowest bid then go well over budget… but still keep getting contract after contract from this government!

Oh dear. Accidental money. What a shame. Boy, it’s a good thing that all of the paperwork is above board.

PS – I found this dated but useful report on Capita contracts during my travels, but it would be much, much more useful to have some proper access to past issues of Private Eye.